First attempt at cold smoking cheese.

[Lefty_Smoker]

I attempted my first cold smoking of cheese last night.  With day-time temps in the 90's, I had to wait till about 9PM last night for the temps to drop down into the low 70's before I could even attempt to cold smoke anything.

I only did about 3 pounds of cheese because it was my first attempt, I didn't want to ruin much more than that.   :^)

I tried Pepper-Jack, Hot-Pepper, and Colby-Jack.  I sliced each block into several smaller pieces.  I figured more surface area would result in more smoke penetration.  I placed all the cheese on the very top shelf in the Bradley, I then fill two large foil pans with ice and placed them on the second and fourth shelves.  I staggered them a bit, one pushed to the back, left, the other to the front, right.  I then also placed some ice in the water bowl at the bottom.  I unplugged the Bradley cabinet and just used the puck burner.  Temps ran pretty steadily between 72-74 F for most of the smoke.

I did have quite a bit of trouble with the vents.  For some reason, the smoke just wouldn't exit from the top vent, it instead blew back into the smoke generator.  It was very strange, there was absolutely zero breeze to contend with.  I'm not quite sure why the smoke kept wanting to back up into the generator, but it did.  I finally rigged up a small computer case fan that I had laying around and placed it on top of the Bradley to help pull the smoke out.  It seemed to work and after that I had zero problems.

I ended up using 5 pucks of hickory which resulted in 1 hr 40 minutes of smoke.  I removed the cheese and wrapped it back up in cling wrap and placed it in the fridge where it will hopefully mellow into a nice snack.

A few observations/questions:

1.  Why did I have the smoke venting problems.  I've never experienced this before when hot smoking.  Generally, when hot smoking, if smoke is backing up into the smoke generator, then all I have to do is open the vent and bit more, and then it is fine.  During this cold smoke, the vent was open all the way, and it still didn't want to vent any smoke.  Why ?


2.  After removing the cheese from the smoker, I noticed that only the tops of the chunks of cheese took on any smoke coloring whatsoever.  Is this normal?  Should I be flipping or rotating the cheese during the smoke?  Could this heavier coloring on the top of the cheese have more to do with my venting problems more so than anything else?  i.e, am I going to end up with sooty tasting cheese because of the poor venting?

Overall, I had fun cold smoking cheese for the first time.  Hopefully it will turn out OK.  If not, I only wasted a few pounds of cheese and a few pucks.

What other types of cheese take well to smoking?  What other smokes besides hickory goes well with cheese? 

[Smudge]

The bags of ice on the shelves certainly make me suspicious that proper venting of the smoke was being blocked. It may have been an unnecessary step, even counter-productive.

I cold smoke sharp cheddar with a milder puck such as apple. Hickory has more often than not resulted in the ash tray taste for me. Forty minutes of smoke is plenty for me. But I've come to realize my toleration for smoke is lower than most who post here. I want my cheese to taste like cheese with a smoke note in the background.

As to the color--I've often wondered if it isn't painted on at the processing plant. People expect the smoke color so that's what they get. It would require a lot of time in the smoker to arrive at some of the dark hues I've seen in commercially smoked cheeses. In my opinion, turning is not necessary, but what would it hurt? Opening the door during cold-smoking is nowhere near the sin as during hot smoking.

One thing I try to do is to bring the cheese up to room temp before smoking. It eliminates the sweating that results in the taste of licking an ash tray.

Let us know how your first try worked out there Lefty.   

[3rensho]

Did you have the smoke generator attached to the box as normal or was it in a separate cardboard/wood box connected to the box via a dryer hose?  That's how I do it. 

Concerning the smoke blowing back thru the generator I would guess that with that much ice in the box a down draft of cold air was created and resulted in the blow back thru the generator.

Tom

[Tiny Tim]

Your method of cooling the cabinet is very similar to what I've been thinking of doing, but after reading this, I think I'll be going with an offset box and just a tray of ice in the bottom of the cabinet....or maybe even no ice and wait for cooler weather.

3rensho came up with a different way of saying what I was going to, in regards to the smoke backing up.  My thoughts now are that the vent on top works similar to a chiminey on a fireplace.  The fireplace causes the heat to rise, creating an updraft, pulling the smoke along with it and out the top.  The downdraft theory could also be the cause of only the tops of the chunks getting the smoke coloring, as it could have been forced into the tops via the draft.

[manxman]

The bags of ice on the shelves certainly make me suspicious that proper venting of the smoke was being blocked. It may have been an unnecessary step, even counter-productive.

I tend to agree, I think that the bowls of ice on the lower racks probably caused the smoke flow problem, even placing them directly above one another rather than staggering them may improve matters but I would be inclined to only put ice at the very bottom of the smoker cabinet and use a separate box and tumble dryer hose.

Usually I stick to mature cheddar when smoking nowadays,  roughly sized 6" x 4" x 1" for about 5 hours typically using apple or oak. There is a reasonable amount of colour after this time but I would agree that some of the colour on shop bought smoked cheese is probably "painted" on!!

Did you have the smoke generator attached to the box as normal or was it in a separate cardboard/wood box connected to the box via a dryer hose?  That's how I do it. 

Me too, I use the modified method, never seen smoke backing up when using this method and the flow out the vent always seems similar to that when hot smoking. I have cold smoked when the ambient air temperature outside has been approaching freezing.

See experiment 2 on this website which could be akin to putting ice close to the puck burner?

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/articles/weather-experiments-project.html

[Tiny Tim]

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/articles/weather-experiments-project.html

Cool site.

[Lefty_Smoker]

Thanks for all the replies.  I'll let you all know how the cheese turned out in a week or so after it has had a chance to mellow in the fridge.  :)

Next time, I'll either go with the separate box method, as I already have a spare dryer hose in my garage, and I'm sure I can find a suitable box to use.  Or maybe I'll give it another go with just one foil pan of ice.  If the smoke still fails to rise, I guess I'll be forced to go with the separate box method.

As far as smoking times, I see it varies quite a bit according to personal preferances, not to mention cheese varieties.  Next time, I think I'll take some out after 2 hours, some out after 3 hours, some out after 4 hours, etc...  And then see which I like the best and then go with that amount of smoke next time.

But it does sound like sharp cheddars are favorites among many, maybe I'll give that a try next time.

[Habanero Smoker]

Sorry if I am repeating anything; I read the above post quickly.

As for the flow of smoke, too much cold air from the ice will have a tendency to form a layer of dense air and that will hinder the flow of hot air to the surface. Use the off-set method of cold smoking. I've found placing the ice on the upper trays improves the air circulation. Allowing the cold air to drop and forcing the hot air up. If you place the ice trays near the bottom it seem to form a wall of cold air that hinders the circulation. The only problem I found in place the ice above the cheese, is that condensation can from and moisture will drip down on the cheese. To prevent this (when I have the space, I will place a tray lined with cheese cloth between the ice and cheese. The cloth will absorb, any condensation that drips down.

[Stickbowcrafter]

This is something I would like to try for sure.

-Brian

[Welsh Wizard]

Hi, I smoke a strong Welsh Cheddar, you know, the one with grainy bits in it. I smoke these for 2.5 - 3 hours, shorter for not so dense cheese like brie (take the rind off first or little smoke will penertrate)

Once smoked, vac pack or tightly seal in cling film for anything up to 2 - 3 months. This will allow the flavour to penatrate the cheese so the smokeyness goes right through the product rather than just sitting on the outside.

Personally I think 3 hours is enough (well for me anyway) becasue I have smoked for longer with little discernable difference in taste - but of course that is my pallate which I expect is shot to pieces anyway  ;D

In my experience the longer you leave it the better the taste develops. but it is leaving it that is the problem in my household!

A Summer favourite for my family is some home made rare breed burgers (the more you eat the rarer they get) like long horn or dexter, cooked on the old bbq with melted home smoked cheese - oh gawd hungury now, fridge time......................

Cheers WW