Interested in the wax process as well. The more I learn about smoking cheese, the more I realize I don't know what I don't know (and I'm not even sure about that). I just wrap in paper and plastic for a day, then dry and vac pack the next day. Assuming the wax helps preserve them? What are your thoughts on the 2 different processes?
I have tried many different methods and use Mr T's "Smoking Cheese from go to show with Q Vue" Link:
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/mr-ts-smoked-cheese-from-go-to-show-w-q-view.123130/#:~:text=Mark forums read-,Mr T's "Smoked Cheese From Go To Show" w/ Q- View,-Thread starter
His post has a lot of great info
My process is pretty close:
1- Cut Cheese down into 1 lb blocks
2- Let cheese come to room temp while you get the smoker ready
3- I use either a A-MAZE-N tube or A-MAZE-N maze with a mix of cherry and apple pellets
4- The day before I fill a large water pan with water and put in the freezer to freeze solid, I offset the frozen pan from the smoker tube, otherwise condensation can drip from the pan onto the tube/maze an put out your pellets.
5- Once the smoker is giving off a nice light stream of smoke, I place the blocks with enough space to between the blocks to allow the smoke to flow around the cheese
6- I check the smoker often to ensure the chamber temp stays below 70 degrees, so you need a cool-cold day...
7- I smoke hard cheese (like cheddar) for 4 hours, softer cheese like Gouda 2 hours and Mozzarella for 60-90 minutes.
8- Once the cheese has smoked, I remove it and let it rest on the counter for a couple hours, then move the cheese to a ziplock (making sure it is dry, if not I wipe it off with a clean sterile cloth) and leave the ziplock "cracked open" to breath and keep condensation from forming.
9- 2 days later, I will remove the cheese and again let it sit for 30 minutes before waxing.
10- I heat wax (must be wax made for cheese, I order from New England Cheese makers) to 225 degrees on a hot plate.
11- I use a combination of dipping and brushing at least 2 coats of wax ensure there are no pin holes, the second and third coat I do with wax at a lower temp (~155 degrees) to keep the first coat from meIting and I will coat a 3rd time to adhere a label with the type and date smoked
12- KEY: let the cheese rest waxed for at least 2 weeks, in a cool dark place to continue to age. If you try the cheese earlier, it is likely to still be bitter, the smoke needs time to penetrate and mellow. Store the cheese between 35 and 70 degrees, 56-58 degrees is optimal, but in Texas I move it to the fridge for the summer, which is not ideal, but I don't have a place to keep cheese cool without a fridge during the summer. When I lived in Wisconsin, we kept it in our wine cellar in the basement, but no cool basements in Texas!
13- You can store the waxed cheese for a long time (I have only made it 3 years) but you can age hard cheeses much longer. Moist cheese just gets old... The wax allows the cheese to age without allowing contaminates from penetrating to the cheese.
Tidbits/hints:
- I smoke like cheeses together rather than mixing, I do this simply to make the process of timing the smoking to be consistent for each type.
- I use red wax for hard/dense cheese, green for softer. This is just a preference...
- I have a pan dedicated for cheese wax that I picked up at a garage sale
- I don't use the gas stove to heat the wax. I do this for two reasons: 1- the danger of flash fire, 2- I don't want to hear from my wife that I dribbled wax on her cooktop...
- Smoke time is my personal preference, you may want a lighter or heavier smoke profile to your cheese and that is ok.
- I use a laser thermometer to monitor my chamber temp, keeping a eye on the cheese surface temp and the smoke chamber temp.
- I place cheese on bradley racks and will rotate to ensure an even smoke
- If it melts a bit, that is not the end of the world... it just won't look pretty, but it may/should still taste good.
- If I don't have the time to wax, I vacuum seal for a couple weeks until I have time to wax the cheese.
- When waxing, I wear nitrile gloves over white cotton gloves to protect me from burns and keep the cheese germ free.
- I place the waxed cheese on waxed paper to cool.
- I keep the door on my smoker cracked, I like the smoke to keep moving and clean.
- IMHO cold cheese directly from the fridge to smoker causes it to be more bitter, some believe it takes on smoke faster, but my experience is that yes it does, but it tends to be bitter.
- When I can find alder sawdust I mix it with my pellets, alder gives off a wonderful mellow smoke that pairs well with fruit wood.
I hope this helps!
- Jason
