Well after some great success using my stone walled basement as a cellar in the winter I quickly realized it was to warm 65-70F in the summer months so have spent the month or so researching building a cave. After a few false starts trying to get donated fridges to work I went out a bought a small 4CuFt fridge and rigged up a Johnson controller for it. That project completed I turned my energies towards what to make that would run the fridge a bit harder (to check out any condensation issues) and it seemed to just scream for a Camembert cellared cooler at 48F.
The make was two gallons of raw milk from that morning plus 1.5 cups of cream off the top. I know, I didn't need it but I had no other plans for it so in it went. Taken to 87F and started with some meso and about 1/10 tsp each of Dansco's Pen Cad. and Geo Cad. I busted my pH probe calibrating prior to the make so I have no readings to share. I let it ripened at 87 for about 90 min before adding calf rennet(1/8 tsp in 1/4 cup of water) Coagulation came fairly quickly and I was cutting 70 minuets later. Hooped in my new SS molds I made from 4" tube (I work in a brewery so we have lots of Stainless Steel kicking around) and flipped on the hour for five hours. Salted three of the four 4" and both 3" cheeses before going off to bed. Since they were already sagging a bit I left one in the mold over night. Next morning it too came out and got salted at ~ 6 grams per cheese and it was much better formed.
All kept at 47-48F and 96% RH for the next two weeks wiping down the container and fridge when any Whey or condensation showed its head. About day 8 white mold starts showing up Yeah! and the whey drainage is essentially done. Five days after that they are a nice uniform white fuzz ball but there are large wrinkles in the skin that has me worried about splippage. At 13 days I wrapped them up in cheese paper and popped in my normal fridge which runs around 38-40F and left them alone except for an occasional flip Here is the first one, pulled at day 31. Lovely soft layer with mild earthy flavor - that fresh mushroom heavenly note -I'm delighted but a little worried about how we are going to consume 6 wheels in the next week or two....life could have worse problems yes?
A question I have to the group is does this seemed way to fast a rippening? I guess it does to me as a lot of recipes call for 50+ for storage so I thought the cooler temps would slow them down. Does having that cream in there accelerate things?
I believe, that traditional Camb type takes only 21 days. I've been making them for some time now.
But I began having a problem, when I switched to Jersey. They were ripening in 18 days!
I tried a partially stabilized version using an addition of TA50, but it really wasn't that hot. So I tried
taking the temp to 92 (from Peter Dixon's manual) and cutting it to hazelnut size instead of ladeling it.
These two steps worked. I have a photo of my 'perfectly ripened' Cam posted with just a bit of a
more solid core. It took 31 days. I really feel that the temp was the the deciding factor in lengthening
the ripening time.
Also, I have decided that I want my Cams to be more traditional and have starting skimming to
reduce the fat. Jersey is in the high 4s and real Cams are mid 3s. I will see what happens in about
a 3 weeks.
Someone with more 'tech' knowledge should answer about the cream speeding up the ripening.
Have fun,
annie
nhbrewer, your make sounds just fine, but the picture looks like a classic case of skin slip. Given that your make was so proper and it doesnt' seem to be overcooked by temp, there are only 2 reasons this could happen (either one of combination of both)
1. You did not drain the cheese properly before putting it in the cave. At 47F in the cave the cheese doesn't drain because the fat and hardness of paste makes it too difficult for moisture to leach out. You should have drained it closer to 60F for 24 to 48 hours after unmolding and salting it. A contributing factor to incomplete drainage that looks complete prematurely may have something to do with the size of curd cut. Cut it smaller next time.
2. That darn wrapping of cheese. Totally unnecessary, but appears in a few cheesemaking manuals. Not a good idea. Unfortunately, especially with these two-layer cheese wrapping paper all you have is moisture trapped in, no air (in spite of marketing claims that they breathe) and your rind produces ammonia galore. The outside of the cheese "cooks" far faster than the inside and get liquefies before the heart of the cheese is ripe. You need to slow it down (think of it like lowering the heat on something that you cook too quickly in high heat).
As Annie commented - proper time for the recipe you've used is 21-24 days.
I have discussed in several threads here a method which helped many improve their Camemberts, it's a traditional method of rubbing and tapping the cheese lightly and turning it - daily. The cheese is in an aging container but unwrapped.
If you MUST wrap the cheese and want to keep it alive, there is only one wrap that works for bloomy rind, that is perforated cellophane. It's really good.