I love smoked cheese and make it a couple of times a year. Normally I use a smoke generator to cold smoke, but I have my Bradley P10 smoker and wanted to try it for smoking cheese.
The Bradley lets you just operate the smoke generator in the unit. That allows you to get smoke without turning the heat elements on. However, the smoke generator creates some heat itself, so I waited for a cold day.
Another thing about the Bradley, it generates a stronger smoke than my tube smoker, so I reduced the smoking time.
I cut old cheddar, gouda, Jalapeno Monterey Jack, Havarti, and Swiss cheese into blocks and put them on one of the smoker racks and into the smoker.
The temperature was -3 C (27 F) when I put the cheese in. I let the smoke run for an hour (3 pucks) and used apple pucks.
At the end of the smoke, the temperature in the chamber was 20 C (68 F). This is more than cool enough for a cold smoke. However, If I wanted to go longer, I would have to add some large blocks of ice to moderate the temperature.
The cheese didn’t discolour as much as it does at higher temperatures, and I was a little concerned about having enough smoke flavour.
However, I vacuum packed the cheese and let it sit for two weeks and tried some of the old cheddar. Just the way I like it. A nice mild smooth smoke hit.
The Verdict
The Bradley did great and I will do another batch at the end of the winter, but I may add a block of ice to see how it affects the smoke.
Disco
The Bradley lets you just operate the smoke generator in the unit. That allows you to get smoke without turning the heat elements on. However, the smoke generator creates some heat itself, so I waited for a cold day.
Another thing about the Bradley, it generates a stronger smoke than my tube smoker, so I reduced the smoking time.
I cut old cheddar, gouda, Jalapeno Monterey Jack, Havarti, and Swiss cheese into blocks and put them on one of the smoker racks and into the smoker.
The temperature was -3 C (27 F) when I put the cheese in. I let the smoke run for an hour (3 pucks) and used apple pucks.
At the end of the smoke, the temperature in the chamber was 20 C (68 F). This is more than cool enough for a cold smoke. However, If I wanted to go longer, I would have to add some large blocks of ice to moderate the temperature.
The cheese didn’t discolour as much as it does at higher temperatures, and I was a little concerned about having enough smoke flavour.
However, I vacuum packed the cheese and let it sit for two weeks and tried some of the old cheddar. Just the way I like it. A nice mild smooth smoke hit.
The Verdict
The Bradley did great and I will do another batch at the end of the winter, but I may add a block of ice to see how it affects the smoke.
Disco