Made a Toscano Pepato on Friday. Had trouble with plyban sticking to the cheese. To resolve the problem I flipped it in the mold without removing it, put it in the cheese cave for six hrs and it released without a hitch.
But now I have another problem and that being with the cheese in the brine solution it is cracking. I don’t mean one crack but like a mosaic. I don’t have access to Cheese Wax here in Panama.
All I have to use is Cream Wax, EVOO and Coconut Oil that is made locally.
Any suggestions or coments would be greatly appreciated.
If only the cracking would have been in the pattern of the face of Jesus or Mother Mary I could sell it on e-bay for good money!
By the way, this is a 40 lt make.

Hey Mike,

Sorry for the delay in answering.  I’ve been laid up for a while.  I’m not familiar with the cheese type you have made.  Nor am I familiar with “plyban.”  Is this your follower?  Sounds like your final press is without a cheese cloth (I do that too).  I have had trouble with it sticking, so now I coat the follower with olive oil at the final press.  No more sticking.

As to the cracking in brine - I’ve never experienced that.  What is your salt concentration?

I don’t recommend cheese wax.  I’ve been vacuum sealing for a few years and I won’t go back to wax.  It’s a far superior method IMHO.

Rich, plyban is the plastic cheesecloth that I use. On all of my semi-soft cheeses I have not had any problem with sticking but with this cheese ( hard grating cheese ) it was a problem from the initial press forward.
My brine solution is a saturated brine 23% with a PH of 5.0. I had decided to coat with coconut oil and it cover up the cracks nicely.
Still I don’t understand the cheesecloth ( plyban ) sticking to this type of cheese. I have read where other people have had trouble with soft cheeses sticking with the use of cloth and had solved the problem
by soaking the cloth in vinegar B/4 use.

I used to have that problem with my softer cheeses, primarily on the initial press.  It was a real pain to scrub the curd out of the cloth fibers without tearing the cloth.  For some reason I haven’t had any sticking for several years.  All I did was wash the new cloth in dishwashing detergent.  Then, prior to use, I sanitize in a bleach solution, and rinse between presses.  I’ve also used butter muslin with good results.