# First cheese...have a few questions..



## kingt36 (Apr 15, 2014)

It's pretty cool outside down here in Atlanta, but I was determined to smoke something. I opened up the fridge and saw a block of colby jack and a block of sharp cheddar cheese and decided to give my first cheese a whirl.

I put about a row and a quarter of cherry pellets in the AMNPS and the cheese has been smoking fairly steady for about an hour. I'm thinking I will let it smoke for at least three hours. My question is, does cheese need to mellow after smoking, and if so, how long?













20140415_172842.jpg



__ kingt36
__ Apr 15, 2014


















20140415_193140.jpg



__ kingt36
__ Apr 15, 2014


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## eman (Apr 15, 2014)

Smoke then rest over night . wipe w/ paper towel. Vac seal and let age at least 2 weeks

 I never open cheese at less than 30 days. have some that is 2 years aged that is fanastic


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## driedstick (Apr 16, 2014)

eman said:


> Smoke then rest over night . wipe w/ paper towel. Vac seal and let age at least 2 weeks
> 
> I never open cheese at less than 30 days. have some that is 2 years aged that is fanastic


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## dustin dreiling (Apr 17, 2014)

There is no step more important than resting the cheese between smoking and eating.  Two weeks is possible, two months is awesome.


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## goliath (Apr 18, 2014)

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/123130/mr-ts-smoked-cheese-from-go-to-show-w-q-view

nothing more to be said !!!!!


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## pugettarheel (May 24, 2014)

My favorite  to smoke is Tillamook pepper jack. I tried some inexpensive cheese on time and it was a waste of time.  All of the above suggestions are right on.


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## knuckle47 (May 31, 2014)

What kind of temperatures do you have outside down there?  Once it hit 55 here, my internal smoker temp would hit 90 and possibly more.  Since I have cooled and packed 1 grilled cheese  already in April, I'm hoping not to get to that point again.   During the 55-60 degree days, night would be around 40 so, I smoked the cheeses usually after 7pm


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## dave17a (Jun 1, 2014)

eman said:


> Smoke then rest over night . wipe w/ paper towel. Vac seal and let age at least 2 weeks
> 
> I never open cheese at less than 30 days. have some that is 2 years aged that is fanastic





Dustin Dreiling said:


> There is no step more important than resting the cheese between smoking and eating. Two weeks is possible, two months is awesome.





GOLIATH said:


> http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/123130/mr-ts-smoked-cheese-from-go-to-show-w-q-view
> 
> nothing more to be said !!!!!


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## eman (Jun 1, 2014)

I have some Black diamond 3 yo and 4 yo cheddar that i smoked almost 2 years ago. FANTASTIC!


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## larryacguy (Jul 18, 2014)

you folks are killing me. Smoke cheese & have to wait weeks to enjoy....... several weeks.... or even longer. I'm a cheese freak  but looking forward to getting my A-maze-n pellet smoker in & have fun learning the art of "cold smoking" .  do I need to do mailbox mod. on my MES 30 so I won't get temp rise for the cheese?  Thanks Larryacguy


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## cmayna (Jul 18, 2014)

Doing a mailbox mod will help keep any generated heat out of your smoker.  I think it really depends on the estimated ambient temp during the time you are smoking.   I wait until it's pretty cool and then smoke away with the AMNPS at the bottom of my smoker.  For me the AMNPS raises the inside of the smoker about 10 degrees.   So if it's 60* outside, the inside of the smoker will be about 70*, which I find as being an OK temp to do cheese at.


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## tropics (Jul 18, 2014)

Mailbox is a real good add on, I have a prime rib in now with the mail box attached, nice TBS can't go wrong.

Richie


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## rocknrolldad55 (Oct 4, 2014)

Love the mailbox idea on my MES.Ive been using it for a year and have great results


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## dirtsailor2003 (Oct 4, 2014)

Just used my mailbox yesterday to cold smoke some peppers. I have it rigged so I can hook it up to any of my smokers.













image.jpg



__ dirtsailor2003
__ Oct 4, 2014


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## knuckle47 (Oct 5, 2014)

Nice use of the box.  It seems that you hardly have any temperature increase inside the smoker.  I need to try this.  What is inside the mailbox burning? Do you use a grate with chips or a pellet tray or...might you just build any remote firebox and pipe the exhaust thru another container with the food in it?

Since this is adding smoke flavor by exposure to the smoke and not the heat..do you have any condensation problems or creosote?


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## lemans (Oct 5, 2014)

Can I put my AMNPS in my SFB of my chargriller and the cheese in the cc? I think that would work.


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## smoked alaskan (Oct 28, 2014)

Wow ! Thanks for that link Goliath - really great info from Mr T


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## mr t 59874 (Oct 28, 2014)

My pleasure smoked alaskan.  If I can help further, please ask here or you can of course PM me.

T


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## oregon smoker (Oct 28, 2014)

dave17a said:


>





dirtsailor2003 said:


> Just used my mailbox yesterday to cold smoke some peppers. I have it rigged so I can hook it up to any of my smokers.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


dirt sailor,

I had something similar when in Medford the only addition was I had a fan I put in the middle of the duct work that would help pull the smoke and then push it. it was a very low speed fan and I found it from my local appliance repair group and it was the fan out of a convection oven. the fan has two wires so depending on which way you connect it the fan can pull or push, worked really well......just my two cents,

Tom


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## smoked alaskan (Oct 28, 2014)

Nice job DS - guess that's some "first class" smoke ya got there


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## kingt36 (Apr 15, 2014)

It's pretty cool outside down here in Atlanta, but I was determined to smoke something. I opened up the fridge and saw a block of colby jack and a block of sharp cheddar cheese and decided to give my first cheese a whirl.

I put about a row and a quarter of cherry pellets in the AMNPS and the cheese has been smoking fairly steady for about an hour. I'm thinking I will let it smoke for at least three hours. My question is, does cheese need to mellow after smoking, and if so, how long?













20140415_172842.jpg



__ kingt36
__ Apr 15, 2014


















20140415_193140.jpg



__ kingt36
__ Apr 15, 2014


----------



## eman (Apr 15, 2014)

Smoke then rest over night . wipe w/ paper towel. Vac seal and let age at least 2 weeks

 I never open cheese at less than 30 days. have some that is 2 years aged that is fanastic


----------



## driedstick (Apr 16, 2014)

eman said:


> Smoke then rest over night . wipe w/ paper towel. Vac seal and let age at least 2 weeks
> 
> I never open cheese at less than 30 days. have some that is 2 years aged that is fanastic


----------



## dustin dreiling (Apr 17, 2014)

There is no step more important than resting the cheese between smoking and eating.  Two weeks is possible, two months is awesome.


----------



## goliath (Apr 18, 2014)

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/123130/mr-ts-smoked-cheese-from-go-to-show-w-q-view

nothing more to be said !!!!!


----------



## pugettarheel (May 24, 2014)

My favorite  to smoke is Tillamook pepper jack. I tried some inexpensive cheese on time and it was a waste of time.  All of the above suggestions are right on.


----------



## knuckle47 (May 31, 2014)

What kind of temperatures do you have outside down there?  Once it hit 55 here, my internal smoker temp would hit 90 and possibly more.  Since I have cooled and packed 1 grilled cheese  already in April, I'm hoping not to get to that point again.   During the 55-60 degree days, night would be around 40 so, I smoked the cheeses usually after 7pm


----------



## dave17a (Jun 1, 2014)

eman said:


> Smoke then rest over night . wipe w/ paper towel. Vac seal and let age at least 2 weeks
> 
> I never open cheese at less than 30 days. have some that is 2 years aged that is fanastic





Dustin Dreiling said:


> There is no step more important than resting the cheese between smoking and eating. Two weeks is possible, two months is awesome.





GOLIATH said:


> http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/123130/mr-ts-smoked-cheese-from-go-to-show-w-q-view
> 
> nothing more to be said !!!!!


----------



## eman (Jun 1, 2014)

I have some Black diamond 3 yo and 4 yo cheddar that i smoked almost 2 years ago. FANTASTIC!


----------



## larryacguy (Jul 18, 2014)

you folks are killing me. Smoke cheese & have to wait weeks to enjoy....... several weeks.... or even longer. I'm a cheese freak  but looking forward to getting my A-maze-n pellet smoker in & have fun learning the art of "cold smoking" .  do I need to do mailbox mod. on my MES 30 so I won't get temp rise for the cheese?  Thanks Larryacguy


----------



## cmayna (Jul 18, 2014)

Doing a mailbox mod will help keep any generated heat out of your smoker.  I think it really depends on the estimated ambient temp during the time you are smoking.   I wait until it's pretty cool and then smoke away with the AMNPS at the bottom of my smoker.  For me the AMNPS raises the inside of the smoker about 10 degrees.   So if it's 60* outside, the inside of the smoker will be about 70*, which I find as being an OK temp to do cheese at.


----------



## tropics (Jul 18, 2014)

Mailbox is a real good add on, I have a prime rib in now with the mail box attached, nice TBS can't go wrong.

Richie


----------



## rocknrolldad55 (Oct 4, 2014)

Love the mailbox idea on my MES.Ive been using it for a year and have great results


----------



## dirtsailor2003 (Oct 4, 2014)

Just used my mailbox yesterday to cold smoke some peppers. I have it rigged so I can hook it up to any of my smokers.













image.jpg



__ dirtsailor2003
__ Oct 4, 2014


----------



## knuckle47 (Oct 5, 2014)

Nice use of the box.  It seems that you hardly have any temperature increase inside the smoker.  I need to try this.  What is inside the mailbox burning? Do you use a grate with chips or a pellet tray or...might you just build any remote firebox and pipe the exhaust thru another container with the food in it?

Since this is adding smoke flavor by exposure to the smoke and not the heat..do you have any condensation problems or creosote?


----------



## lemans (Oct 5, 2014)

Can I put my AMNPS in my SFB of my chargriller and the cheese in the cc? I think that would work.


----------



## smoked alaskan (Oct 28, 2014)

Wow ! Thanks for that link Goliath - really great info from Mr T


----------



## mr t 59874 (Oct 28, 2014)

My pleasure smoked alaskan.  If I can help further, please ask here or you can of course PM me.

T


----------



## oregon smoker (Oct 28, 2014)

dave17a said:


>





dirtsailor2003 said:


> Just used my mailbox yesterday to cold smoke some peppers. I have it rigged so I can hook it up to any of my smokers.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


dirt sailor,

I had something similar when in Medford the only addition was I had a fan I put in the middle of the duct work that would help pull the smoke and then push it. it was a very low speed fan and I found it from my local appliance repair group and it was the fan out of a convection oven. the fan has two wires so depending on which way you connect it the fan can pull or push, worked really well......just my two cents,

Tom


----------



## smoked alaskan (Oct 28, 2014)

Nice job DS - guess that's some "first class" smoke ya got there


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