Muenster with the AMNPS in my Smoke Vault (update-ready to eat)

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SmokinAl

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Jun 22, 2009
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Grabbed 2 big hunks of Muenster cheese yesterday at Sam's. Got a big surprise when I got home there was a package at our front door with my new AMNPS in it. Just perfect timing. I got 3 bags of pellets with it too. Hickory, Apple, and Maple. For today I put 1 row of hickory & 1 row of apple. I will light each & hopefully they will burn for about 4 hours. It's in the 70's here already & will be in the 90's by the time the cheese is done. So I have ice in the water pan on a rack below the cheese. I have the AMNPS sitting on a veggie wok turned upside down over the burner. Above it I have the original chip pan turned upside down to protect the AMNPS from any water dripping on it as the ice melts & condenses on the bottom of the water pan.

Here's what I got:

f0b9f6b4_cheese-muenster-8-13-111.jpg


Here's the cheese to smoke today.

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Here's the AMNPS all loaded up with hickory on one side & apple on the other.

8f43c98b_cheese-muenster-8-13-113.jpg


I quartered each block & put it on the jerky rack.

21bf81e4_cheese-muenster-8-13-114.jpg


Fired up the AMNPS with a propane torch, letting it sit & burn for a few minutes to get a good cherry on the end.

5f1ce1c9_cheese-muenster-8-13-115.jpg


After about 5 minutes I blew it out & it started smoking nicely.

91bc422c_cheese-muenster-8-13-116.jpg


Put it in the Vault. You can see the configuration I have as my setup. Upside down veggie wok with AMNPS on top. Both bottom vents & the top vent fully open. Upside down chip tray above AMNPS for protection. Water tray above that, and finally the cheese on top of it all.

7a3b228c_cheese-muenster-8-13-117.jpg


It's smoking real good now, time to shut the door & let the AMNPS do it's thing.

2dc7fab4_cheese-muenster-8-13-118.jpg


I'll have to check it in a couple of hours because I'm sure the ice will be melted, or if the temp starts to go up before that I will have to dump the water & fill it with more ice. When I first shut the door the temp inside was 73 degrees. 

0ad3bc27_cheese-muenster-8-13-119.jpg


That's it for now, I will update with the final photo's around noon. That's when I get the cheese out & start some ribs & beans. See you then.
 
Thanks Al !

This is going to be interesting to me.

I started both ends of my AMNPS one time for a smoke (Forget what I was smoking, but I know it was a hot smoke).

After about an hour, when both ends got going really good, I decided to extinguish one end.

I am a serious smoke hound, but I was worried about the way too much smoke it was producing.

Since that, I might light both ends of an AMNS, but not my AMNPS.

Bear
 
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Smoked Muenster...Ribs...Beans...kgfk3-3p0mcvme[m (sorry, key board acting up from drool).

I'm definitely watching this one Al, thanks...James
 
Hey Al,

Bear is correct.....

Lighting both ends is a lot of smoke in the AMNPS plus, it will generate some extra unwanted heat.

Lighting (1) end of the New AMNPS produces about as much smoke as lighting both ends of the original AMNS.

If it's going good, I would extinguish one of the sides.

TJ
 
Here's a photo of the TBS I'm getting.

It doesn't look like too much to me.

I'm still keeping the heat down even though it's 84 outside already.

Don't forget the Smoke Vault is single wall with no insulation and has a lot of gaps & openings for the smoke to get out.

It would be hard to compare that with an MES.

I'm going to let it go with both sides lit & see how it tastes.

I may not be able to get as much time in the smoker as I want due to the outside temps.

It's been over 2 hours & the temp is 87 in the smoker.

I would like to keep it below 90.

Tell me if you guys think this looks like too much smoke.

fd89ad3b_cheese-muenster-8-13-1110.jpg
 
hey Al the smoke looks fine from here

cd2c277d_imagesCA4EN2MJ.jpg


just a trace of the TBS

you keep lighting fires on that marble countertop and Mrs Smoking Al is gonna be upset with you!

cheese is looking sweet also!
 
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I pulled them out at 4 hours. The AMNPS had burned 1 row & almost burned the other. Here's how they looked. As soon as I took the photo I put them in the freezer to firm them up before vac packing.

6b21cf45_cheese-muenster-8-13-1111.jpg


Here's a look at the AMNPS. You can see that they almost burned the same even though they were different woods.

28b18718_cheese-muenster-8-13-1112.jpg


Thanks guys & gals for looking, and thanks Todd for your nifty little invention. This sure beats a soldering iron in a can of sawdust.
 
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Very Cool Al!

I forgot that the Smoke Vault was not insulated.

4 hours from 1 row is what I've been getting, so i would say it's burning great.  Apple burns a little faster than Hickory.

Look at how complete the burn is? 

Almost all the pellets are burned to white ash.

Very nice color!

Todd
 
Thanks again Todd, it's really an awesome little invention.

I can't wait to see what you come up with next!
 
I thought the Smoke Vault was insulated---Maybe I was thinking about the cook shack???

I noticed you didn't fill your AMNPS as full as I do too, but I do that to get a good 11 hours with one side lit.

I know if you fill it to the top & light both ends, after the first hour you got a whole lot of smoke.

It sure doesn't look smoked to hard!!!

Thanks,

Bear
 
I think it came out real good Bear, of course I can't taste it yet, but it didn't have a real strong smoke smell to it. It smelled very nice, so I guess we will find out in a couple of weeks if it's too smokey. Looking at the color I think it looks just about right. I have them all vac packed for their nap in the fridge and as you know this is the hardest part " THE WAIT ". Here's one last look.

22f90737_cheese-muenster-8-13-1113.jpg
 
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Looks great Al! I don't think you can have too much smoke for cheese, but that's me. I'll have to look into one of these this Fall. Excellent job!
 
Hi Al,

I'll be trying this soon, if I find a good deal on Muenster. I'm curious, I wasn't aware that you had to

put them in the freezer for a while before eating. Why is that? And, if you don't mind, do you leave

different cheeses in the freezer longer or shorter depending on the type of cheese?

Thanks for sharing...James
 
Hi Al,

I'll be trying this soon, if I find a good deal on Muenster. I'm curious, I wasn't aware that you had to

put them in the freezer for a while before eating. Why is that? And, if you don't mind, do you leave

different cheeses in the freezer longer or shorter depending on the type of cheese?

Thanks for sharing...James
No James you don't have to put them in the freezer before eating. I put them in there for a couple of hours to firm them up so the vac packing doesn't smash them down. They need to stay in the fridge for a couple of weeks before eating to age them. If you don't do that they taste bitter. I find that the longer they are aged the better they taste. That's why I made so much. After a month or so in the fridge I freeze them & every time I take one out it tastes better than the last one.
 
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