i ended up making a havarti, I am amazed at the difference in the make. i didn't know what I was missing. The curd was much firmer and tasted great when i tried a little bit before pressing. I will never use store bought milk again. I went with havarti mainly because I wanted something I could try sooner rather than later.
I used the recipe from 200 easy cheeses, it was different from the last havarti I made, where I think I used DeeJay's recipe. It called for salting the curd right after washing, instead of brining, before draining the whey, which is something I haven't done before. It seems like it wouldn't allow the PH to drop enough, but since I don't have a tester, we'll see how it goes. I attached a pic of the cheese out of the press.
Anarch, I have loved them for a long time, my wife even walked down the aisle to Sandusky, by Uncle Tupelo. I had my own brush with Jeff Tweedy a couple of years ago, I saw him at my favorite restaurant before a concert in Asheville but didn't get to talk to him