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Here are some tips for any washed rind cheese.  If you can dose the brine with cultures do it.  If not about 6 hours after brine give them a dip in a 3% dosed solution.  Dip the cheeses daily for the first three days and flip.  After day 3 just flip them.  Wait until you can see a slight fuzz growing, should be 4-7 days.  This means that the rind neutralisers have done their job (PLA, OFR, KL71, GEO etc.) and it's ready for SR3 to start kicking in.  Now lightly, and I mean lightly, brush the rinds daily with the same 3% solution.  Keep doing this until any geo or candidum moulds have stopped growing, this could take up to 14 additional days.  Once the rind has stabilised, wrap the cheese in glasene paper and age it at 4C.  Should be ready in a month or more depending on recipe and format.

If you want to "wash back" from older cheeses just scrub them first and be sure to get all their funky goodness stuck in the brush and sloshed in the wash solution before you start on the young ones.

Linux, Francois:
I don't have at hand mix rind inoculates at this moment.

and just finished reading other post where you describe how to wash with 2% brine and a small portion of the rind of a tomme pureed in distilled water.
my tomme (first one) has been in the cave (small wine fridge at 50F, with a water container to increase RH, the RH meter is coming) for 10 days along several wheel's of manchegos and Goudas.

the tomme recipe went well floc. time was 14min.  curds matted well under whey, I probably used much weight for the pressing 15kg for a 2kg cheese overnight, and around 12h in saturated brine I choose the washed curds variation.
I could try the puree rind wash but maybe the manchegos will also develop the mold/yeast?

or since I cant control at this moment the temperature and humidity for the required steps in the mix rind treatment I should just leave it with a natural rind?

and one more off topic question: at this stage I am experimenting with different cheeses and variation of recipes to transform the small amount of sheep milk I am produsing, so not taking into account local markets and costumers if it was you, and for yourself what cheese, or variation of a cheese would you make with a small amount of 100% seep milk (hopefully a make that has a recipe available)
many tnxs!!

Oh man, with sheep's milk? I would go for a wild rind Tomme like a Pyrenees / Basque styles of Tomme (http://www.murrayscheese.com/prodinfo.asp?number=20058200000), or Roquefort type blue, or a softer bloomy type. Sheep based Brie or Reblochon style cheeses are very decadent and rich. One more cheese to think of is something in the style of the Spanish Torta de la Serena. (http://www.atlantica-co.com/products/8/7/torta-de-la-serena).

Since my last post where I was clueless to surface/rind inoculates I have now a reblochon and a Camembert in the cave. I have KL71 geo PC and B. linnens
I  have a question regarding Francois recipe for a washed rind tomme (last post)
Lets say I have a mini wheel tomme (1Lb) and I do the geo.KL71 B.Linnens wash right after the brine (in its still rindless state) until the linnens kicks in then wrap it  and put it in the regular fridge (4c) for a month will it age at that temperature?
will it turn into a reblochon type (maybe good)?
how do I keep the geo linnens at bay so it just forms a dry interesting crust without softening The paste? is such a thing possible in a small wheel?
Merry Christmas to all!

I think reducing moisture (higher make temp or smaller curd cutting) will prevent any major softening of the paste.
4c will slow down any bacterial activity considerably.

Whats the reason to lowering the aging temp for a month?

Thank you Tomer.. I was just trying to understand  Francois advice for a washed rind tomme (this thread a couple of post up) and trying to apply it to tomme mini-wheels (1lb) maybe this small size can only be marketed rind-less  (vac/pac) or it will be all rind and no paste.
following Yoav's advice I am going to make them larger

Larger is usually better all though im not sure thick rind is an issue with these higher moisture levels all though I have seen some firming up of my washed tomme despite the high humidty (90+ %).
Ive done a smallish one of around 800 grams.

Its 4 months now and im gone open it and let you know how far the mold has "eaten" the cheese

I put a couple of 500gm tomme wheels in containers together with the ripening reblochons, they are beginning to catch the linnens rind, i will see how they progress

I think I need a bit of a theory lesson with regard to "L" and "D" and "LD" type starters.  Could some one point me in the right direction please? 

The reason I ask is that some of my washed curd tommes have started to expand...they are now 3 weeks old.  I have recently started to use FD as a starter culture which is I understand is a gas producer (and there fore a 'D' type starter?) so I guess this is the reason.  Unless it is blowing because of coliforms etc.

So if the FD is going to cause gas production does this mean that I didn't press the cheese enough to knit the curds better and thereby create a strong enough curd to resist expansion?  Or should I expect expansion?

Or maybe I just used too much starter culture?

Any assistance will be gratefully received.

Happy new year to all.

NVD.

I posted this in a past thread but cant find it. I found
https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,8509.msg59881.html#msg59881
https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,6644.msg46978.html#msg46978

The gist of it is that L has leuconostoc, D has diacetylactis, and LD has both. FD will form small holes, but nothing drastic. Not enough to puff out the wheel. If you have late blowing 2-3 weeks in, it's propionic or coliform, or something similar.

QuoteSo if the FD is going to cause gas production does this mean that I didn't press the cheese enough to knit the curds better and thereby create a strong enough curd to resist expansion?

Not at all, no.

QuoteOr should I expect expansion?

No, it may form small eyes, but it will not cause the wheel to expand.

QuoteOr maybe I just used too much starter culture?

Not likely; I think you have a contaminant. How does it smell?

This chart has some very simplified info.  I hope you resolve the gas issue!

Thanks for that.

I am in the process of commissioning a new water treatment plant so I guess that is the answer.

How does the citrate production/degradation pathway work? And what is its significance?

The cheese smells fine so I will age it out and see what happens.

NVD.

Quote
How does the citrate production/degradation pathway work?

Without being too technical the gist of it is that citrate is present in milk, and some bacteria utilize it for energy, alongside lactose utilization. If you want to know about biochemistry or bioenergetics, I can go deeper into it, but it tends to get rather extreme in the technobabble.

Quote
And what is its significance?

Mostly, flavor and aroma formation. Especially in producing diacetyl compounds in cheese. Used commonly for cultured butter, for example, or also for gas formation on cheeses like gouda for the small eyes.

ok.

So if we want gas and buttery notes we need the citrate to be metabolised.  And this metabolism is mainly done by L and D type starters respectively.

NVD

Yep, exactly.