Not Cool Enough=SOUR?

[TorusKnot]

I've been making cheese sporadically with varying recipes and procedures for about 6 months now. It's been my intention to bring a few pounds to my Niece's Wedding Cook-Out Bash 600 miles away from me-next weekend.

There was no place to chill the results but in the basement where it stayed about 60 degrees.
I vacuum-packed all the batches in quart bags.
IT IS ALL SOUR/SUPER-SHARP/KEFIR like (and Dry)
Could this higher than optimal temperature cause this?
Lipase was used.

Thoughts?
Kevin

 

[bernardsmith]

I doubt it, TorusKnot, but I think I would need some more information. The optimal temperature for aging cheese is usually around 55 F so I would think that 60 F is not way off. I know when I lived in Scotland we never refrigerated our cheese and the temperature could be higher than 60 (though not much). The cheese might sweat a little but it was always OK.
What kind of cheese did you make? I never vacuum pack so my knowledge is very skimpy but vacuum packing cheese too soon may trap gases that need to escape and the gases can create ammonia aromas.

 

[TorusKnot]

Thanks for responding BernardSmith.
I'm beginning to expect an abundance of Lipase?
The age/sour/tart is, as I suggested, more like Kefir.

The types were based on Brick/Cheddar and Swiss recipes. I say "based on" because I really didn't know what I was doing other than trying to follow the recipe.

 

[bernardsmith]

I am a vegetarian and so don't use Lipase but I think that if you added too much that could create overly tangy cheese

 

[TorusKnot]

Thanks BernardSmith