Cave Accidentally Hot For 2 Days - Impacts On Ripening Cheeses?

[judyp]

Oh, I am  brand new to cheese making.  My very first batches have aged 5 months in my cheese cave (wine cooler).  My son unplugged the wine fridge to plug something else in.  I didn't notice and it was off for 2 days.  The temperature when I opened it tonight was almost 80!!!!     I plugged it back in.  The cheeses were all oily.  2 of them are waxed and there was some oil coming from some pores in the wax.  The 2 that I put in there two days ago, seemed okay.  The Swiss cheese was also very oily.  We opened it up and it tasted warm, but very good. 

This is what I did.  Please tell me if I need to do anything else and what kind of effects will this have on my cheese?
I put the cheeses in my kitchen refrigerator to bring the cheese temperature down.  Once they feel cool again, I plan on putting them back in the wine refrigerator. 

Please tell me the cheese is forgiving and they are not ruined.  The cheeses are Colby, aged 5 mo., Cheddar, aged 5 mo. , Manchego (only 2 days old)
Thanks very  much!!!
Judy

[Gustav]

I may be wrong, but I don't think there will be a problem. It wasn;t toooooo hot. But I don;t understand why it got oily though?

[darius]

Did you break your son's arms? I would have considered the possibility, LOL.

[iratherfly]

at 5 months they are quite forgiving. Lactic acid gone, most vital flavor bacteria is dead. It's just annoying to lose fat this way. In the Swiss it may accelerate some more P.Shermanii development but this is really not a huge deal.  I would naturally let them get back to temperature in the cave. A fridge would harden the fat and not let it move back into its place (not specifically from the rind-in but also fat that has traveled by the heat inside the paste). Just let them get back to temperature. Rub them with a paper towel the next day and that's it.

For future reference... you will need to talk to your family members and define the cave as a sterile area. Luckily it wasn't a Camembert!

[smilingcalico]

You may also end up with some great results.  Some hard cheeses are aged at ambient temperature (whatever it happens to be).  Apparently they can have great flavor and nuances that you may not get with a consistent temperature.  Iratherfly could probably comment more on that.  Of course those are probably in more tewmperate climates.