Brine time for Cotija

[panamamike]

I am wondeering if anyone has made a 5lb Queso Cotija. I made one yesterday from a 2 gal. recipe and that one soaked in brine for 24hrs. so for 5 gal. that would be 60 hrs? Seems like a lot of time.
Most of the salter hard cheeses brine for 6hrs approx. per lb. ( like Romano ). Any suggestions?

[feather]

Your numbers make sense. My 4 lb or almost 4 lb parmesan brines for 24 hours.

[panamamike]

Well, I'm going for the 60hrs. Hope it's not a ball of salt when it's done.

[TravisNTexas]

I'm curious about this.  I don't really know anything, but it seems to me that the salt brine, like cooking marinades, would only penetrate a given depth into a cheese, and that even if it was able to penetrate all the way to the center of the cheese given a sufficiently long brining time, the concentraction of salt would be higher near the rind than in the center.  But given the long aging times for many cheeses, as opposed to marinades for other foods, it may balance out throughout the cheese.

So if you do a big cheese, like a 5 lb Queso Cojita, ignoring how long you brine it, does the salt level taste the same near the rind as it does near the center?

[panamamike]

I realy don't know,Travis. I have never tried a cheese that brines this long. I'll let you know when I crack it open.