Oh sorry, I totally missed that one (I get lots of messages and they are all in-line here). I hope I still caught you on time!
Yea, that Italian translation must have been performed using Google Translations or some tool. It's kind of funny in English
beyond to the practical one by hand
I think they meant to say that commercial production goes beyond the point where it is still practical to salt by hand.
Personally my preference with this type of cheese is hand salting. I don't know why... habit? It builds the rind slower and if you measure the salt (or already got a feeling for what's the right amount) than you should be fine. I would just measure 2.5% salt by weight and find a way to drop all of that all over the cheese. It may seem like a lot but don't let the quantity fool you, it is correct. (Much of it will disappear with the brine osmosis eventually).
Nothing against brining. In fact if you had asked me about Tommes I would no doubt vote for brining. Surface ripened cheese is somewhat more more gentle and "hand made", I like doing them this traditional way, just my personal preference. I have made them with brine before and it worked too though it works much faster than pressed cheese.
18% is enough to kill pathogens, create a good rind and properly flavor the cheese. Too much salt may slow down or inhibit growth of some rind bacterium that you want to have. Some very good cheesemakers like Peter Dixon swear by 23%-24% brines. They typically use it rather cold (50F-54F) and brine 25% less time than 18%. I have never tried it but I am sure quite a few people on the board have. I think it's just a matter of preference.
My suggestion, do the traditional Taleggio method of hand salting on this one before venturing into brining.
A little something about brines:
I personally don't use brines over 18% - again, just a personal preference; I am used to it. 18% is very predictable to me. I look for a brine that would have just enough salt to suspend the cheese afloat so that its top surface barely touches the surface of the brine. I measure the brine by weight and then verify with a salometer. I often need to add more salt, so it could be what seems like 20%-22% by weight but the salometer gives me true volume reading so if it says 18% I believe it. How do you measure your brine? Weight? Volume? Salometer?
Sorry for changing the subject for a second, but if have never used a salometer, it's a dead-accurate, inexpensive tool that never needs calibration; no dials, mercury, alcohol, electronics or moving parts - it's simply a glass buoy with numbers etched to the side of it. It looks like a long mercury thermometer. You drop it in the brine and it floats as high as the sodium content will suspend it. Whatever number happens to be at the brine surface is your salt % by volume. Here's my salometer at 18% brine:
