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I recently aged a cheddar for about two months, and it turned out disappointing. The consistency was closer to a brie than a cheddar, and it had a bitter aftertaste. I think there was too much moisture while it was aging, because it was in a closed plastic container.

This one is about two weeks old at the time I took the picture. I've left the lid of my aging container cracked open so that it's not sitting in its own moisture, but it's becoming quite colourful. Should I be worried about this?

The cloth binding doesn't look quite right..  The cheesecloth should be soaked in butter/oil/lard, then the cheese wrapped & repressed so the cloth forms a "skin" on the cheese.  That looks very loose.

Having said that, I never worry about mold on the outside of cheese -- as long as it stays there

-L

I didn't have lard, so I used oil. It sounds like I should use lot more of it next time. Is there any reason to re-wrap it, or should I leave it as it is?

I don't think oil will work.  You need something that is solid at room temperature: lard, shortening, butter, coconut butter, etc.  The oil will just absorb into the rind.  There are oiled rinds, but it is a completely different technique and doesn't use cloth.

As for what to do now, I would take the cloth off and wash with a 5% brine.  You could potentially reband it after that, but you'll need to get the fat sorted out.  The cheese also looks kind of small.  I'm not sure if we are just seeing the top of the cheese... but if you are getting significant paste softening, then I think it is likely your cheese is just too small for doing cloth banding.  You'll want something that is at least 1 kg (2 lbs) in size probably.

agree with above - unwrap and see what is going on.

I've had some success with wrapping smaller cheeses in the past but it can be tough.  The one below was a cheese that slumped due to retained moisture and due to poor wrapping the mold penetrated the cheese and disseminated throughout.  I used butter but the cheesecloth i used was poor quality and didn't wrap well at all.

It tasted ok but mold in the paste wasn't the intent.

Mine was essentially all tossed since I didn't introduce the mold (the non moldy paste was delicious) - but live and learn!

Trent