1st Smoked Cheese Qview

xray · Oct 26, 2015

Well yesterday I smoked cheese for the first time. I have always wanted to try my hand at this...so last week I ordered the 12" tube smoker from Todd Johnson over at A-Maze-n smokers.

I smoked the cheese for 4 hours with a mix of Hickory and maple pellets. Temps hovered in the low 70s throughout the smoke, The outside temperature was a cool 54° when I smoked the cheese. I think next time I will wait until it is a little cooler outside before cold smoking.

Before going in the smoker.

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xray
Oct 26, 2015

I used Cheddar, pepper jack, muenster and extra sharp cheddar.

Four hours later

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xray
Oct 26, 2015

After an overnight nap in the fridge

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xray
Oct 26, 2015

Vac sealed. These are going away for a month. I will try some Thanksgiving week.

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xray
Oct 26, 2015

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xray
Oct 26, 2015

Now comes the hard part...waiting! A special thanks to Mr. T and all the other cheeseheads out here for sharing their wisdom on this forum!!

Thanks for looking!

mr t 59874 · Oct 26, 2015

Congratulations, very good job. Let's get some more going now.

T

xray · Oct 26, 2015

Mr T 59874 said:
Congratulations, very good job. Let's get some more going now.

T

Thanks Mr. T!!

The plan is to try some during Thanksgiving and see how it comes out, if we like it we will smoke more and give this first batch a chance to age. This way we get a chance to stockpile a nice stash.

I just need another fridge now, I need more space!! And after the overnight rest in the fridge, everything smells like smoke. The creamer in my coffee was smoky and also the butter for my bagel smelled of smoke!! Oh well, it dissipates over time. I just think the wife will end up killing me once I smoke her out of the fridge!

mr t 59874 · Oct 26, 2015

Hmmm, everything smells like smoke, creamer, butter, possession of the fridge. Sounds like a well thought out plan to me.

T

4pogo7 · Oct 26, 2015

Nice job! Those look good from here! Once I mod my set up I will be trying this!!

chewmeister · Oct 26, 2015

Nice looking cheese. I've been waiting for it to cool off so I can make some more myself. Well done!

driedstick · Oct 26, 2015

Great job,,, A friend just brought me a bunch to do for them,,,, one was already commercially smoked and she wanted a double smoke on it,,,,SO OK,,, can't wait to try it.

DS

ak1 · Oct 26, 2015

That's a great looking stash. I'm sure it will taste as good as it looks.

b-one · Oct 26, 2015

Nice color and variety! I need to do more cheese I only have one hunk left saving for thanksgiving.

xray · Oct 26, 2015

4PoGo7 said:
Nice job! Those look good from here! Once I mod my set up I will be trying this!! :points:

Thanks for the points, be sure to post yours when finished

chewmeister said:
Nice looking cheese. I've been waiting for it to cool off so I can make some more myself. Well done!

Thanks! I'm in PA too. It was 54 when I smoked and the smoker temp stayed in the 70s. I should have waited a bit for cooler temps as I had to use ice to keep my temps in check.

driedstick said:
Great job,,, A friend just brought me a bunch to do for them,,,, one was already commercially smoked and she wanted a double smoke on it,,,,SO OK,,, can't wait to try it.

DS

AK1 said:
That's a great looking stash. I'm sure it will taste as good as it looks.

b-one said:
Nice color and variety! I need to do more cheese I only have one hunk left saving for thanksgiving.

Thanks! I can't wait to try and will definitely make more. Wegmans sells the 2lb blocks for $6.19. It doesn't look like a lot but once you quarter them up, the smoker fills up pretty quick!

redheelerdog · Oct 27, 2015

Xray - Your cheese looks excellent, thats a great deal from Wegmans, load that baby up for another run!

xray · Oct 27, 2015

redheelerdog said:
Xray - Your cheese looks excellent, thats a great deal from Wegmans, load that baby up for another run!

:439:

Thank

redheelerdog said:
Xray - Your cheese looks excellent, thats a great deal from Wegmans, load that baby up for another run!

:439:

Thank You! The price at Wegmans is for their store brand, basic flavors, but it's still good! I still want to try smoking more unique flavors like horseradish cheese or port wine.

redheelerdog · Oct 27, 2015

The store brand cheeses' are great IMHO.

I have been getting 5lb blocks of Daily Chef Sharp Cheddar Cheese from our local Sam's Club here for $9. The stuff smokes up excellent and tastes great.

Smoking cheaper store brand cheese changes the taste from cheap store cheese to: Totally Awesome, Killer, Yummy, GREAT, Smoky cheese!

xray · Jan 6, 2016

Update:

Well the cheese from the October smoke is almost gone, sadly I gave quite a bit of it away. By far, the extra sharp turned out to be the best. The muenster came out fantastic after a month rest in the fridge.

I had one block of each type set aside for testing. I would open each one weekly to test and then vaccuum seal again. The muenster cheese was bitter for the first 3 weeks and by the 4th week it was to die for. The extra sharp, cheddar and pepper jack were great after one week and became noticeably better with time.

A few days ago, I smoked 16 more lbs. of extra sharp, sharp, Colby Jack, muenster, Swiss and Habanero Jack:

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xray
Jan 6, 2016

Also smoked some sea salt and then pryed the top off one if those disposable salt grinders and filled with the smoked salt...so good!

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xray
Jan 6, 2016

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xray
Jan 6, 2016

Both the cheese and salt were smoked roughly 4 hours with a combination of maple and hickory.

mowin · Jan 6, 2016

Your hooked now. Nice color. :points:

xray · Jan 6, 2016

mowin said:
Your hooked now. Nice color. :points:

You betcha!! Funny thing is, the wife is even more hooked on the cheese. She loves it and is always getting a block here and there when grocery shopping.

It should make things easier when I buy a fridge for our basement that will serve as a cheese cave (cough cough ahem) beer fridge and smoking project fridge (cough)

And thanks for the point!

mowin · Jan 6, 2016

Your wife must know mine. She will cut all the end and side pieces off for herself and leave me naked cheese. Lol

amlong88 · Jan 7, 2016

Looks amazing. I've been curious about muenster cheese. That'll be part of the next batch I smoke.

xray · Jan 7, 2016

AMLong88 said:
Looks amazing. I've been curious about muenster cheese. That'll be part of the next batch I smoke.

Thanks!

Yea the first few weeks, I wasn't sold on the muenster. It kind of tasted horrible...bitter, acrid and tangy. But by the 1 month it was easily the most improved cheese, it was really great. All the others had small changes in flavor but nothing as drastic as the muenster.

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