First smoked cheese. Yuck what did I do wrong?

[Z7extreme]

I smoked two racks worth of cheese the other night. I smoked the cheese for 2.5 hrs with apple in my new 6 rack digital. This is the forth time smoking and the smoke house is well seasoned. The temp stayed under 60 deg the whole time. The pucks were advancing every 20 min with no problems and I had the water bowl 3/4 full. I pulled the cheese out and brought the racks in the house. When I brought them in my nose said this smells bad. My wife said whats that smell. To me it smells kinda like acid or maybe creosote surely not the smell I was expecting. It sat overnight in the fridge and I tasted some of the swiss cheese and it did not have a nice flavor. Reminds me of an ash tray. All the blocks of cheese are shrink wrapped and in the fridge for a while. Did I get a bad batch of apple pucks or what did I do wrong??????? Help please!

[devo]

Smoked cheese takes at 6 weeks before you eat it. I wont touch mine for 2 months

[tailfeathers]

Try it again in about a month and you may be pleasantly surprised by how it tastes then. After reading all the comments about letting cheese age after smoking I didn't even taste the first batch I did for 4 weeks. I can tell you that Mrs. tailfeathers was complaining about the smell after the first batch came off the smoker, but she sure likes it after it aged in the fridge for a month!

[GusRobin]

What they said.  I keep my cheese for 6 weeks or so.

[Saber 4]

Your cheese looks like it got good color and I agree with everyone else, don't touch your cheese for at least 4-5 weeks longer if you can wait that long.

If I didn't know better I would say that TenPoint5 had talked you into tasting it early so you could experience the ashtray taste and the wait would be easier, at least that's he claims that's the reason. ;)

[Tiny Tim]

Agree with everybody.  My first attempt at cheese, I didn't know about the aging period, and it tasted exactly like I licked an ashtray (don't ask ;) ).  It was easy to wait a long time, as I had planned to never eat a piece of smoked cheese again...just held onto it for a while and Dad convinced me to try it when he sampled it about a month after it was smoked.

[Z7extreme]

Ok thanks everyone! I did read about letting age but now I know why. I have it all vac sealed  now and in the fridge. Should I leave it in the fridge to age or freeze it?

[Tiny Tim]

Fridge should be fine.  Freezing can cause it to crumble later, down the road, when you try to slice it.

[Saber 4]

Ok thanks everyone! I did read about letting age but now I know why. I have it all vac sealed  now and in the fridge. Should I leave it in the fridge to age or freeze it?

For my own sanity I now write the smoked date and a don't open before date on all my smoked cheeses. Getting older has it's challenges you know....

And definitely keep in fridge.

[Tenpoint5]

Nope it wasn't me! I didn't get the chance to help make his wait time easier. He learned the same way the rest of us learned.

The harder the cheese the longer the wait. Soft cheeses 15 - 20 days. Hard cheeses 30 - 45 days is the general rule of thumb I use.

[sage03]

I agree with all the above posts..I've got cheese in fridge from oct 2012 ...not sure how it lasted that long but it's about gone and it tastes great!!

[pensrock]

Hmmm I may have to try to smoke some cheese one of these days.  ;)

[Saber 4]

Hmmm I may have to try to smoke some cheese one of these days.  ;)

Says the cheese master himself :D

[Sailor]

The only thing that I might add......Vac Seal the cheese for the aging.  Do not use plastic wrap.  I found some cheese that I did last year that I only wrapped in plastic wrap and put in a zip lock bag.  The cheese had a plastic taste to it and it got trashed.  I have had cheese in the fridge for over 2 years that was vac sealed and it was fantastic.  It may have been the plastic wrap that I was using was a cheap brand but I will never ever do that again.  Yuck!

[pensrock]

Sailor,
  I do not vac pack smoked cheese unless it was cut into after smoking or if I plan to ship it out. I do wrap my cheese with Glad Press-n-Seal then into a zip bag. Been doing this for years and never had any kind of a problem. I even had cheese wrapped this way for over fourteen months and it was perfectly fine when I unwrapped it. My guess is you must have used another kind of wrap or some thing else went wrong. But my cheeses taste great.
  That said, there is nothing wrong with vacuum sealing, it works great. But for me when I smoke cheese it is normally 20-30 pounds or more at a time and wrapping the way I do is quicker, easier and cheaper. I choose the cheep easy way when I can.  ;D
  I do not know what the people I smoke it for do with theirs after I give it back to them but I never had a complaint.  :)
Bottom line is.... what ever works for you is the best way to do it.  8) Have fun and keep the smoke rolling.