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Hi All.

I'm still struggling with the rind on my blues.  I am trying for a complex natural rind - but it is a little too complex and too natural!

I am getting a very sticky/slimey rind developing 2-3 weeks after I start maturing.  Sometimes the cheese passes through this stage as it is first colonised by white mould then others.

It doesn't affect the cheese itself and rarely penetrates more than 3-4mm.

The pic below shows the pinky sticky rind and up in the top right shows the white mould starting to colonise the surface.

Any ideas on how to solve this problem will be gratefully accepted...

Thanks.

NVD

ps for some reason my pics get turned on their side!

It looks like you have a B. Linens takeover.  I see this more commonly on high moisture cheeses.   Are you doing lactic, semi-lactic, or rennet coagulated?  Also, do you leave your lights on much in your ageing space?  That can also contribute to pink coloring.  What's your humidity and temp?  Sorry, this isn't following much pattern, it's been a long day.  Must be bedtime.

You are targetting an alternative growth cascade to the one you want.

Your growth cascade looks to be

yeast+ surface bacteria
some bloom of geo/pc/other
b linens or similar cover

This happens when humidity is rather high (90%+), and surface moisture is fairly high. What kind of wild surface are you trying to achieve? Maybe there's a commercial example you could point us to?

Thanks for all of that.

The rind probably is higher moisture than it should be and although I don't measure the humidity in my room white moulds grow well so I assume it is pretty high.

I don't have any particular style of rind in mind - as long as it is dry.  I am happy to have it 'wild' looking.

I have put the cheeses in the cold room '4oC' in the past for a few (2 or 3) days to dry them out and this may have solved the problem in the past but I have stopped doing this now.  Maybe I should start doing that again?

What is a better growth cascade to achieve a non-sticky rind and what should I do to help that along?

I recently started adding KL to my mix.  Is this part of the problem?

I use a basic meso+TA+LH100+blue mould culture mix.  Nothing fancy.

Thanks.

NVD.

It's a tad tough, mate. The blues have high surface Aw. Commercially, for cheeses like gorg, ones that are surface salted, many are still washed with a special rinse after the initial 1-2 week aging because they will be slimey, and then they are wrapped in foil.

What I would do if you want a rind is to try to target a non-b linens cascade. Meaning in those two weeks, keep humidity on the lower side. Salting more will not do too much, b linens is highly halotolerant. Keeping things cool does help, as does really drying out that rind (use a fan if you have to). You can also try to beneficially inoculate to help control b linens. For this, Mycodore is a decent choice.

IMHO, using DH or KL on blues will increase stickyness unless you follow it up with a furry mold. But then you have to tap it down and retard that growth else the rind will be too proteolyzed. It's a tough balance to maintain. But think about the conditions that favor the growth of each type of flora, and control accordingly.

Yes I understand what you are saying.

I might drop out the KL, and put them in the 'cold room' for 3 days to really dry out the rind.

Some are good some are not so I am getting conditions right at times.  It seems to be worse on the cow than the goat, but my cows always turn out to be a higher moisture cheese - not sure why as its the same make.

Smilingcalico: room temp is 12oC, not sure about humidity but it is high since white moulds grow well.  Part of my problem is having just the one room for everything that I make - whites, blues, tommes, lactics etc.

OK.  I'll keep everyone posted.

Thanks.

NVD.

OK, then if some are turning out, it's really a nuanced difference... talking a few percentage RH, few degrees, and slight AW variations.

Your cow milk likely has different milk PF ratio, likely has more fat, so it's harder to really drain. You can adjust the make, decrease the set time, decrease the curd size to, say, 3-4mm, will come out a little more dry.

I think you're on the right track. I get what you mean about having only one cave... maybe if the rind gets bad, scrape it down, start over.

Quote from: smilingcalico on February 18, 2012, 06:19:13 AM
Also, do you leave your lights on much in your ageing space?  That can also contribute to pink coloring.

Now that's an interesting question. Can you offer any additional info on this?

-Boofer-

Yes that is a great question.

My answer is 'no' in theory.  In practice I often come in the next morning and think *!%# I forgot to switch the lights off.

NVD.

Boofer, light causes pink discoloration defects in cheeses colored with annatto.

No annatto in my cheese.

NVD

I'll have to double check where I saw that about pink and light.  I constantly come to work to find the lights have been on all night.  When washing cheese I found that there were pink spots that I couldn't scrub off.  At first I suspected a mold stain, but I can remove most everything with a simple wash.  We don't use annatto either, and I don't recall seeing it mentioned in the article.  Take my suggestions with a grain of salt as I know just enough to be dangerous.

I've had pink stains and I couldn't scrub them off. Am I correct in assuming that they are not a negative aspect to a cheese? Nothing to worry about? Are they a precursor to B. linens orange color?

-Boofer-

i would suggest drying the cheese 2-3 days before ripening and  after its dry in the ripening room to clean the cheese with vinegar (2-3 tee spoons in a glass of water) with Peace of cloth for 3-4 days

I had the same problem with a gorg dolce, a yellowish sticky-stinky-sulferic verietal of b.linens.
Eventually I scraped it off,treated the rind with brandy ,let the rind dry and wrapped the cheese with foil piercing the foil somewhat so veins can continue to grow.
The rind problem was solved as the liens was sufficated.