I started piping smoke to my MES 40 from a Masterbuilt Cold Moke Kit a few months ago with
mr t 59874
help.
It made a huge difference in taste and consistency of cheese in my cold smokes and I started using it for my hot smokes too. Friends and family all commented on the cleaner taste in the meats. So, inspired by Mr T posts and a recent @Setesh post I tried to recreate some experiments when the temp dropped last night and gave me an opportunity to do another cheese smoke.
Ambient temp at 1945 63 degrees. I set up for cold smoking with cardboard box for the cheese. DIDNT plug in MES to avert epic fail. Smoke generator burned apple wood chips.
Of note I used my local weather for ambient temp instead of probes. That probably threw off the ambient numbers compared to boil tested probes.
I filled three baggies with ice water and placed temp probes near where I place the bags.
Bag 1 was in pipe next to smoke generator and 9 foot from MES.
Bag 2 was placed in MES.
Bag 3 was placed in cheese box on top of MES
Placed cheese in with smoke rolling at 2015: ambient temp 63 still.
Bag 1: 69 degrees
Bag 2: 65 degrees
Bag 3: 62 degrees
2100 ambient: 59 degrees
Bag 1: 70 degrees
Bag 2: 60 degrees
Bag 3: 54 degrees
2200 ambient: 57 degrees
Bag 1: 64 degrees
Bag 2: 61 degrees
Bag 3: 51 degrees
2300 ambient 57 degrees
Bag 1: 66 degrees
Bag 2: 60 degrees
Bag 3: 53 degrees
0001 ambient 55
Bag 1 : 66 degrees
Bag 2: 59 degrees
Bag 3: 50 degrees
End result on probes: Bag 1 temp stayed warmer than ambient and smoke boxes. If bag one was in an insulated chamber the temp would have rose even higher. Bag 2, consistent temp of initial chamber (MES) was significantly cooler after traveling through 9 foot of pipe. However it was still warm. Bag 3 stayed coolest of all three through process and closer to ambient (below if you trust the weather app).
Bag 1
Bag 2
Bag 3
Creosote test. Bag 1 was very sticky after 5 hours near the generator and had visible creosote deposits. Bag 2 was hazy and a bit tacky, not near as bad as Bag 1. Bag 3 was dusty, but not sticky at all.
Conclusion: Perfect smoked cheese right out of smoker, no creosote, no need to "rest" cheese. No melting or change in the cheese consistency. Fridge stocked again!
It made a huge difference in taste and consistency of cheese in my cold smokes and I started using it for my hot smokes too. Friends and family all commented on the cleaner taste in the meats. So, inspired by Mr T posts and a recent @Setesh post I tried to recreate some experiments when the temp dropped last night and gave me an opportunity to do another cheese smoke.
Ambient temp at 1945 63 degrees. I set up for cold smoking with cardboard box for the cheese. DIDNT plug in MES to avert epic fail. Smoke generator burned apple wood chips.
Of note I used my local weather for ambient temp instead of probes. That probably threw off the ambient numbers compared to boil tested probes.
I filled three baggies with ice water and placed temp probes near where I place the bags.
Bag 1 was in pipe next to smoke generator and 9 foot from MES.
Bag 2 was placed in MES.
Bag 3 was placed in cheese box on top of MES
Placed cheese in with smoke rolling at 2015: ambient temp 63 still.
Bag 1: 69 degrees
Bag 2: 65 degrees
Bag 3: 62 degrees
2100 ambient: 59 degrees
Bag 1: 70 degrees
Bag 2: 60 degrees
Bag 3: 54 degrees
2200 ambient: 57 degrees
Bag 1: 64 degrees
Bag 2: 61 degrees
Bag 3: 51 degrees
2300 ambient 57 degrees
Bag 1: 66 degrees
Bag 2: 60 degrees
Bag 3: 53 degrees
0001 ambient 55
Bag 1 : 66 degrees
Bag 2: 59 degrees
Bag 3: 50 degrees
End result on probes: Bag 1 temp stayed warmer than ambient and smoke boxes. If bag one was in an insulated chamber the temp would have rose even higher. Bag 2, consistent temp of initial chamber (MES) was significantly cooler after traveling through 9 foot of pipe. However it was still warm. Bag 3 stayed coolest of all three through process and closer to ambient (below if you trust the weather app).
Bag 1
Bag 2
Bag 3
Creosote test. Bag 1 was very sticky after 5 hours near the generator and had visible creosote deposits. Bag 2 was hazy and a bit tacky, not near as bad as Bag 1. Bag 3 was dusty, but not sticky at all.
Conclusion: Perfect smoked cheese right out of smoker, no creosote, no need to "rest" cheese. No melting or change in the cheese consistency. Fridge stocked again!
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