Cold Smoking Cheese in the Smokehouse!

tjohnson · Oct 17, 2011

Hey Pops!

What a fantastic Finish!

It looks like you got plenty of smoke for your smokehouse

Enjoy My Friend!!!

Todd

SmokinAl · Oct 17, 2011

The cheese looks great Pops. I really like the way you hung them up. No grill marks!

I freeze cheese all the time, but I will add that the only cheese I smoke is Muenster, and it's a soft cheese like mozz.

Maybe some of the harder cheeses like sharp cheddar don't freeze well.

alelover · Oct 17, 2011

Cheese looks awesome. Nice smokehouse too. Is there a post of the construction on it somewhere?

homebrew · Oct 17, 2011

What a great post with awesome pics. I love the idea of hanging the cheese. There are so many things that would be so much easier hung. Off to order a box.

Thanks again.

pops6927 · Oct 17, 2011

Yes, check out the link at the bottom of any of my posts, the first one, "Smokehouse"

alelover said:
Cheese looks awesome. Nice smokehouse too. Is there a post of the construction on it somewhere?

alelover · Oct 18, 2011

I see it. I was looking at the grey one that said Plywood Smokehouse and was thinkin why won't it work dammit. Thanks.

bluebombersfan · Oct 18, 2011

WOW pops excellent job!!

billyj571 · Oct 18, 2011

Hay Pop's just got my A-Maze-N-Pellet-Smoker from Todd yesterday and now I know what I'm going to try and smoke with this for the first burn cheese. Thanks for the photos looks real good

andrew82 · Oct 18, 2011

Awesome Smokehouse!!

simple · Oct 19, 2011

We freeze cheese all the time. Used to live 20 minutes from a cheese maker. we would by sharp cheddar and colby as a small wheel, cut into chunks and freeze. I may crumble a bit when sliced after freezing, but never enough to create any problems. The little crumbs that might flake off are small enough they contain no calories or fat, so we didn't mind picking them up and stuffing them into our faces.

Having said that, my daughter was a cheese monger (her term, not mine) for a couple years at a high-falutin' healthy foods grocery store, and she insists that freezing cheese changes its "complexity, texture, flavor, and aromatics". We still buy in bulk, chunk (soon to add smoke to the process), and freeze...

flareside92 · Oct 19, 2011

Pops your cheese looks awesome!

Ok i have a couple ameturish questions.

1. When smoking cheese is it wise to use a tray of ice cubes?

2. Do you leave the door open just a crack?

The only reason I ask is.. I decided to smoke some cheese in the garage tonight, since it was a bit brisk and breezy, and my wife remarked about how smokey it was.

I had the door open just a crack because I didn't want it to heat up.

I closed the door and went back in the house. ( we both smoke but don't smoke in the house)

I do some computer work on the side and 2 hours later, went back to the garage only to find that my pepper jack had started to soften/melt more than the 3 blocks of cheddar.

I removed all of it and sealed it up seperately and put it in the fridge.

I was using cherry/hickory dust but didn't think it would get warm enough or get that soft.

Is that normal?

pops6927 · Oct 19, 2011

The questions are fine, always glad to try to help!

What was the outside temp and the inside temp in your garage? You may have been better off smoking it outdoors if your temp differential was considerable (like 60° outside and 75° or higher inside).

did you have your vents open all the way to draft out any excess heat instead of opening the door? Could the door opening have possibly fanned the smoldering to a higher level that adversely affected your temp?

check your temp inside your smoker and let that determine whether or not to use ice cubes or bricks (an alternative is to freeze water in milk cartons, then just refreeze). I stsrted early enough that temp was not an issue early on (60's) and just started getting near 80° when I pulled them at noon. I'd thought about using ice in my drip pans but didn't need to, the cheese remained firm enough and didn't melt into the stockinette at all.

Flareside92 said:
Pops your cheese looks awesome!

Ok i have a couple ameturish questions.

1. When smoking cheese is it wise to use a tray of ice cubes?

2. Do you leave the door open just a crack?

The only reason I ask is.. I decided to smoke some cheese in the garage tonight, since it was a bit brisk and breezy, and my wife remarked about how smokey it was.

I had the door open just a crack because I didn't want it to heat up.

I closed the door and went back in the house. ( we both smoke but don't smoke in the house)

I do some computer work on the side and 2 hours later, went back to the garage only to find that my pepper jack had started to soften/melt more than the 3 blocks of cheddar.

I removed all of it and sealed it up seperately and put it in the fridge.

I was using cherry/hickory dust but didn't think it would get warm enough or get that soft.

Is that normal?

Bearcarver · Oct 20, 2011

Pops6927 said:
The questions are fine, always glad to try to help!

What was the outside temp and the inside temp in your garage? You may have been better off smoking it outdoors if your temp differential was considerable (like 60° outside and 75° or higher inside).

did you have your vents open all the way to draft out any excess heat instead of opening the door? Could the door opening have possibly fanned the smoldering to a higher level that adversely affected your temp?

check your temp inside your smoker and let that determine whether or not to use ice cubes or bricks (an alternative is to freeze water in milk cartons, then just refreeze). I stsrted early enough that temp was not an issue early on (60's) and just started getting near 80° when I pulled them at noon. I'd thought about using ice in my drip pans but didn't need to, the cheese remained firm enough and didn't melt into the stockinette at all.

Exactly what Pops said.

Example---This is in my old MES 30:

I keep a bunch of these 3/4 filled and in the freezer I don't use much.

They're good for saving watts in the freezer, and always ready for a cold smoke.

Bear

pops6927 · Oct 20, 2011

Egg Zakkly! Purfeckt!

chubbabubba · Oct 20, 2011

Totally awesome Pops. Funny, i was just telling coworkers today that my goal is to master smoking cheeses as the temp is dropping outside. This is really an inspiration. Smoking a turkey breast tonight.

sorry to hear about strokes Pops, i'm glad to hear it's not been too debilitating. My great uncle and aunt had strokes within the last 6 years. I know what it's like to worry about loved ones. I pray your health gets better and you can continue smoking, and inspiring newbies like me. Thanks!

exhaustedspark · Oct 20, 2011

Attention Flareside92

First off i assume you are using a insulated oven smoker.

I suggest for cheese you do not do that. It is designed to keep the heat in and that is not what you want to do with cheese. If you are just insisting on using the insulated smoker then leave the door open and put a sheet/pillowcase etc, accross the opening. I also am assuming you are using a pellet or Dust burner and not the units heat source. You can even use the ice to keep it even cooler.

Try to do the cheese when the outside temp is 60 or lower. Should have no problem after that.

Karl

samuel trachet · Oct 20, 2011

Looks Great Pops! Thanks for the link for the stockinettes. Keep up with the great QVIEW!!

jc1947 · Oct 21, 2011

Pops, thanks for another excellent tutorial.

JC

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whodat · Oct 29, 2011

Todd,

The 3 pellet smokers you shipped to me are fabulous!

Nice packing peanuts!!

Cold Smoking Cheese in the Smokehouse!

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