moldy scent on alpine style - late blowing?

[borisb2]

Hi there,

did a gruyere style cheese 4 weeks ago. I am aging it as usual in a plastic container (90-95 RH, 10 deg C), I am washing it with light brine and B-linens every other day. .. I did that cheese style a few times before successfully but this is the first cheese where I am noticing an earthy mildew/moldy scent that doesnt go away .. even after 1 month I dont pick up any smear rind smell yet. After every washing it just takes 1-2 days before the mildew/mold/mucor? comes back .. the cheese also had quite a few dark spots which I brushed off around the 3 weeks mark .. not sure if they will come back as well.

http://ambientfx.de/_files/IMG_5014.jpg
http://ambientfx.de/_files/IMG_5015.jpg

Is it potentially relevant that we moved houses and this is the first longer aging cheese doing in a different kitchen (kitchen is clean but on the older side - not sure if thats important) ?

Any pointers how to move forward?

Thanks so much

[B e n]

What temp are you keeping your fridge at? You need to keep the cheese wet (not damp, mold loves damp) to get B. Linnens smear to start. Great write-up on it here:  https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,10633.0.html

[borisb2]

What temp are you keeping your fridge at? You need to keep the cheese wet (not damp, mold loves damp) to get B. Linnens smear to start. Great write-up on it here:  https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,10633.0.html

yes I was reading that in the meantime - very interesting article.

cheese cave is at 10 deg C - I am washing it now with a lighter brine (3%) + b-linens .. does the white stuff in the pic look more like mold or geo to you? it still has a slight earthy scent - lets give it a few days to see how it progresses after I scraped off most of the black dots

but earthy smell is a concern? .. worries it might affect the flavor in the end

[B e n]

The white is probably Geotrichum candidum, that is typical of washed type cheeses and is beneficial.

[borisb2]

quick update:

after 6 weeks of aging the cheese more and more bulged a bit, so I decided to cut it open:

http://ambientfx.de/_files/IMG_5167.jpg
http://ambientfx.de/_files/IMG_5168.jpg

Was shocked to see one massive horizontal crack. That looks like text-book late blowing to me? Although I didnt notice any off smell so far. Can that be related to the issues I had earlier with the moldy/cellar like scent?

Or is it just overpressed again with trapped whey and late fermentation in the center?

I did taste the cheese - it tasted ok (for a 5 weeks old cheese) ..big bummer as I wanted to age that a lot longer

So should I toss it or keep it aging a bit?

[Aris]

Looks like late blowing to me. What was the aging temperature? Does it have the right salt level to you? Iirc you use pasteurized store milk which is possibly silage fed. I use silage fed goat's milk but I never get late blowing. I make sure aging temperature is 50-55 f and I dry salt with 3% by weight. A cheese having the right salt content combined with the right aging temperature inhibits clostridium bacteria. Comte and Gruyere gets away with using significantly less salt because they use grass fed/hay fed raw milk.

[borisb2]

It does look like late blowing - but it tastes fine, actually good. Salt level seems fine too. I usually dry salt my cheeses, about 2% .. still not sure if I have to toss the wheel?

Aging temperature is around 12 degrees , milk came directly from the farm (not store bought), they pasteurized it though - can't imagine they would use silage but I'm not sure of course.

[Aris]

I've eaten water buffalo milk cheese that had late blowing defect in the past. It tasted fine and it didn't harm me. I am not sure if yours is safe to eat though. Maybe it is a sanitation issue. Do you boil or sanitize equipment that touches the milk/curds?

[borisb2]

I've eaten water buffalo milk cheese that had late blowing defect in the past. It tasted fine and it didn't harm me. I am not sure if yours is safe to eat though. Maybe it is a sanitation issue. Do you boil or sanitize equipment that touches the milk/curds?

Yes I am sanitizing my equipment usually. The kitchen was used to do sourdough bread around the same time unfortunately. But I'm not sure if yeasts can cause late blowing? I thought yeast contamination from bread making will present itself on the surface?

[Aris]

Kefir also has yeast in it. I think the yeast from the Kefir and sourdough bread were not responsible for the late blowing. Maybe you just got unlucky with that batch. Hopefully your latest cheese won't have late blowing defect.