Hello. My wife and I started our first parmesan last night and we used store-bought 2% pasteurized milk. After getting the cheese into the press late last night, we read up on the brining process. It seems that cheese made from store-bought milk can disintegrate in the brine. With all the time we put into this thing, I’m a little worried that it will disintegrate. Is this common? Are there other options, like maybe covering the outside of the cheese with salt?

Thanks for your help.

It depends on the PH of the cheese and the brine, Its best to use whey as brine and add CaCl. Excess acid in the cheese will make it crumble.

i use brine to salt all my hard cheeses and i also use only store bought milk and i have never had a problem.  soft cheeses like fetta melts in brine that hasn’t been acidified first with vinegar or similar and then i prefer to salt it directly