# Post Smoke of Cheese.



## tbuhrman67 (Apr 8, 2016)

After Smoking the Cheese do i need to let rest to room temp before i vacuum seal it or do i do it right away? I plan on smoking Cheese for the first time and i don't want to mess it up. i have been reading the forum for a while but this is the only question i have at the moment.


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## dirtsailor2003 (Apr 8, 2016)

No need to rest at room temp. You should let it rest in the fridge for a day or two prior to vacuum packing. Then let it rest at least a month before tasting.


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## tbuhrman67 (Apr 8, 2016)

Ok place in the fridge for a day then vacuum seal it. Thanks I will let you know how it turns out. I am pretty excited.


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## mr t 59874 (Apr 8, 2016)

tbuhrman67 said:


> After Smoking the Cheese do i need to let rest to room temp before i vacuum seal it or do i do it right away? I plan on smoking Cheese for the first time and i don't want to mess it up. i have been reading the forum for a while but this is the only question i have at the moment.


Good question and one which may get many different answers. Personally, if smoking hard cheeses, depending on the equipment used, it can be vac sealed or consumed directly out of the smoker with no bitter taste. If planning to wax it, I will allow it to set at room temp overnight in an open ended bag. This allows the cheese to develop a skin prior to waxing. The room temp cheese, also assist in killing bacteria when applying the first coat of wax.

Take the time to read the following along with the additional links; it should help you with your cheese.

What is going on with smoking cheese?

Good luck and have fun.

T


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## tbuhrman67 (Apr 8, 2016)

I have some cheddar, pepper jack, Colby jack, and Gouda I am going to smoke. My neighbor is letting me borrow his ANPS and tube smoker to use in my bass pro master built electric smoker. From reading I need to open the vent full and pull out the chip loader and the chip tray a little bit.


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## mr t 59874 (Apr 8, 2016)

tbuhrman67 said:


> I have some cheddar, pepper jack, Colby jack, and Gouda I am going to smoke. My neighbor is letting me borrow his ANPS and tube smoker to use in my bass pro master built electric smoker. From reading I need to open the vent full and pull out the chip loader and the chip tray a little bit.


You may or may not want to rethink what you are about to do. If you are putting smoke generator of any type inside with your cheese, I strongly suggest you take a one pound block of cheddar and cut it into bite size pieces and place them in the smoker, after the smoke starts generating. Start sampling the cheese at 20 minute intervals until it reaches your desired result. If it starts to become bitter, you are oversmoking it. 

As this is your first cheese smoke, I also recommend doing the same with each type of cheese. Take good notes as they will last you a lifetime.

You may also want to consider a cold smoke mod of some sort. The following will help describe the pros and cons of the mods.

AMNPS & Smoke Daddy Myths?

Cleaning up your act - clean smoke is delicious smoke!

T


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## wade (Apr 9, 2016)

Mr T 59874 said:


> Good question and one which may get many different answers. Personally, if smoking hard cheeses, depending on the equipment used, it can be vac sealed or consumed directly out of the smoker with no bitter taste.


As Tom says, you will get a number of different different answers and this is probably due to everyones smoking environment being slightly different.

I find that even with hard cheese I need to leave it overnight to give the surface a chance to dry. If I don't then the cheese surface is quite wet when it is subsequently opened for eating. I did find though that the type of vacuum packer made a difference. When using a side suction domestic packer (with the textured pouches) it was less of a problem than when using my commercial chamber vacuum packer.

Any bitterness will certainly be down to the smoke generator and where it is positioned. The closer the cheese is to the generator then the more likely you are to get the bitter flavours deposited. If you have is in a separate enclosure with plenty of distance between for some of the tars to condense before it reaches the cheese then you are likely to get less bitterness.

I don't find my cheese it bitter immediately after smoking but the smoke flavour can tastes quite coarse. Over the first 2 or 3 weeks this coarse flavour mellows until you get the nice deep rounded smoked cheese flavour. This will depend on factors like the type of wood you are using, the type/volume of smoke it produces and how long it is smoked for. I have smoked cheese in three different smokers at home (Weber kettle, offset smoker and cold smoking chamber) and the results are slightly different in each.

Toms suggestion about keeping notes is a very good one. If you do you will soon be glad that you did. Make sure that you include, not only the type of cheese, but also where you bought it from as "mature cheddar" is not the same everywhere.


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## tbuhrman67 (Apr 9, 2016)

Mr T 59874 said:


> You may or may not want to rethink what you are about to do. If you are putting smoke generator of any type inside with your cheese, I strongly suggest you take a one pound block of cheddar and cut it into bite size pieces and place them in the smoker, after the smoke starts generating. Start sampling the cheese at 20 minute intervals until it reaches your desired result. If it starts to become bitter, you are oversmoking it.
> 
> As this is your first cheese smoke, I also recommend doing the same with each type of cheese. Take good notes as they will last you a lifetime.
> 
> ...



I don't really want to cut up my smoker because it works great for hot smoking. Maybe I will put the tube in the smoker and see what the smoke looks like coming out. 

From what I read in the thread the smoker wasn't getting enough air to burn the pellets correctly or the pellets didnt burn completely.


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## wade (Apr 9, 2016)

tbuhrman67 said:


> I don't really want to cut up my smoker because it works great for hot smoking. Maybe I will put the tube in the smoker and see what the smoke looks like coming out.
> 
> From what I read in the thread the smoker wasn't getting enough air to burn the pellets correctly or the pellets didnt burn completely.


The pellets burn so slowly that at most altitudes this is not usually a problem unless your air intakes were completely closed. The problem with lack of air when using a smoke generator usually just results in the pellets going out. All smoke generators will produce tar - it is a natural by-product of burning wood under normal conditions.

The balance is to minimise its effect on the food being smoked. This can be done by producing smoke that is less dense or by condensing some of the tar before it reaches the food. You also need to keep a good air flow through the smoker so that smoke is continually moving over the food. In my smoking chamber I have a small fan on the flue to assist this.

Another thing to check is that the cheese is at ambient temperature before it is put into the smoker and is not straight out of the fridge. If the cheese is significantly colder than the smoke then you are going to get more tar condensing out onto it.


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## mr t 59874 (Apr 9, 2016)

tbuhrman67 said:


> I don't really want to cut up my smoker because it works great for hot smoking. Maybe I will put the tube in the smoker and see what the smoke looks like coming out.
> 
> From what I read in the thread the smoker wasn't getting enough air to burn the pellets correctly or the pellets didnt burn completely.


There are ways to smoke cheese that will eliminate the bitter taste as experienced by so many. At the end of the day, it is your choice as to what you produce.

T


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