Aging cheese---temperature control & storage

For everyone out there making aged cheeses of various types, how do you manage the storage and temperature control?

Are you just throwing the cheese in your regular fridge, in whatever you use for beer fermentation, in your cellar, or something else?


I have been wanting to make some nice aged cheeses for a while, but this issue has prevented me from making the jump so far. I simply do not have an extra fridge to store cheese, and from what I have read, regular fridge temps are not in the correct range for aging. For my beer I have been putting the fermenter in my cooler MLT and filling it with water, and putting ice bottles in there. This has worked very well for controlling fermentation temps, but I cannot use that method for cheese.

i use a thick styrofoam cooler and frozen waterbottles with some damp paper towels for humidity.
according to the thermometer stuck through the lid my temp stays bretween 52-56 degrees for 24 hours. i swap out the frozen bottles each evening and turn the cheeses over.
note - i haven't tried any of the cheeses yet - still aging.

I found a Haier wine chiller clearance priced at the store my son works at. With his discount, it was $16! With a little bowl of water and a little dishcloth in it (to evaporate), I was at 50 degrees with 90% humidity. I'm not making many hard cheeses now, but when I do I'm using either that chiller or using my foodsaver (instead of waxing the cheese) and putting it in my basement at 50 degrees.

Foodsaver meaning a vacuum sealer?

I ruined my wine fridge by storing cheese in it with 90% humidity
Maybe it would have died anyway, I dunno.

Aging is the trickiest part, cause you have to be all over the eventual mold that forms. Proactively wiping it down with brine on a daily basis helps a lot though. Here is a good discussion on the merits and disadvantages of different fridges: http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2684.0.html

Can anyone explain , why temperatures colder than 52 Degrees Fahrenheit are not suitable for cheese aging ?!

Hector

The beneficial bacteria that produces a cheeses character don't efficiently grow below certain temps, and 52F seems to be a common one.