That's a great looking cheese!
Gouda is one of my all time favorites , never tried one with cumin seed yet though.
The first pic shows 8 gallons of milk , did you scale down to 7 because the pot was smaller than you anticipated ?
As for aging options , I have yet to make a cheese bigger than 2 pounds (2 gallons) , so I can't say much , but I have four goudas aging right now and I am totally sold on the cream coating for them , I had a lot of mold problems with wax.
Tias coconut oil treatment may be good if you want a natural rind , I am going to try it on my next cheese.
Keep up the good work .
Cheers , Jim.