About To Do My First Cold Smoke

[daricksta]

I own the MES 30 and I'm planning on cold smoking mozzerella with the AMNPS. I've been consulting Todd Johnson and he advises to put some iced jugs--which I believe means plastic jugs filled with water that have been left in the freeze--in the water bowl to keep the heat down. I'm not finding that advice anywhere else so I would appreciate some tips on cold smoking cheese. I plan to keep the MES in my garage for the 2-3 hours that I do the smoking to keep the interior temp down. I'm starting off small with a one-pound ball of Precious whole milk mozz cheese.

 

[s2k9k]

When are you planning on doing this? Check the weather forecast for what the temp will be. If is is under 80* you should be fine. The AMNPS will probably add about 5*.  You can fill up a couple of 2 liter jugs with water and freeze them then put them in the smoker when you start to help keep temps down a bit. I would go ahead and do more, no need to waste smoke, throw in a few more pounds of some different types that you like, you won't be sorry. Then the hard part starts, waiting, and the longer you can wait the better it gets!

 

[scarbelly]

I have been working with Todd and his AMNS / AMNPS / AMNTS for a couple of years. He is absolutely correct in telling you to use ice in some form to lower the temp in the smoker - are you smoking regular mozzarella or fresh mozzarella? I have a fair amount of experience with both. Feel free to PM me with any questions you may have 

 

[roller]

This time of year I like to cold smoke at night...lower temps...

 

[xutfuzzy]

I just got into cold smoking myself, and during the daytime when the temps are still around 75-80 here, I found I needed to add a couple of 2-liter bottles of ice.  I just use old soda 2-liter bottles filled with water and frozen to make ice blocks.  They work great.
 

 

[daricksta]

Thanks everyone, I hadn't thought of 2-liter bottles and we just threw what we had out! Gotta buy some more soda then. I was going to do the smoking after I'd received some responses so it will be this week. We're still over 80 degrees here and my garage is uninsulated so it gets pretty warm in there during heat waves, but 82 or so shouldn't get it that warm. I'm going with regular mozzerella because it's cheaper but now S2K9K has me thinking what else I could throw in there. Right now, we don't have much but I sure wish I had it in our budget to pick up a filet of wild caught coho salmon.

 

[sound1]

Swiss, pepper jack.....the list is endless. When the talk about the wait, tis brutal but well worth it. 

 

[smokinhusker]

I'm able to buy block ice and when I've not had frozen bottles, I have put the block in there to keep the temps down. It's in the mid 50's here today so I'm throwing some cheese in.

 

[fireballmjm]

just did my first cheese smoke yesterday also first smoke with amnts work just great did learn that some ice is a good idea.
 

 

[daricksta]

Thanks everyone. So the danger of cold smoking at higher temps is that it could cook or melt the cheese--is that right? Just so happens the temps are falling here big time so I've been told I don't need to worry about the ice. The high tomorrow is supposed to be about 69 degrees and the nights are getting colder. Roller, I never thought of smoking at night. What a great idea!

Scarbelly also advised letting the cheese sit two weeks before eating but mozz can be eaten right away. Why, in general, does smoked cheese need to sit so long in the fridge? How does that deepen the smoked flavor?

Swiss, pepper jack, gouda, gruyere, cheddar, mozz, edam, so many cheeses and so much time...

 

[scarbelly]

Thanks everyone. So the danger of cold smoking at higher temps is that it could cook or melt the cheese--is that right? Just so happens the temps are falling here big time so I've been told I don't need to worry about the ice. The high tomorrow is supposed to be about 69 degrees and the nights are getting colder. Roller, I never thought of smoking at night. What a great idea!

Scarbelly also advised letting the cheese sit two weeks before eating but mozz can be eaten right away. Why, in general, does smoked cheese need to sit so long in the fridge? How does that deepen the smoked flavor?

Swiss, pepper jack, gouda, gruyere, cheddar, mozz, edam, so many cheeses and so much time...

The only cheese that doesn't need the 2 week rest if fresh mozz - the hard mozz still needs the rest. It helps to mellow out and let the cheese absorb the smoke into the block rather than sit on the surface.

 

[daricksta]

TWO weeks for hard mozz, Scarbelly? I'll have to buy pre-packaged smoked mozz in the meantime to satisfy my craving. But really, thanks for the clarification. I've decided to start with the hard mozz as a test subject. I'd rather do a less than great first smoke on cheaper quality cheese than mess up on the primo stuff. If this goes well, I'll at some point pick up some fresh mozz at Costco.

 

[daricksta]

Due to errors beyond my control I forgot the Qview for my labors last night.  I smoked a 2 lb. loaf of regular part skim milk mozz cut into 4 sections, a small square of sharp cheddar cheese, and about a quarter cup of kosher salt (which I put in the dry water bowl). Using the AMNPS, I smoked it all for 3 hours. When I opened the door, I was surprised at how warm the interior was. All the cheeses were soft with considerable moisture on their surfaces. One of the sections had melted onto the grate and had to be pulled off. The bottom of the cheese was also pulled out a little but I pushed it back in and forced myself to eat the little bit of soft, smoky cheese stuck to the grate.

The cheeses all had the darkened tint I was looking for. I hope they don't have any off flavors from having gotten too warm. It was a pretty cool in the evening while they were smoking--down in the low to mid 40's. I guess next time I'll need to do the frozen bottle trick.

The salt was slightly darkish in some places so I knew it had absorbed smoke.I had a little bit of the salt to confirm its smokiness. Funny that for the past year I've come across recipes that call for smoked salt and now I have to find them.

The cheeses? Air sucked with my Food Saver all into on large bag with the warning written in large block letters" DO NOT EAT TILL NOVEMBER 7 and stuck in the fridge.  I sure hope I don't forget how to read English.

 

[so ms smoker]

  Iff you find the cheese melting into the grates at low temps, try wrapping the cheese in ONE layer of cheese cloth, and then hang like sausage to smoke. Just an idea.

Mike

 

[venture]

This is a little early for my area.  I don't like messing around with ice.

Late fall, winter, and very early spring are great times here.

If you can pop for the cheese all at once and do big batches that would help.  Once smoked and vacupacked, the cheese will last a long time in the fridge and only benefit from the rest. We are still using the last of the cheese from winter and it is still wunnerful, wunnerful!

Good luck and good smoking.

 

[daricksta]

The cheese is aging in the fridge as I write this. I think I'll try some version of the ice idea next time because I thought for sure that the outdoor temp should have kept the interior temp cool enough. I could just put ice cubes in the water bowl. Wonder how long it would take the cubes to melt?

 

[daricksta]

Mike, I like the idea of cheesecloths but I don't have any suitable hooks. I would like to smoke sausage that I made myself someday since I have a food grinder and I'll need hooks then. But I haven't even sourced sausage casings yet.

 

[pat ferrante]

we make sausage 4 or 6 times a year....we use the actual intestines...in my eyes its easier and so much better!

 

[daricksta]

I figure that's what I'll have to use instead of the phony stuff.