Sailor:
I'm not really sure what I will do next. I have to work this weekend so my time in the kitchen will be limited.
I'm thinking probably either a Manchego or a Stirred Cheddar but right now everything is up in the air.
I'm dying to make a batch of Camembert and also a Stilton. One of those styles might be more suited to the time I have available this weekend.
Tea:
As for the pressing weights to use, my recipe gives the following information:
Press at 10 lbs. for 30 minutes.
Flip and re-dress and then press at 25 lbs. for 12 hours.
Now although I usually follow directions pretty closely this time I did variate from the recipe.
Since I use an air press, I was concerned with the line pressure coming out of the regulator but the equivalent weights and times I used for my 7-1/2" mold were:
35 lbs. for 20 minutes
flip, re-dress
35 lbs. for an additional 20 minutes
flip re-dress
88 lbs. for 6 hours
flip re-dress
100 lbs. for 6 hours
I did take these weights a little beyond what I normally use for this size of mold but I wanted to make sure that all whey was expelled from this cheese.
For the first couple of hours a LOT of whey came out of the wheel.
On the final 2 presses I probably didn't get over a teaspoon of whey out of the wheel.
I don't know that this was the correct thing to do but it will only be about 10 months or so before I can give you a definitive answer.
Hope this helps and good luck with the parm.
Dave