3 month Gouda- mechanical crack or blowing?

[spooperdoop]

Hello,
Apologies if this is not in the right spot or doesn't follow forum conventions, this is my first post!

After 1-1.5 months of aging this gouda (~2kg or so I think, kept at 52-56F and 85-90% RH) I noticed the wheel seeming to bloat at the top a little but it never really progressed and eventually seemed to disappear. When I recently cut into the wheel at 3 months, I was concerned about a horizontal crack that seemed to form about 1/3 down from the top of the wheel that I assume was why I noticed the slight bloating.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DV6IGvRju4f/?img_index=2

There are no foul smells or gas bubbles to indicate late blowing actors. I am hoping you more experienced folks may have some thoughts on whether this is a mechanical crack or if it is likely late blowing and should be tossed? How do you approach these situations where there is potential yet no obvious signs of issues? Or are there and I just don't see it?

Any insights are greatly appreciate 

P.S. if there is another post I should take a look at feel free to point me in the right direction, I haven't quite gotten the hang of navigating this forum yet!

[tecla]

Apologies for taking a while to respond. Based on the pictures, your cheese looks fine, it just appears to be a bit on the dry side for a Gouda. If it were late blowing, you would be able to smell it (it will be sulfury or smell a bit like stomach acid).

The typical agent causing late blowing is clostridia buturica or clostridia tyrobutyrica, and they aren't really harmful if consumed (unlike their cousin, clostridia botulina...), so if you taste the cheese and it has any aftertaste of stomach acid, it's blown. I've done this, and had no harm come to me, but it's not the most fun thing to do.