Hi Nutmeg43, your almost our neighbor compared to most on this forum.
I generally go by colour on the cheese as to when its done, and i kinda copy the look of the Baldersons double smoked cheddar we can get at Costco although i think they may do a dip into liquid smoke, but thats only a guess. I always use apple for the cheese as its a lot milder so it can handle the longer time in the smoke, and that could range from 9 hours up to 15 or so. And to be honest, ive never experienced the ashtray flavour others speak of. Maybe that happens more with the stick-burner type smokers? The pucks i use in the bradley seem to consistantly turn out pretty good cheese, and all my friends seem to agree so gotta be doing something right.
Another constant is keeping it cool in the smoker. That attachment i made allows me to keep the temp below 100 even in the summer, other than the weeks that are brutally hot. Sometimes i'll put a block of ice in the bottom of the smoker and that just about guarantees the low temp if i do a smoke in the summer.
Once the smoking is done, i usually bag it for a week or 2 to settle down and i find the cheese will last several months in the fridge although it generally gets eaten pretty quick, or stolen by my friends. Never had the smoked cheese go moldy compared to unsmoked cheese, so bonus there. We go through a lot of cheese, so i do this fairly consistantly, and always turns out awesome.
Hope this helps, cheers.
Phil