Tammy--That's funny. I thought I had read 3 hours per pound in caldwell's book, so Jeff's instructions seemed to line up perfectly. I just looked again an the brining instructions and figured out the confusion. She says, "...brine for 12 hours per pound (6 hours per kg)...". I only saw the 6 hours/kg which works out to 24 hours. If it's really 6/lb, then I need 48 hours, and if it's 12/lb I need 96 hours! That seems like a really long time--especially since the cheese is so flat. All that surface area should allow a more rapid uptake of salt. The books I've got all go for somewhere around 20 hours for 2 gallons, but also for 4 gallons of milk. It makes me wonder about the uptake curve. I'm really not sure what's best to do, so if any one know for certain, I'd appreciate the help.
Tammy and Boofer-- Yeah, I was under the impression that parm's yield was about 8%, so I go a little more than I expected. This experience was good enough, though, that I'll be trying other 12 gallon (maybe up to 15) cheeses at some point in the future. Those will be beefy cheeses.