Brevibacteria Linens

B-lines is used on washed rind cheeses, these cheeses are usually quite acidic as B-lines thrives in this environment. After a 3%-5% brine spray or wash of B-lines is used over a week or two. It can also be added to other liquids like beer, brandy and wine. B-lines also likes a moist/high humidity environment. It can be bought but its also possible to rub a bought cheese that already has B-lines on the rind and transferred over to your freshly made cheese. Back in the day monks used to wash old cheese and new cheese straight after to help spread the B-lines.
B linens needs a pH of 5.7 + to grow. When a cheese in brined (22% salt), it usually drops to around PH 5.1 so Geo is added to the B-line spray, this causes the geo yeast to eat up the acid causing the PH to increase back to 5.8. The B-lines then kicks in to action as it feeds off the by-product of the yeast consuming lactic acid

Geo 13 can also been added to the Blines wash to help rind development

This promotes the yeast which feeds off the lactic acid increasing the PH for the first 3 days. The Geo is the first to develop in the first few days, then the Penicillin then starts to bloom after 4-5 days increasing the PH to around 6.5. The Geo then dies and the B-lines starts to feed off it. Food and correct PH is important for the Blines to survive and thrive on the rind. A good source of food is pantothenic acid which is produced naturally by yeast.

• Salt should be around 3-5% for b.linen spray solution
• A bought Blines cheese can be rubbed and transferred to a freshly made cheese
• Rind from cheeses can be kept, and rubbed on new cheese
• Geo 13 can also been added to the Blines wash to help consume the lactic acid.