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I, too, am making my first blue cheeses, have two currently in a plastic box.  When I looked at them day before yesterday, they were covered with blue mold, kinda fuzzy looking, as were the boards I'd put the plastic meshes the cheeses were sitting on. 

Panicked, I took everything out of the plastic box (cheese, board, mesh, wet paper towels that also had blue mold on them and hygrometer/thermometer).  I scraped the surfaces of the cheeses, put them on a reed mat on a clean, sanitized board inside the sanitized plastic box.  They're pretty blue, and this is day 6 since making. 

The photos are of the little guys after I gently scraped them.  Are they okay? 

WHY did you scrape them??? That's what they are supposed to do.

Uh, er, oh, hmmmmmm . . . I scraped them because the Carroll book said that was the thing to do.  Did I ruin them? 

They were just so furry looking, and they had a real odor.  Not a bad odor, necessarily, but definitely something.  Ai yi yi, I've so little knowledge in all of this, am flailing about wanting to learn everything right this minute!

They've grown more fur---guess I'll leave them alone except for turning until a month has gone by, eh?
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I very much appreciate the comments and suggestions!

You can't always trust or go by the books. Which recipe were you following? I'll look at her instructions. Blues can/do get scraped, but not until the mold has died and turned tan.

Hello, both of my blues are doing fin, I guess. They continue to produce a slimey discharge. The one hasn't grown any more mold on the outside. I think because I made the mistake of salting the outside after I cleaned some slimey stuff off of it. The other one has become stickey with alot of mold and some brown and tan discharge. I'm hoping this is ok. I smell ammonia when open the cave. But when I let that subside they smell fine. I am going to wait a month to crack into either of them.

Sailor, I'm using the Ricki Carroll recipe.  The blue mold is rapidly getting furry again, so perhaps all is not lost.  The smell is pretty good, too.
 

There are lots of different kinds of blues. WHICH recipe??

Oh, let's see---it's the blue cheese recipe on page 166 of Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll.  I did scrape the cheese early, but I was a bit nonplussed at the furry appearance and odor of the mold.  I've since left the cheeses alone, and they're again furry.

You'll notice that in step 11 she says "After 30 days" to scrape. This is just to keep it from getting out of control, but in my opinion is unnecessary. The blue mold will run out of food, die, and turn tan. Then you can scrape it. I never scrape mine at all. I just vacuum bag and let nature take its course.

There are many things about this recipe that I disagree with. In particular, she suggests after 90 days putting it into a cold (34-38F) refrigerator and aging for 60 days longer. Then she says for a MILDER cheese go another 3 months... She is contradicting herself. However, I completely disagree with aging it that cold at all. At 34-38F there is essentially very little "aging" going on and it doesn't serve much purpose. It should only go into a cold frig when finished, not for aging. I keep mine in the mold for a week until the blue kicks in, then I age it at 54F until finished. At 90 to 120 days, you will have a great cheese.

I have made this cheese from Ricki's book several times, and it is one of my favorites. I did not smear at all, until month 2, when molds were getting out of conrol. I did move to colder temps at 90 days (merely for room space in my cave). However, I moved to temp of 45 degrees, as opposed to Ricki's suggestion--34 degrees is almost freezing (32 degrees). You'll destroy all aging properties at that temp! Good luck!

Thanks, y'all, for all of the info.  I'm greatly encouraged, especially as the fur has returned fully.  I'm able to maintain the preferred temp and humidity, will hope to have something incredible next Spring.  Onward!

Quote from: Sailor Con Queso on December 15, 2010, 03:17:39 PM
You'll notice that in step 11 she says "After 30 days" to scrape. This is just to keep it from getting out of control, but in my opinion is unnecessary. The blue mold will run out of food, die, and turn tan. Then you can scrape it. I never scrape mine at all. I just vacuum bag and let nature take its course.

There are many things about this recipe that I disagree with. In particular, she suggests after 90 days putting it into a cold (34-38F) refrigerator and aging for 60 days longer. Then she says for a MILDER cheese go another 3 months... She is contradicting herself. However, I completely disagree with aging it that cold at all. At 34-38F there is essentially very little "aging" going on and it doesn't serve much purpose. It should only go into a cold frig when finished, not for aging. I keep mine in the mold for a week until the blue kicks in, then I age it at 54F until finished. At 90 to 120 days, you will have a great cheese.

at what point do you vac bag? also, in the techniques of leaving at room temp until the mold takes over, do you do this for all blues or stiltons, in particular?

I do this for most blues but especially for Stiltons. Because it is unpressed, Stiltons can continue draining for several days so I keep them at room temp in the mold for about a week. Note that my draining room stays pretty cool. Some people have experienced a bitterness from starting at room temp. My Stiltons have showed no sign of a bitter taste.

I bag when the mold starts dying naturally, usually around 60 days.