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GENERAL CHEESE MAKING BOARDS (Specific Cheese Making in Boards above) => Problems - Questions - Problems - Questions? => Topic started by: kemushi on July 16, 2014, 08:54:17 AM

Title: How to get rid of brevibacterium?
Post by: kemushi on July 16, 2014, 08:54:17 AM
Hello world of cheeselovers!
I'm new to this game, and am starting to try out a few hard cheeses. I've currently got a six week old parmesan in the cave.  That might be a stretch of the words 'parmesan' and 'cave', but it's wheel of cheese in the cheese fridge anyway.
Unfortunately I seem to have contaminated it with brevibacterium.  I've been wiping it with a salt/vinegar solution to get rid of unwanted blue/grey mould, and suspect one of the cheesecloths I've used didn't get sterilised properly after last months taleggio. Schoolgirl error! But now my parmesan is orange, despite weekly salt/vinegar wipes. No signs of softening and it doesn't smell too pongy. I think I read that Brevibacterium enjoys a bit of salt, so am I making things worse? How do I get rid of it?
Thanks  :)
Title: Re: How to get rid of brevibacterium?
Post by: Boofer on July 16, 2014, 01:46:56 PM
 B. linens also likes it moist. Lower humidity will help as will not washing it regularly. A parmesan wouldn't be aged the same as a washed rind cheese which sounds like what you have going.

Here are several examples of washing the linens off: example1 (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,12050.msg93286.html#msg93286), example2 (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,9484.msg71192.html#msg71192), example3 (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,9293.msg68821.html#msg68821).

Guidance from linuxboy. (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,5687.msg41588.html#msg41588)

Oh yeah, welcome to the forum. :)

-Boofer-
Title: Re: How to get rid of brevibacterium?
Post by: kemushi on July 19, 2014, 12:32:40 PM
Thanks boofer, those were useful links.
It sounds like humidity is the culprit. I have the cheese in a Tupperware within the fridge, so although the fridge humidity is 90 I guess the container is a wee sauna. Will work on it!
Good thing I like washed rinds eh?