Dave thanks for remembering and my apologies for not getting back sooner. My DH somehow downloaded a trojen early in the week but assured my that after running all the spyware etc, that it was deleted from the computer. 24 hour later, all our drivers were disabled. grrr So I am on my SIL computer for the moment as ours is still not up and running.
Anyway, yes I did the parm. I have been watching you and Wayne and trying to learn from what you two had been doing. The purchase some time back of a very large ballon whisk, was essential, as there was no way I was going to get the curd "wheat grain size" any other way. So I stuck to the recipe, had beautifully small curds, transfered quickly, and got in the press while they were still very warm. As you said, there was probably only about 1/2 cup of whey expelled. I flipped and redressed about 3 time at 1/2 hour intervals uping the pressure by about 5-10 pounds each time. Almost no whey came out after the third flipping, but pressed overnight anyway. I had around 80 pounds on for around 3-4 hours, but after hearing an almighty crash from the kitchen, I ended up reducing to 60 pounds for the final press.
My arms and back felt like I had done a work out the next morning, as I repositioned those weights so many times trying to get an even press, and in the end it was worth it, with only a little lopsidedness. The final look of the rind is well knitted and closed with no visible holes. I thought is was pretty good for a first. I brined for 12 hours in a 20% solution, dried for 3 days, and for now I have wrapped in paper and have it stored in the fridge. My cave had the blue/white cheeses in there, and I didn't want blue on the parm.
I have taken some photos and will add when my computer is up and running again.
I wasn't sure how to age it from here. Do parms do well being waxed? Or would leaving it form a natural rind, with a weekly salt rub be better?
Anyway I am tentatively happy with this one, espically as this is my first go at a hard cheese like this. Any advice on how to age it from here on would be much appreciated.