The neverending battle with b.linens infestation goes on. >:D
New casualties are the couple of Brie. They are 2 weeks old. PC has been growing pretty well untill vicious b.linens captured the top and the bottom of the cheeses. PC can't grow anymore and I wonder if anything can be done with this contamination. I'm afraid B.linens will not allow the proper maturation of Brie.
Somebody help! :-[
It looks very moist in there. Might need to be drier while the rind forms?
Clean the top and bottom with brine with a small amount of white vinegar in it. It should kill the b linens but the PC will continue to grow. Mont D'Or is made that way, washing one side of the cheeses with brine every other day, and the PC still continues to grow.
Thank You very much Al
I've started the cleaning procedure. Hope it will help :D
TrickiDicki
Thanks a lot. Now I leave the container lid slightly open to lower the moisture.
I believe there is no chance to save these bries. They are bald like Bruce Willis's head. ;D B'linens is dead but PC or GEO don't grow. 2 weeks ago I sprinkled the cheese surface with PC and GEO dissolved in water, but it did not help. Maybe I've used too much vinegar to clean the surface.
If these are not too old yet try making the vinager ph 4.8 or so , blinens can not grow for sure and it is a god ph for geo. Vinager may be too low for it to thrive.
I'm actually having exactly the opposite problem. I'm trying to develop a B.linens rind on a munster. I wash it every other day in light brine. and after 1.5 days I have a nice white fuzzy bloom completely covering the red. My box is really humid. I'm just letting it go to see what happens (and who will win) but I have no idea what is going on.
Quote from: Gregore on February 24, 2017, 04:28:51 AM
If these are not too old yet try making the vinager ph 4.8 or so , blinens can not grow for sure and it is a god ph for geo. Vinager may be too low for it to thrive.
Thank you Gregore :)
They are both 40 days. I poured some vinegar in the water to get PH 4.6 and sprinkled the surface. Let's see if it helps.
Quote from: LantGladstone on February 24, 2017, 08:06:35 AM
I wash it every other day in light brine.
Did you add b.linens to the brine?
Usually Geo comes first. It lowers the acidity of the rind so that b.linens can grow. In that case b.linens always wins. >:D Here is my Munster at the beginning and at the end.
That's a beautiful cheese, Alexander - AC4U!
That's beautiful!! I only added B. linens to the milk at the initial ripening stage not in the brine. Do you think I should? Thank you for the advice.
That is awesome looking cheese Alexander, yum yum!
You need to wash it every day for the first week or 2 .
Now that you have PC , i would give it a good wet rub with a cloth or brush , you don't need to wipe out / kill the PC just give the b linens a fighting chance
Quote from: LantGladstone on February 24, 2017, 11:18:01 PM
That's beautiful!! I only added B. linens to the milk at the initial ripening stage not in the brine. Do you think I should?
Adding b.linens to the brine will accelerate development of the orange/ivory rind. It is not mandatory if you already have b.linens in the milk but can help.
I just reread my post , I hope it was understood that that advice was for Lantgladstone's cheese issue and not Vnatures cheese
Thank you all for the kind words. The Munster was really yummy. I experimented with different "smeared-rind" cheeses like Reblochons, Pont l'Eveque etc. but this Munster was the best by taste. Thank you once again.
Quote from: Vnature on February 25, 2017, 05:57:03 AM
The Munster was really yummy. I experimented with different "smeared-rind" cheeses like Reblochons, Pont l'Eveque etc. but this Munster was the best by taste.
Got to love the schmier!
Any pics or details on your other "smeared-rind" cheeses? They're a favorite of mine.
I like the look of your Munster. Have a cheese.
-Boofer-
Quote from: Boofer on February 25, 2017, 06:26:29 PM
Any pics or details on your other "smeared-rind" cheeses? They're a favorite of mine.
I love them too. Thanks for the cheese. :D
I don't have much experience in cheesemaking. But here are several pictures and some details. This Reblochon was the third cheese I made in my life. I was very overconfident ;D. Nevertheless the cheese was not bad at all. But not ripe enough, with the firm core.
Another cheese was Pont l'Eveque. Unfortunately I had to leave it unattended for 3 weeks because of the vacation. When I came back I found it overripe. It smelled like a garbage dump. And tasted toooo sharp. My wife couldn't eat it so I ate it alone. :o
There was the failed Limburger after that but I accidentally deleted the pics. There was the good Munster after all and my wife said she could hardly survive with that smell in the kitchen >:D But time heals and now I have a couple of ripening Reblochons, 1 kilo each.
And I suddenly got the smear-ripened Gorgonzola Dolce. Insidious B.linens attacked it and I followed Al Lewis's advice. I air it 1 hour a day at room temperature to form the rind. It's stinky like a scrapyard :o
I cut the first failed Bree. It's firm and sour. Absolutely uneatable.