Farmer, the
Gouda Cheese Making Recipe on the website is an amalgam of the
four I compared here.
Yes, less dense higher moisture content than cheddar so more curds to press, I'm guessing the final cheese will be 25% bigger than your Cheddars.
Not all Gouda recipes call for pre-pressing in whey or preheating of the hoop. I think it's primarily to keep the curds as warm as long as possible to enable a better knit, not such an issue with your large volume. If you do, I don't see any reason you couldn't pre-press by pouring the whey over your mold.
For pressing weight/pressure/time please see those four recipes, that's all the info I could find. It will be way way less than your Cheddars.
There are some
info webpages on brine that you should plan for in advance, (volume, using whey, amount of salt, etc). I believe someone else and recently linuxboy just about using a large food grade garbage can for his brine tank. Your brining time will be in days!
Looking ahead to aging, you'll need to think what you are going to do for a rind, initially natural then oil or wax etc?
Lastly, any additives such as Annatto for colour or Caraway Seeds or Cumin Seeds etc or au naturel?
Good luck, love to see some pictures of such a big on getting made.