Ken, I must have missed this post when you made it. The first and second parmas I made were by time, using Rikki Carroll's recipe. I don't believe they spent two days before brining, but don't recall the exact amount of time - this was early on, and I was not keeping very good records at that point. The second one is now 2+ years old, and starting to get very, very good. So going by time can yield good results.
That said ... I would wonder if the proper procedure is to take it out at the 5.4 ph point and brine it. Maybe this will jog someone else with more data to answer ...
