i think the pre-salting makes for a hard cheese.....and i love the clear brine that is made naturally in the bucket with the cheese.....the work with this method also flows well.....i do everything each 24 hours or so......so, you hit 4.8 after 24 hours, salt and pack the buckets.....then, 24 hours later, those buckets will have briney whey about 7/8ths up the bucket....then you top off with salty whey, ph 4.4, put in the widget (best to overfill the bucket, put the widget in, then snap the lids down.....there will be spillage....i do this on a drain table......this ensures your bucket is all the way full, less chance for mold.....then, you can rinse the buckets off on the drain table to clean before drying, or taking to the cellar.....)
do look into those molds from glengarry.....i will try and find the part number....they fit perfectly into the gallon buckets.....bucket and lid are 3 dollars or so....i buy them by the 100......some simple shelving against a wall, and you can pack a bunch of these buckets into the cellar, out of the way.....they make good mini brining tanks, and hold about 8 lbs of cheese....we sometimes sell buckets to restaurants and retail...mostly we vacuum pack later.....
i pack my curds into these "gallon" molds in the vat.....do them all to full, come back in half hour to flip......after a few flips, much whey will be drained......then, cut slices off your shortest cheeses to add to other molds....goal is to end up with 7/8ths full molds after a few hours.....you do this early enough in the process so that the curd will meld, even these later slices.....flip these babies 4-5 times? to get a nice even cheese with a good rind......not really a rind, but a firm well shaped outside layer.....if the curd pokes thru the perforations in the mold, your curd was too soft.....best to have the curd cooked properly, then, cleaning the molds is a snap......otherwise, much spraying and washing to get the curd out......
here is another hint......i really do need to charge for this one! i make a jalepeno feta....probably the first in the history of mankind......i use a bosch universal to chop the jalepenos..only use very fresh, well washed and cored jalepenos......chop pretty fine.....add this just before packing molds......why a jalepeno feta? my jalepeno cheddar, when it turns out, is awesome....i have trouble with mold introduced deep into the cheese....ruin quite a few.....but with feta, the high acid and salt, and submerging in the brine, eliminates this deep molding problem....the fat in the cheese tones down the jalepeno, and you get this mild, but quite fresh tasting, jalepeno flavor......
you can modify the salt content of the cheese by how thick you slice the gallon cheeses....i cut mine about 3 inches thick......more salt wanted? cut them thinner, and salt each one the same...i use uniodized regular "table" salt...the fineness sticks well to the curd.....you will get the hang of the salting pretty quickly.....i personally err on the side of more salt, rather than less......this initial salting does firm up the cheese a bunch.....
check the bacteria stains in that mix......glengarry has a good chart on acidity, gas, diacetyl production....maybe you had a strain in there with gas......but, i have seen soft fetas with my system , also.....so, what the hell.......*&^% happens, probably some native bacteria, coliform, whatever in that batch.....