I could no longer post photos to my original thread, (believe me - I tried everything, sent email, etc. and got nowhere), so we'll see how it goes in this continuation.
Original thread:
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...mod-that-sucks-literally-initial-pics.270476/
I only had one opportunity to cold smoke a small quantity of cheese just before the holidays, and it turned out very well. I gave most of it away to friends/family/neighbors for their feedback. All reported back with an enthusiastic "two thumbs up".
Unfortunately the weather turned rather unpleasant with sub-freezing (even sub-zero) temps for an extended period, combined with 15-25 mph winds until just revcently. I don't have a good protected area to set up in outdoors, and I'm just not fond of this sort of weather (read:lightweight).
However, Friday the 19th turned out to be fairly calm with 35-deg F temps. I jumped at the chance to smoke the seven pounds of Mild Cheddar, Colby-Jack and Monterey Jack I'd been sitting on since Christmas.
The cheese was allowed to warm up to room temp before hand. I pulled the Monterey Jack at the 2-hour mark, as it is a milder cheese and does quite well with less smoke. The Cheddar and Colby-Jack were allowed to remain for a total of 4 hours.
The AMZNPS & mailbox mod did not raise the smoker temps from 35-deg F at all, so I fired up the PID control to maintain a rock-steady 60-deg F inside the smoker for the entire 4-hour smoke.
I went out Saturday and bought another seven pounds of Mild & Sharp Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Pepper Jack to smoke on Sunday. By then, the ambient temp was up to 53-deg F and holding. Again, the mailbox mod did not raise the smoker temp at all, so the smoker IT remained at a steady 53-54-deg F with no heat applied for the entire 4-hour smoke.
And now a few photos of the fruits of my labor (post-smoke)...
The mailbox mod with a longish semi-rigid 3" aluminum duct does a good job of cooling and cleaning the smoke before it reaches the product chamber. Even with 4-hour smokes, the cheese does not change color noticeably, but there's no mistake about it taking on a good smoke flavor. Tastes good right out of the smoker and only gets better once the flavor is allowed time to permeate through.
Roaster pans covered with plastic wrap are used to rest cheese in refrigerator overnight before vacuum packing. The $50 NESCO VS-02 vacuum sealer has been doing a great job for me so far.
I also wanted to show a bit more detail of the venturi I made for this since it's really the heart of this mod. While the 3/8" tee does not have the same threads as the original smoker vent (black part in photos), it will screw on a thread or two and tighten up sufficiently to to the job. I reversed the vent installation to put the threaded end on the outside.
I couldn't help thinking an aquarium pump might work in place of the air compressor and regulator, but I didn't have access to one for testing. Giving in to my curiosity - I bought one just to find out. It worked OK when there was some natural draft (35-deg ambient/60-deg internal), but did not work well when the ambient was the same as the internal temp (53-deg). I will stick with the air compressor, and I added an aquarium air control valve between the regulator and venturi for a little more precise flow control.
I did manage to squeeze in one hot smoke session during the very cold weather (some chicken leg quarters) and they turned out OK, but I'll reserve my comments on hot smokes until I've done more of them.
Since I wrote this update I've smoked still more cheese (I'm well past 20 lbs now) and even bought a dedicated fridge for a stockpile to get me through the summer months ;>) I guess I'm just excited to finally be able to do something I never could before.
In short, I really think this setup *rocks* for cold-smokin' cheese. I'm already delighted - and if it does reasonably well with hot smokes in normal weather - that'll just be icing on the cake...er...cheese...er...uh...whatever.
Thanks for reading -
John
Original thread:
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...mod-that-sucks-literally-initial-pics.270476/
I only had one opportunity to cold smoke a small quantity of cheese just before the holidays, and it turned out very well. I gave most of it away to friends/family/neighbors for their feedback. All reported back with an enthusiastic "two thumbs up".
Unfortunately the weather turned rather unpleasant with sub-freezing (even sub-zero) temps for an extended period, combined with 15-25 mph winds until just revcently. I don't have a good protected area to set up in outdoors, and I'm just not fond of this sort of weather (read:lightweight).
However, Friday the 19th turned out to be fairly calm with 35-deg F temps. I jumped at the chance to smoke the seven pounds of Mild Cheddar, Colby-Jack and Monterey Jack I'd been sitting on since Christmas.
The cheese was allowed to warm up to room temp before hand. I pulled the Monterey Jack at the 2-hour mark, as it is a milder cheese and does quite well with less smoke. The Cheddar and Colby-Jack were allowed to remain for a total of 4 hours.
The AMZNPS & mailbox mod did not raise the smoker temps from 35-deg F at all, so I fired up the PID control to maintain a rock-steady 60-deg F inside the smoker for the entire 4-hour smoke.
I went out Saturday and bought another seven pounds of Mild & Sharp Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Pepper Jack to smoke on Sunday. By then, the ambient temp was up to 53-deg F and holding. Again, the mailbox mod did not raise the smoker temp at all, so the smoker IT remained at a steady 53-54-deg F with no heat applied for the entire 4-hour smoke.
And now a few photos of the fruits of my labor (post-smoke)...
The mailbox mod with a longish semi-rigid 3" aluminum duct does a good job of cooling and cleaning the smoke before it reaches the product chamber. Even with 4-hour smokes, the cheese does not change color noticeably, but there's no mistake about it taking on a good smoke flavor. Tastes good right out of the smoker and only gets better once the flavor is allowed time to permeate through.
Roaster pans covered with plastic wrap are used to rest cheese in refrigerator overnight before vacuum packing. The $50 NESCO VS-02 vacuum sealer has been doing a great job for me so far.
I also wanted to show a bit more detail of the venturi I made for this since it's really the heart of this mod. While the 3/8" tee does not have the same threads as the original smoker vent (black part in photos), it will screw on a thread or two and tighten up sufficiently to to the job. I reversed the vent installation to put the threaded end on the outside.
I couldn't help thinking an aquarium pump might work in place of the air compressor and regulator, but I didn't have access to one for testing. Giving in to my curiosity - I bought one just to find out. It worked OK when there was some natural draft (35-deg ambient/60-deg internal), but did not work well when the ambient was the same as the internal temp (53-deg). I will stick with the air compressor, and I added an aquarium air control valve between the regulator and venturi for a little more precise flow control.
I did manage to squeeze in one hot smoke session during the very cold weather (some chicken leg quarters) and they turned out OK, but I'll reserve my comments on hot smokes until I've done more of them.
Since I wrote this update I've smoked still more cheese (I'm well past 20 lbs now) and even bought a dedicated fridge for a stockpile to get me through the summer months ;>) I guess I'm just excited to finally be able to do something I never could before.
In short, I really think this setup *rocks* for cold-smokin' cheese. I'm already delighted - and if it does reasonably well with hot smokes in normal weather - that'll just be icing on the cake...er...cheese...er...uh...whatever.
Thanks for reading -
John
