Six weeks ago I did a test on farmhouse cheddar.  I was trying to get a more moist cheese.  I followed the recipe until I got to the pressing.  I pressed at 10# for 10 min.  Then 20# for 10 min.  Then 30 # for 12 hours instead of the recommended 50#.  I got into the cheese yesterday and my evaluation is that there was moderate success.  The cheese was more moist but not overly so, and still had the open texture of a cheddar.  The taste was milder than my first attempts which would almost cut my tongue they were so sharp.  I put a piece in the microwave and it melted to a puddle in 9 seconds.  While it doesn’t have the character of a Colby or a Derby, its pretty good.

The fact that it melts is a good sign the sharpness might be an excess of acid for being a young cheese, dont know if u can tell by smelling it. the High acid is usually what drys out the cheese.

Neil,  the fact that its NOT sharp can’t relate to acidity in this case it would seem, since the recipe was the same except for the pressing.

I found that the same recipe does not always give u the same result. Was referring to your past cheese, u mentioned it was very sharp.