Well I finally bought myself a manchego mould. One day before I decide to use it I decided to boil it taking it part and boiling the pattern strip and boiling everything separately. I was surprised to find that when I went to fit the strip back in the mould it had shrank a bit. But oh well I went ahead and made my hispanco anyway. This was a 5 liter batch using skim milk and cream. Everything went great aside from my cheese having a scar running down the side (which i cut off anyway). I would like to hear from other manchego mold owners to see if this has happened to them before!! Oh and I would like to thank Danbo for all his help. I've attached a few pics!! before and after the brine.