It is just as easy to have a model curing room as one that is
defective in structure. A cheese may be turned out of the hoop
the acme of perfection in every detail of manufacture, and yet
subsequently be damaged partly or wholly ruined by inhabiting a
faulty curing apartment. The curing room should not be in a loft,
or above the make-room. It should be on the ground floor, and for
convenience it should open direct from the make-room, the door being
easy of access to the press. The partition between the two rooms
must be impervious to the steam arising from the cheese vats, as the
animal vapor is detrimental to the maturing product on the shelves.
The room should by all means be plastered, and have windows that can
be lowered from the top when necessary for proper ventilation. In
these times when cheese are frequently shipped when only ten days
from the hoop, a large curing room is not necessary even for a large
factory. The smaller you can have it without crowding, the better.
If you want a room that will hold 300 cheese, lay shelves 2½ feet
above the floor that will accommodate 100, put in stout uprights 7½
feet high, and on cross pieces above lay two more tiers of shelves of
the same surface capacity as the bottom counter. When it is finished
you have three tiers of shelves encircling the room, save for two
doors, with space left in the center for a box stove. The object of
arranging shelves one above another is not so much to utilize space
as it is to scientifically cure the product. It, however, answers
for both purposes. In a room, temperature rises with height, and the
atmosphere is, of course, several degrees warmer near the ceiling
than in the region of the floor. Hang a reliable thermometer on a
range with the second tier of shelves, in a portion of the room where
it will not be affected by direct heat from the stove. In this
position the mercury should range from 65° to 70° Fahrenheit, the
temperature on the top shelf at the same time rising to the vicinity
of 75° Fahrenheit. We will be supposed to carry a day’s make of
cheese into such a room when it is empty. Place them all on the top
shelf in regular order, two deep. Continue to add from day to day
until the top shelf is completely filled all around. Then begin at
the end where you first started, and take down the first day’s make
and place on the second shelf, arranging those fresh from the hoop
in their place. Continue this process all around until the second
tier is filled. Your next move will necessitate two removals, leaving
the oldest on the bottom tier and the greenest on top. As soon as a
cheese leaves the hoop a certain warmth of atmosphere is necessary to
assist the process of fermentation that should at once begin. If this
warmth is lacking green cheese will sour on the shelves before they
can cure. Therefore, always place them in the most favorable position
for assistance in the direction of maturity that you have at command.