Hi Sproket- - first up welcome to the forum.. Dry v Brine. I could go into a long boring tirade about dissolving rates and absorbing rates of salt... and unfortunately it is a depends answer. I don't mean to be obtuse so by whey of explaination.
Case 1 dry salting Camembert style cheese I prefer this but you can brine them as well.
Case 2 Caerphilly some say brine - actually most do
- but I prefer dry salting during the press.
Case 3 Manchago - I brine.
And I know its confusing but it all hinges on what you are attempting to do and what cheese and also the moisture of the cheese after pressing. Cheddar - neither as it should have been salted prior to pressing. A Caerphilly can be still quite wet and adding salt to the outside needs to done carefully. Salt does 2 things.
1. stops the acid productions
2. draws whey from the cheese. brining (depending on the concentration) is more efficient in doing this.
Confused yet -- Sorry !
