Brick CHEESE. 167 
321. Curing the Cheese. 
From the salting table the cheese is carried to the curing 
cellar, where it is laid on tiers of shelves arranged around the 
room. These shelves are ten or twelve inches apart. The cheese 
are laid on their broad sides for a week or two until they begin 
to cure, when they may be laid on their edges. 
The cellar should be kept at a temperature of about 60° F. 
and the relative humidity should be 80 to 90 per cent. This, it 
will be seen, is a little higher than is best for Cheddar cheese. 
Fig. 82.—Brick and Munster cheese in curing cellar. 
With such a humid atmosphere the cheese will probably mold, 
and the maker is kept busy washing the mold off from the 
cheese. He should get around to wash each cheese once or twice 
a week, and if necessary oftener. The water used may be clear 
water, or it may have a little salt dissolved in it. 
322. Appearance of Gas, Remedy. 
If gas appears in the cheese it will huff up and bulge out 
at the ends, sides and edges. Where this occurs to any ereat 
extent the value of the cheese is reduced, and the best remedy 
is to apply the Wisconsin curd test to the milk* and eliminate 
the cause. The value of this test was first demonstrated in brick- 
cheese factories. 
*See page 16. 
