Larded Cheddar and moulds

[softy walter]

Hello
first being very new to cheese making much appreciate those who take the time to share their knowledge with the likes of me...Anyway went on a cheese making course and came back with a Cheddar wheel approx 12" across by 5" deep, Duly racked it and turned it everyday as instructed , and then applied lard and muslin. Its been stored firstly in a wine fridge for a week or two and is now in an old fridge in the garage which is not turned on . I have noticed that the lard seems to be showing fine white fur type mould, and somewhere in the layers so I cant tell if its on the cheese or the muslin there are black/dark areas. I did go and add some more lard a day or two ago and its sprouted again. Does this sound like something bad is happening, would you recommend taking off the lard and muslin and cleaning with brine and or vinegar and then vacuum wrapping? As a newbie im being scared by smells and moulds, its hard to tell good from bad. I would need to cut the wheel down to manageable wedges if i was to vacuum pack which kind of makes the whole thing less a bit less special looking, but im assuming if the situation does sound bad it might just save the day.

[Boofer]

Welcome to the forum, softy.

Wow, are you fortunate...a 12"x5" wheel of cheddar. 

First of all: why aren't you refrigerating your cheese? Did the cheesemaking course give you guidance on how to proceed once you took the new wheel home? I think you've got some nasties growing in there. I would unwrap it, clean off the surface with vinegar & salt, rewrap it in new muslin and lard, and refrigerate it between 45F-55F to age it.

-Boofer-

[softy walter]

Thanks boofer
well the advice was to store at between 10 - 12 celcius (50 - 53 F) so it wasnt too far different. Our house fridge runs a little colder than that. Sounds like i need to give it a scrape and an inspection and turn the fridge on. Sounds like you would relard rather than vacuum wrap.
cheers

[MrsKK]

If it were me, I would scrape all the nasties off, scrub with salt and vinegar, allow it to dry, then vacuum seal it.  Then keep it in the wine fridge, if you can.  If not, keep it in the warmest part of your refrigerator.  It will take longer to age there, but cooler is better than warmer for ageing cheese.