Dry Havarti

[cheddarhead-in-dc]

I recently tried my hand at making Havarti — a cheese that I absolutely love (along with many other cheeses). 

Sadly, when I broke into it on Sunday, while the taste was good, it was exceptionally dry.

I am hoping to learn from this first try and make it again.  Any ideas as to what I did wrong, and how I can prevent that from happening again?  I used a cream wax to age it.  It aged about 7 - 8 weeks, give or take.

Many thanks!

[colby]

Hello cheddarhead-in-dc.
Looks very dry. Like a Caerphilly.

Not knowing your recipe, these are a few of the main reasons your cheese is dry and crumbly:
Cheese may have been over acidified
Too much culture
Curds may have been too small
Stirred too much and lost a lot of whey
Rough handling the curds 
Too much rennet
The curd cooking time was too long 
The curd cooking temperature was too high

Good luck with your next batch.