Cheese fondue in a doubler boiler, not so simple? (It still clumped)

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Hey Reddit, I had a pretty frustrating night because I failed miserably to make cheese fondue. I used the following technique, which I was initially quite confident in but clearly I did something wrong either in purchasing or technique. I've googled around but most people simply recommend a double boiler and consider that the fool proof solution.

  1. Fine grated 1/2 pound of Jarlsberg Cheese (couldn't find emmental) and 1/2 pound of Gruyere cheese with a box grater. The cheese was approximately room temperature before getting used and was tossed with 1 tablespoon of corn starch per pound.

  2. Rubbed a stainless steel bowl with 2 halves of a garlic clove and placed the bowl above a pot oof simmering, steaming water. The bottom of the bowl did not touch the surface of the water, some steam would escape around the sides and droplets of water seemed to condense and adhere to the bottom of the bowl.

  3. To that bowl I added 1 cup of pinot grigio boxed wine. I monitored the temperature with a digital probe and found it to be about 140-142 degrees Fahrenheit.

  4. I then added a handful of cheese to the mix which clouded the wine pretty quickly as I constantly stirred. The cheese softened and became "smeary" and seemed to begin melting. I got to this point twice.

A. The first time I interpreted this as a green light and gradually whisked in additional shredded cheese mixture and watched it experience the same melting phenomenon. I would compare my rate to making mayo or hollandaise. But similar to a Mac and Cheese goof I watched the cheese go from smeary shreds to solid clumps.

B. This time I went slower and hoped to watch the first handful of cheese melt but it never did. This time I got a smaller bound clump of cheese and the same murky wine.

So if it got too hot, what should I do differently? Could there be an inherent flow with setting a stainless steel bowl above a pot of simmering water? Could my wine not actually be that acidic? What temperature is too hot, I was convinced 140 would be fine and the wine probably cooled down a bit with 70f cheese being tossed in? I'm dead set on trying again tomorrow but I need a better strategy.

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