I highly recommend a brine. I've never had a cheese break down in a brine, and (so far) I only use store bought milk. Also, when deciding the amount of time to brine a cheese, you need to consider the overall mass, and the amount of surface area of the wheel in question. One hour per pound, per inch (of thickness) is a good guide. Therefore, a 60 hour brine for a 5 pound wheel is probably too much. A 5 pound wheel that is 5 inches tall would brine for 25 hours.
Finally, the brine temperature should be about 50 degrees, in order to create an ideal salt uptake and rind.
Greg