Thanks DD, very good, hope you don't mind but I'll add a link to it on the website's Cheesemaking page. I was interested in that their 12 month cheeses are washed and turned an average of 60 times!
reg i'm pretty sure that salt will inhibit bacteria but I think that doesn't mean it will be bead, just presumably dormant until on cheese when does it's business.
Also, som recipes for brine include using some of the dicarded whey that is 24 hours old! That would be one source of good bacteria!