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I agree with your accessment of the little fuzzys being more difficult. I sure hope I like them better than the store bought ones.

Seem to me I heard the soft cheeses were supposed to be easier. So far I don't agree!

Fresh Chevre is easy - not doubt about that, so that is what someone might have meant when they said soft cheeses are easy.

But the mold ripened cheeses are all a challenge and require attention to detail in making and exactly the right ripening conditions.

Yeah, my hard pressed washed curds are all doing awesome.  The moldies are in hell.  One is doing well enough for now and the other turned into a couple 2 lb. sacks of rotting garbage reminiscent of a stroll on the seaside when the dead flesh has washed up.

The camembert disaster is regrowing the white mold at the moment and should be in great shape within a week.

THERE--tonight's growth is almost over the whole thing, so in another day it should be about complete.  There's a strange discoloration on the lower left and I'm not sure what it is, but it is on the cheese body and being overgrown by white.  That's the only troublesome problem now. 

When I can move it, I'll get that moldy mat out of there.  That cheese cave is taken over by the penicillium.

Kind of reminds me of little polar bears that light downy fuzz.

That's why it isn't so repulsive to me: it's cuddly.

Plus, the white somehow lures me into a belief that it is sanitary.

but it feels like a spider web just not sticky

I drilled about 30 times more holes in those molds, cut a few in half, and they worked perfectly today.  My second batch is going strong at the moment, all problems of the first Camemberts are now corrected.

Assuming the second batch grows mold well, I'll be swimming in Camembert in 7 weeks, or 9 weeks, or later if I want runny Cam.

The knitting grids I use now, which are super cheap and can be purchased at Michael's for $.69 for a square foot or more, are far better than the bamboo matting.

Do you have a pic of your "knitting grids"? I am an avid knitter and have never heard of them. Do you mean the plastic grids needle point people use?

There are several of us that use the needlepoint grids. Really cheap and they cut easily to any shape you need.

I guess you can sterilize them too?

I wash them with a brush and soak the in sanitizer. Never tried boiling them they might melt.