First Cheese attempt qview with more to come

[tuxdude98]

I got my a-maze-n smoker yesterday thanks Todd for such an awesome product! I had the day off, so I was able to break in my cold smoker, it's a beautiful 50 degree day here in southwest Michigan, so I didn't worry about the temp getting too hot in the smoker.  The cheeses we are trying are:

• Fresh Mozzarella 
• Colby Jack
• Sharp Cheddar
• Cotija
• Swiss
• Brei

We also added some other fun things to try cold smoking, we're doing some sea salt.  My wife has a friend who doesn't eat meat so she's having me smoke some vegetarian chicken, it feels weird but you do what you do for love.  
 

We filled up 3 of the lanes of our 6x8 AMS with maple dust for the first hour I had 1 end lit, after an hour I wanted some more smoke so I lit the other end.  I am smoking the cheese  batches to figure out what we like, 2.5 hours, 3.5 hours and 4.5 hours.

Attached is the photos I have so far, I will update the posts as the smoke goes :)

Salt:

here's the cheese we took out @ 2.5 hours :)

I will add more to this post as I get more cheese :)

 

[tuxdude98]

3.5 Hours Smoked, the brie and cojita looks AWESOME

4.5 Hours Smoked

now to wait 2 weeks *sigh*

 

[scarbelly]

Wow - that is a lot of smoke on cheese. I normally never exceed 2.5 hours for my personal taste.  I will be moitoring this to see what you think in a couple of weeks.

 

[tuxdude98]

I've read people do it between 2 and 4 hours, so I figured I would try smoking them for 2, 3 and 4 hours and see what i like best :) I'll update in 2 weeks

 

[tailgate72]

I've read people do it between 2 and 4 hours, so I figured I would try smoking them for 2, 3 and 4 hours and see what i like best :) I'll update in 2 weeks

Hey Tuxdude98 I cant wait for the two weeks either. When you taste it could you describe the taste. I know that may seem odd, but I have tried twice now to cold smoke cheese and I keep ending up with a bitter taste on the outside that is just HORRIBLE and for the love of god can not figure out what I have done wrong. If yours turns out good I may pick your brain on exactly what you did. OR if someone else can answer this and tell me what Im doing wrong shoot me a pm plz so I dont miss a reply.

Thx and great looking cheese.

Hope no one thinks Im trying to take this over, but fit well here.

Dave
 

 

[tjohnson]

FANTASTIC!

Great Color on the cheese!!!

I'm a big fan of 2 - 2 1/2 hours like Scar, but everyone's taste is different.

2 hours with Hickory will be stronger than 2 hours with Maple.

Todd

 

[SmokinAl]

The cheese looks fantastic!

I never thought of smoking Brie, but I definitely will do some the next cheese smoke.

I like smoky cheese, so I'm with you. I usually go 3 to 4 hours too.

 

[tuxdude98]

well the time's up :) we've busted into the cheese, I will never look at cheese the same way again!  4 hours of smoke was great on the sharp cheeses like cheddar, and swiss, the brie turned out AMAZING, the mozzarella I liked a lighter smoke on, so I would probbly do 2 hours on the mozzarella.  Tonight I am smoking more brie, we tore through that, so I've got 4 more in the smoker with wine barrel dust, should be great.  I'll post some pics when they're done :)

 

[glocksrock]

I'm also new to smoking cheese and did my first batch 4 days ago, so I'm still waiting my 2 weeks. I also did mine for 2, 3, and 4 hours to see what I like the best. I hope it's as good as everyone makes it out to be.

 

[venture]

Looks great! Also, an interesting experiment on the smoke times.

Good luck and good smoking.