Thoughts on maintaining humidity in my cheese cave?

[BC Cheese Guy]

I've been using a converted bar fridge as a cheese cave, with a small portable humidifier inside to maintain humidity.  The problem seems to be that it's always either too much or too little.  Last year I lost a batch of brie to excessive water accumulation, and produced a swiss that ended up with the hardness and moisture of a parmesan because of insufficient humidity.  I'd be grateful for anybody's thoughts on humidity control.  Thanks!!   

[DeejayDebi]

That is always the hardest thing to find - the balance. For a fridge without a circulation fan I use a bowl of salt with water added and a piece of cheese cloth hanging on the back wall that dangles on the wayer like a wick. Sometimes I will spray water on the cheese cloth to boost the humidity when needed.

[Alex]

I use an ultrasonic humidifire in my "cave" connected through a 24 hour timer. Now it works in cycles of 15 min on and 45 min off. The humidifier has a built-in intensity adjustment knob too. You HAVE TO monitor the humudity level becuse I noticed it is affected by the amount of cheeses in the cave.

[clherestian]

Do you have a link to the humidifier you use?

[Alex]

Sorry, no, I'm in Israel, It's a second hand bought US cold mist humidifier, the kind used in baby's rooms.
It is very similar to this one:
http://fp.vendaria.com/vpop/VpopViewer.html?uid=100658787&iid=AddpfzvImumvmKvJJIIKfwKILumLKv&bg=FFFFFF&nm=BZOpener&err=0&title=&pf=t&fr=t

[clherestian]

I only have a mini, dorm-room style fridge, so that humidifier wouldn't fit. Maybe I could find a smaller one.

[DeejayDebi]

They have a little tiny one at WalMart here about the size of a mans fist. I got one for Christmas for my mini cave but I forgot where I put it.

[Alex]

BC,

Connect it through a timer and by experimenting find the right cycle of ON and OFF. It's affected by the quantity of cheese in the cave at a certain time.

[umgowa]

I am a newbie and from reading this thread, I can see that maintaining the proper humidity is very important to having a successful outcome.  That being said, could someone tell me why the recipes in the recipe section of this web site (not the forum recipes - the recipes on the web site) do not discuss humidity??  They all discuss the temperature for aging the cheese being created but none address the correct humidity.  Thanks.

[DeejayDebi]

Not all recipes address humidity but it is an important thing to keep in mind - unless you want to grate all your cheeses.