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I am a novice cheese maker with my first two cheddars in the cheese cave and one two-week-old caerphilly opened yesterday and tasted for the first time.  I also have a caerphilly drying and may have a problem developing with it.

First of all, the caerphilly that we opened is much better than I expected it to be.  It was made with raw goat milk and following a combination of recipes.  It is a little saltier than I had hoped but reminds me mostly of the manchago that I have had in the past.  It is pure white, a little crumbly and quite mild.  It did not have the best start in life as I didn't have my cheese cave set up properly and was not able to control the temperature very well.  So, all in all I am quite pleased that it is edible.

The problem that I am having is with orange mold and a sort of fermenting odor, a slight amount on the cheese that we opened and much more on the one that is drying.  I have seen some *scary* things about orange mold online, so I am undecided about how to proceed.  I cut off all orange spots from the two-week-old cheese (these were minimal) and have used vinegar and salt rub on the cheese that is drying, but the orange is still there.  I decided this morning to try re-brining the drying cheese. 

How worried do I need to be about orange mold?  Will re-brining kill it?  It had been drying for two days.  I used caerphilly recipes that said to light press the curds, and there are lots of tiny pits in the surface of the cheeses, compared to the cheddars which were firm pressed. 

Thanks for any help! 

Kim at Highfeather Farm

What does "light" pressing mean to you?

One recipe said to use a pint jar full of water, which supposedly would equal 1 pound.  Another said they were guessing it was about 4-6 pounds.  I used my Dutch style press with no added weight, which according to the instructions with the press was equal to 6 pounds.  I flipped it 3 times, 10 minutes each press, and then 16 hours at the same pressure. 

I do have Margaret Morris' book which has a recipe for Caerphilly and says to press after redressing at firm pressure for 6-8 hours.  I believe I will try following her instructions with the next batch. 

In the meantime I have put the cheese back in brine, and the side that was under water and the sides have already lost the orange.  I flipped it in the brine bucket, and my plan is to remove it from the brine this evening or maybe in the morning and continue drying it.  ?  Does that sound like a decent plan to you? 

And what is this orange mold anyway?  Am I being overly paranoid?

Thanks, Kim

You should have been able to wash the orange mold off. I wouldn't leave the cheeses in the brine again. As for recipes if given a choice between Margarett Mirrus and most anyone else - I'd go with Margarett Morris anytime!

Well the thing is that there are a multitude of tiny pits in the surface; see "light pressing" in the former post.  So unless I went in there with a tooth pick or something I couldn't really get in to clean it out.  Soaking seemed like the only option...

Yes, I will definitely be giving Morris a try!  I was a little put off with her video because she uses such huge quantities of milk (I have goats and tend to do 2 gallons at a time), but I guess I will cut her recipe in half. 

THANK YOU for your response!
Kim

Use a soft brush. The cheese shops sell little cheese brushes for a few dollars made of plastic that work realy well and don't shed.