My First Cheese (cold-smoked) Qview

[insight]

Very cool! Thanks!!

 

[jirodriguez]

Do it at night when its cooler?

 

[treegje]

Yummy looking'excellent job

 

[squirrel]

Papa Bear! Woohoo! I am so glad to hear you had a good experience with the A-Maze-N smoker, because I just bought one. I can't wait for it to get here!

 

[bluewolf]

I am so not worthy......

I don't have a big fancy rig like yours...

We do not "entertain" and BF doesn't eat cheese like I do..

SO thinking I might have to skip this for now...

It looks awsome but since I am on limited income,how practical would this be?

But I will definitly keep this post in mind...:-D

 

[jirodriguez]

Blue.... just wait till next time you do a smoke. After the meat is all done let the coals burn way down and when your temps get to 80° or less toss on a block of cheese and put a piece of wood against a hot coal - or you could do it at the start of the smoke ahead of the meat.

One reason a lot of folks like the AMNS is you don't even need a smoker! I have seen a few folks buy stackable cooling racks in the pots and pans section of their big box stores, put the cheese on the racks, put the AMNS underneath and place a cardboard box over the top. Cut out an air intake in the bottom of the box and an exhaust port near the top - viola! a cold smoker is born!

 

[Bearcarver]

Blue,

Here is that set-up that Johnny was talking about.

A very cheap way to make great smoked cheese:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/99316/cardboard-box-cold-smoker

Bear

 

[alaskanbear]

I wonder if one could cold-smoke cheese with "the amazin" in an MES in Florida with an ambient temperature of 90 degrees. Any takers?

In-

I actually have put a 1/2 gallon plastic milk container filled with water and froze inside the smoker and kept the temp at 74 (highest) for 2 hours--workes well.

Rich

 

[itsmechris]

Thanks, very helpful.

 

[dandl93]

Where is the ending to this ? How was the taste of the cheese soaked in the differant juices ?

Dan

 

[Bearcarver]

 
Where is the ending to this ? How was the taste of the cheese soaked in the differant juices ?

Dan

Sorry about that. It was from so long ago, I forgot I didn't have a link to the "Cheese Tasting Party".

I put the link at the end now. But here it is too:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/93375/smoked-cheese-tasting-party

Bear

 

[dandl93]

Bear 

Thanks for the follow up answered my question soaking did not work.saves me from wasteing the time trying it hahahahaha

Dan 

 

[Bearcarver]

 
Bear 

Thanks for the follow up answered my question soaking did not work.saves me from wasteing the time trying it hahahahaha

Dan 

Yeah----They didn't rank too good----I never did it again, but I had to try it once, or we'd never know.

Bear

 

[Bearcarver]

@Burner76 ---Thanks for the Like.

Bear

 

[Marianne Kehr]

I've been wanting to try smoking cheese for a long time:

I finally have the means for a good cold-smoke! There is no way to get my MES to smoke below 90*. I had bought a "Big Kahuna" Smoke Daddy, but I guess I'm not smart enough to operate it. I tried everything, and all I could get was either too much smoke, or I would have to be constantly tapping it or jabbing it with a big screwdriver to get the dust, chips, chunks, and/or pellets to drop down through the lump of gooey black tar in the bottom of the chamber. You can't fix stupid (ME), so I just figured it was my fault, and quit using it.

Then I had the opportunity to test drive another smoke generator. Now I found out I either wasn't so dumb, or any idiot can use this "A-MAZE-N-SMOKER". I just loaded it up according to the simple directions, and put it in my MES. I checked it very often, because of my experience with my Smoke Daddy. As it turned out, with the exception of turning the pieces of cheese over at the 2 hour mark, I had no reason to go near my smoker for the full 4 hours. It just sits there smoldering nicely without any hands on. I used just about half of the dust I put into the "MAZE", which means I could get 8 hours of steady light sweet smoke with one load of dust. With opening & closing the door every now & then to check, the temps in my MES ran between 66* and 76* the whole time. With the door closed for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, it never got above 76*, with an outside ambient temp of 49* to 55*.

Here are the Victims for the day. Instead of having to list them, you can see the packages. The one on the plate is 1/3 of the "Colby Jack". Another third is in the jar of hot pepper juice, and the other third is in the pickle juice (I'll try anything once). They were in for an overnight soak:

Here they all are sitting out, getting ready for the smoker. The pink pieces of Mozzarella were soaking in a jar with my pickled eggs (see I told you I'll try anything once):

Don't know if you can see the light smoke coming out of my vent:

This is after one hour of smoke:

This is after 1 1/2 hours of light smoke:

Here is the "A-MAZE-N-SMOKER" after a nice light steady 3 hours of smoking:

After 4 hours, I pulled the cheese out. I used 2 1/2 rows from the "MAZE". I scooped the rest of the dust out for a future smoke:

Here is all of my completed Smoked Cheeses. As you can see, one of the sticks is missing. I had to try something!!! It tasted pretty good already, but everybody says to give it a nap for two weeks, so that's what I'm doing:

Now they are vacuum packed & I put them to bed in the fridge for their two week nap:

See you in two weeks, and thanks for lookin',
Bearcarver

EDIT: Link to "Cheese Tasting Party":

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/93375/smoked-cheese-tasting-party

So when your cheese ready do you cut it to a specific size ? and what type of pellet/dust flavor do you recommend?
I have the 12" A-maZe-n tube

 

[Bearcarver]

So when your cheese ready do you cut it to a specific size ? and what type of pellet/dust flavor do you recommend?
I have the 12" A-maZe-n tube

Hi Marianne!!
I cut mine to size before smoking, so I can get the smoke into the cheese better.
Then I wait at least 2 or 3 weeks for it to mellow---Longer if you like. (Except for sampling)
DON'T FREEZE IT !!!
If you like it strong, I'd go with Hickory, but if you want it mild, Apple or similar would be nice.
Or put "Cheese" in the search box above & go nuts reading all the Threads & suggestions.

The Tube puts out too much smoke for my MES 40. It's better for bigger smokers, or for high altitude smoking.
I prefer the 5 X 8 AMNPS for all my smoking.

Bear

 

[Marianne Kehr]

Thank You, if I do some cheese this rainy weekend , I'll crack the lid on my smoker a wee bit , I have a blend of pellets that I mixed together a little bit of everything :o)

 

[Patrick McCurdy]

Long time lurker (6+ years) finally created an account. Have a few years of cheese smoking experience, and felt like choking in. Mild cheddar was put on this earth for smoking, it’s onenofnthe best cheeses by far to smoke. The cheaper the brand, the better! I’ll do an 8 - 10 hour smoke, usually apple, with my amaz-n, then let it rest on a rack in the garage fridge for a day or two. This rest helps mellow the flavor and dry the cheese a bit. I’ve found that here in SoCal, the constant warm weather makes it hard to cold smoke, cheese starts to break down and become like velvets. The fridge drying helps to reverse that. Have also had great success with cheeses on the harder side, Beechers flagship, Kerry gold aged white cheddar to namena few.

 

[doughboysigep]

So when your cheese ready do you cut it to a specific size ? and what type of pellet/dust flavor do you recommend?
I have the 12" A-maZe-n tube

I cut mine before smoking - usually 2/3, 1/2 , 1/3, or 1/4 pound chunks (smaller the chunk the more smoke on the piece). Sometimes cut them long and skinny (again, more smoke/square inch). I use apple/maple/cherry/hickory blend pellet - common pellet blend. Your tube should go about 4 hrs. - that is how long I smoke my cheese.