Didn't see your earlier message. Books are slow going, but I have a good understanding of the content I want to cover and have a ton of papers organized. I'll do a series of classes before I leave here this fall, one last push. Chehalis is pretty far though, two hours.
5.3 is not the end of the world, but it means you didn't use enough culture and/or rennetted too early. If you rennetted too early, you'll have high mineralization, and the flavor development will be rather slow. And if you didn't use enough culture, same thing, slow flavor development. Without enough bacteria, there are not enough enzymes from bacterial death, and it takes a while to build flavor. Not the end of the world, keep it warm for a while longer, check it in the morning, and by that point, you should brine.