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My 13C cave was beginning to smell kind of basement-bad, so I decided to remove all the cheeses and give the cave a good wash and treatment with StarSan.

All cheses was washed with a light brine with a little vinegar. The cheeses was dried with paper towels and left to airdry for a couple of hours.

I chose to vacuum-pack all the cheese...

Now I'm starting to wonder... Is it a good idea? I assume that the cheese will ripen the same way inside and at the same speed.

Is there anything that I need to be aware of? I don't have much experience with this...

:-) Danbo

Danbo,
  I vac bag 90% of my cheese, as long as they are dry, I've had no problems----every once in awhile the vaced bag puts enough pressure on the cheese to expel some whey, I just keep an eye on them for awhile, and if it does happen, I just take it out and dry and repack---I used to wax most of them----but I think I like the vac bag better because I can see what's happening and it doesn't seem to change the aging.
Qdog

I'm glad to hear that you have good results with vacuum packing.  I think that a natural or washed rind is beautiful but also a lot of work.

When do you consider a cheese to be dry enough for vac.?
Is drying 2-3 days at 13C usually enough?
Is it OK to first grow a natural rind and the vac. at a later time?

A lot of questions... :-)

:-) Danbo

I let them sit out for at least three days to get them good and dry.  If they can develop a rind in that time I let them.

Just at normal room temp.?

Semi-hard cheeses; I let them air dry at cave temp for about 1 week, them cream coat them and age another 3 weeks, then vac seal them.
Hard cheeses (milled or curd salted): air dry at cave temp 3-4 days, then vac seal.

Most people will tell you that vac sealing or waxing leaves an unpleasant taste. This is because there is a an additional step to take that is not well documented:

When the cheese is ready, take it out of the vac-seal and put it into a ripening container and back in the cave for 2-3 days. flip daily. Your cheese requires that time to air out.

Is the cream coat primarily to do with looks or does it play a role regarding taste and vac.? It sounds like a good idea to let the cheese breathe for a couple days when our of plastic... Thanks for the advice! :-)

Sir Danbo,
  I usually dry mine at room temp for 2-3 days---but some have taken 5-6 days----you don't want the rind to dry to quickly and you want to make sure the whey has stopped dripping. I even vac bag my cheese that was olive and coconut oil coated after a couple weeks. The olive oil cheese develops a rind very much like a commercial Jarlsberg.
Qdog

Quote from: Danbo on January 28, 2015, 10:22:26 PM
Just at normal room temp.?

Yes, 68-70 degrees farenheit normally.  Same with baby bries when doing the intial flipping in the molds.

Thanks folks.... I feel much more calm now... :-)

My lovely Wife bought me a Vac Packer from Aldi yesterday - just in time for the Blue . I hope they work better than the manual hand pump baggies from Korea ?

-- Mal

I have one of the Aldi machines from a couple of years ago. It is brilliant. I bought some of the refill bags during the week. Hopefully you are as happy with yours as I am with mine. Is it still model VS-2501 or have they made a revision?

Shane

OzzieCheese: First an Extech PH100 PH-stick and now a vacuum packer... Did you buy her flowers or something? If not, she deserves it... ;-)

It was whatever Aldi are selling at the moment but Oh I know, my lovely lady is a wonder - and would you believe it she doesn't want flowers. I'm blessed !! So, I wouldn't tell you that I'm also getting a proper digial Thermometer and Cave Cube for RH control. 

So, some serious cheese I hope

-- Mal

Come on, Mal... Now I have to buy more gear in my lousy attempt trying to keep up... My whife doesn't demand flowers but she has a serious shoe fettish...