I just tested the ph the day after I took it out of the brine I'm not sure what the ph markers are suppose to be but I know you want it in the press before you get much lower then 6.4 or something like that. This is my first time with this cheese so I'm not sure what to expect. As far as culture I only needed 1 gram for 3 DCU and I put 7 grams. My saving grace might have been it was out of date. I'm going to have to start having someone check my math because I make simple errors sometimes.
Chetty, there will be some differences depending on the exact variety, but a very general rule of thumb for many hard/pressed cheeses is that you want to drain the curds when the whey pH is around 6.2-6.3, and you want to stop the acidification at around pH 5.3-5.4. For a cheese that is cheddared, this means you stop cheddaring, mill and add salt when it gets to 5.3-5.4. For a cheese that is brined or dry salted, you press it until it reaches 5.3-5.4, then start the brining/salting.
Those are some large cheeses, compared to what most of us are making! The largest I ever make is 6 lbs or so, but most are in the 4 lb. range.
