Mailbox Mod & Cheese trouble

[holytbs]

Just completed a mailbox mod for my MES 30 and thought I would test it out with smoking some cheese. I have never smoked cheese before so I smoked a little bit of swiss, cheddar, and moneray jack for 2 hours. However, after the smoke the cheese had a sort of strange smell, which I could not identify. It was not really like smoke smell and the cheese had a bitter taste right out of the smoker. During the smoke the smoke seemed to be light TBS. The AMNPS was loaded with Premium SmoknPellets (Hickory, Cherry, Hard Maple, Apple).

The mailbox I used was removed from service of several years and I wondering of all the junk mail over the years could have tainted the cheese? Seriously, I have not heard mention of cleaning the mailbox or ducting prior to use. The MES has done several smokes so it is well seasoned. I think I read that freshly smoked cheese will have a bitter taste. Is that true? Maybe there is nothing wrong.
I hope I got the pic added correctly showing the mod.

 

[litterbug]

The hardest part of smoking cheese is letting it age for a couple of weeks. This will let it mellow in flavor so it doesn't have the ashtray taste. The longer you are able to let it age, the better it will get.

 

[mr t 59874]

Welcome to the forum.

Pictures would definitely help. There could be one or more reasons you are not able to enjoy your cheese immediately.

Regardless the equipment you are using, if you are getting a bitter taste, it is over smoked. Take the time now to learn how to smoke one type of cheese to your liking before smoking several different types.

T