I've smoked cheese 2 different times. First time I smoked for 2 hours and the next time for 1 1/2 hour. Used applewood and on both occasions and the cheese has a strong taste. I waited 2 months as read on other posts. I smoked cheddar, Monterey jack, pepper jack, and Swiss. Temp was holding steady about 70 degrees. All cheeses were about 1 pound blocks. I wipe off the dampness and immediately vac seal them and put in fridge. What am I doing wrong??? Can someone help me out?
Thank you.
Welcome ! It sounds to me like you're doing everything rite! Your doing it just like I do,and my cheeses are always a hit.
Perhaps someone else can offer you more insite into your problem.
First question. What has been the position of your vent damper?
Question two. Generally, do you like food with a strong smoke flavor, or do you prefer a more delicate smoker flavor? (I'm a light smoke guy.)
Question three. Where has your smoker been when you've smoked the cheese? Sitting outside? In some kind of building or enclosure?
Damper was open half way.
Delicate flavor.
Smoker was outside.
All my cheese had a strong flavor except for the Swiss...I could barely taste the smoke flavor. I'm thinking because of the density of it. Thank you for replying. Looking forward for any solutions.
Thanks,
Bay Area
The only differences with the way I do it is I cut into smaller blocks, use 2 hours of cherry and I let sit at room temperature for a couple of hours before vacuum sealing. Mine has always been good to eat after 4 weeks.....
I will have to try letting them sit at room temp for a couple hours.
Thank you.
Let them sit on the counter in the kitchen a couple of hours then vac seal them for the 4 weeks. Should then be good to go.
Bay Area, as you found, soft, higher moisture cheeses tend to absorb smoke more readily than harder, dryer cheeses. I'd guess that the Swiss was the hardest of what you smoked.
I, too, am a delicate smoke guy. I generally apply about an hour of apple smoke.
When aging your cheese, harder cheeses seem to take longer than softer cheeses. Hard cheeses seem to take at least a month. Some forum members have reported that soft cheeses, such as mozzarella, are ready to eat in as little as a week or two.
Next time you do some cheese, you might consider some Gouda. It's the neighborhood favorite around here.
Thank you! I will give it a try.
2 hours is definitely plenty of smoke for strong flavour. I prefer to smoke white cheddar with hickory for 2 hours because I love the strong smoke on it. I let it sleep in the fridge for 4 weeks and it always turns out good, though I don't really let it bloom on the counter for probably more than 1/2 hr.
For a more delicate flavour, you could try pecan, which is similar to hickory but more subtle. Maple is also recommended for cheese as a subtle smoke. Combine one of those woods with a shorter smoke cycle (like an hour) and perhaps you'll find your sweet spot.
I did not care for the flavor of apple smoked cheese. I prefer Cherry and a little hickory or alder. I smoke all mine for about 3 hrs.
I just opened my first batch of cheese also. It has been vacuum sealed for a month and taste like a ash tray. I'm pretty disappointed. I thought I did everything right. The center of the cheese taste good but the edges is to strong. But since I made the pieces the size of butter sticks it's a pain in the ass to trim the edges.
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Quote from: pooch897 on January 24, 2015, 12:44:18 PM
I just opened my first batch of cheese also. It has been vacuum sealed for a month and taste like a ash tray. I'm pretty disappointed. I thought I did everything right. The center of the cheese taste good but the edges is to strong. But since I made the pieces the size of butter sticks it's a pain in the ass to trim the edges.
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If you seal it back up for another month, it might mellow enough that you can stand to eat it.
It is possible that you've got some of what I call cooking cheese as opposed to snacking cheese. Something you add to other dishes to add some smokey flavor, but the smoke is too strong for you to look forward to having it on a cracker. A little bit could be a nice addition to some mac and cheese, or grated on to a bowl of chili.
In the mean time, how about letting some of us help you figure out where things went south? What type of cheese were you smoking? What wood did you use? How long did you apply smoke?
tskeeter beat me to the punch.
Sounds like to much smoke for the size/type of cheese you had. Butter stick sized sticks would only need a fraction of the smoke compared to the blocks I smoke. I would only use an hour or so for that size.
Please fill us in with more info so we can help you figure this out :)
I agree with the others, but I always keep my vent wide open and have done hundreds of pounds of cheeses. I always cut into about one pound chunks and smoke with apple or hickory for two hours. I pat the cheese dry when done and allow to sit on the counter for a good couple hours to rest before wrapping with Glad Press-N-Seal and then into a zip bag. I then put it into the fridge and try to let it sit for 1-2 months before eating. If you want a milder taste than try alder wood and shorter smoke times with larger pieces of cheese. And keep the vent wide open.
2 hours hickory. Cold day so never went above 70* in the smoker with cold adapter.
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Think about the size of a slice of cheese you eat. You want the edges to be mildly smoked. I find the end pieces way too smoky. If your cheese was smoked in bite size pieces it will be WAY too smoky with smoke on all 4 sides. For my taste anyway.
Quote from: pooch897 on January 24, 2015, 08:29:44 PM
2 hours hickory. Cold day so never went above 70* in the smoker with cold adapter.
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Given the size of the pieces of cheese you smoked, I think Iceman is on target. Consider shortening the length of time you apply smoke. When I smoke cheddar cheese, I cut the block of cheese into pieces about 4 X 4 X 2 inches. So, a much lower surface area to mass ratio than you had. And I appply about an hour of smoke (I like my smoke flavor on the more delicate side). The next time you smoke butter stick size pieces of cheese, why don't you try 40 minutes of smoke application and see if that meets your expectations? If it's not smokey enough to suit you, you can always smoke it again to add more smokey flavor.
Another thing to consider is the wood you used. Hickory is one of the more robust flavors available. Many folks use wood that is lighter and sweeter in flavor, such as apple, cheery. or maple. I prefer apple. I use apple for everything I smoke, except for pork shoulder, where I use hickory, and fish, where I use alder. I have used cherry for some ribs, but found it too sweet for my taste.
You didn't say what type of cheese you smoked, so I'm making the assumption that it was cheddar, or something similar. I haven't smoked a lot of soft cheeses, such as brie or mozzarella, but folks who do smoke those cheeses report that soft cheeses absorb smoke more readily than harder cheeses. So they use shorter smoking times than they do with harder cheeses. If a person was smoking a quite hard, dry cheese, such as Parmesan, a longer than normal smoking time would probably be required.
If you were using the color development on your cheese to gauge how much smoke it had absorbed, that could contribute to your cheese being over smoked. Color development seems to be more affected by temperature than by the amount of smoke absorbed. Your 70F and below cabinet temp would have deterred color development. Many cheese smokers shoot for a cabinet temperature of about 85F - 90F for best compromise between color development and risk of melting the cheese.
To be honest I'd rather have the pieces be larger. I just followed step by step directions from another forum. Next time I'm gonna do bigger pieces for 1 hour.
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Hot pepper jack. And sharp cheddar.
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Shred some of your smoked cheese and mix it 50/50 with unsmoked cheddar then make a grilled cheese sammie with it. :)
Does it make a difference if the cheese is at room temperature before starting a cold smoke or okay right from the fridge?