1) Often I ash the Brie before aging/ripening and the white mold grows over. The tops and bottoms get a nice thick velvety white layer, but the sides don’t develop as thick or velvety a layer. The black does get completely covered but while all of the wrinkles are covered on top and bottom, you still see some of the wrinkles on the sides and the color is more of a very light dusty gray because the mold is not as velvety there. But I feel that it’s time to wrap in paper because the wheels are otherwise ready and don’t want them to overripen. (For background, after extended draining, they were ripened in an aging box with the top askew in my wine fridge for about 12 days, flipped daily and all parts of the aging box wiped down; moisture in the box seemed pretty perfect each day.)

a) How do I get more velvety white coverage on the sides of my wheels?

b) I’ve never done the patting down — is that something that you do each day when you wipe out the box during the ripening?

2) When you wrap each wheel with cheese paper, then do they sit out in the open in the fridge (vs in the aging box). I’m assuming out in the open (ie, the paper becomes the “box) but I haven’t found anything that clarifies this in any of my books or online anywhere.

Thanks for your help!