# How cold is to cold to smoke cheese



## pabeef

Hey everyone 
 looking to find out at what air temp  I need to add heat to the smoker to cold smoke cheese. I known that I don't want it to freeze so anything below 32 I would need to add heat. But what about 32 - 60 degree. My setup is a warming box with the A-maze tray. Last weekend it was about 40 degrees outside and I did a batch of cheddar and co Jack. Ended up going 5 hours with Todd's Apple pellets  and not much change in color.  I normally run 3 hours with nice shade of smoke. 
So do lower temperature take longer to get the smoke into the cheese or is this batch just not going to have the look of nice smoked cheese? 
I'm in north western WI so the days in the 50's are gone till April. 
Thanks for the help 
PABEEF


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## crazymoon

PB, Your Amazen tray will put off enough heat to keep things from freezing if you leave it inside the smoker. I leave mine in an insulated electric smoker which is off with the dampers open and the temp stays around 50-60 even when it is 20 outside.


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## tropics

I agree with crazymoon keep the temp in the 50 to 70 degree range
Richie


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## campfire218

Sounds like you're doing it right. I start by bringing the cheese to room temp for an hour or so. I try to keep the cabinet temp of my smoker about the same as the house (60-70°) and when it's done, I just take the rack out and rest about an hour to cool. Then wipe down, seal and wait. I would think the lower temp is probably ok.


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## gmc2003

I've smoked cheese when temps are in the 30's. Granted you don't get the same color, but the flavor will still be there. 

Chris


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## hardcookin

The outside temp was in the 30's and the smokers temp was mid 50's with the A Maze- N tube.
2 hours of smoke gave me a decent amount of smoke flavor...Been letting the cheese age for 30 days.


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## pabeef

Thank you everyone for your time and responses.  From the sounds of it as long as im in the 50's in the smoker i will be ok. I normally let the cheese sit out to warn up. And letting it rest is a  hard thing to do. 
Living in north western WI I can get cheep cheese to play with 6 pound's of fresh cheddar and co Jack are $3.00 a pound and there is a local company that packages cheese so they will sell ends and odd peices pretty cheep it's all different flavors of cheese. Thanks again for the information I will smoke again  tomorrow 40 degrees and less wind.
PABEEF


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## bill ace 350

hardcookin said:


> The outside temp was in the 30's and the smokers temp was mid 50's with the A Maze- N tube.
> 2 hours of smoke gave me a decent amount of smoke flavor...Been letting the cheese age for 30 days.


Exactly my thoughts. Cheese won't freeze, cheese won't melt and tastes great. Smoking 10 pieces of extra sharp cheddar this weekend, with temps projected to be low to mid 30's....


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## hardcookin

Just smoked a batch today. Air temp was in the mid 30's.
Smoked for about 2 1/2 hours, cheese has good color.


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## muddydogs

Last winter I was smoking cheese, butter and salt down into the low teen's. I noticed the cheese didn't have much smoke color after a 3 to 4 hour smoke but upon setting in the fridge Food Savered for a few weeks the color started to develop. A couple smokes it was probably closer to 0 degrees.

I was cold smoking in my mail box mod with no heat in the smoker cabinet.


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## cmayna

If I didn't have so much smoked cheese in my spare fridge, I'd be smoking some right now!


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## pabeef

Thanks for the information and your success with cold smoking in fridges temperature we had a reprieve the last few weekend's and were in the upper 30's so I got most of the x-mad cheese done.  Now I have to stock up for my own use and the superbowl party.  Question for you what do you the smoker butter on ? I have seen it in threads before but have not tried it yet .
Temperature in the low 20's to mid teens the rest of the week, low tonight  is going to be about 5 above. 
Thanks again 

PABEEF


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## muddydogs

What do you mean by your butter question? I cold smoke my butter with my mail box mod so the smoker temp really doesn't change, I place the butter on a couple grill mat's I have or set the cubes on its wrapper on the wire smoker grill.

I save the butter wrappers as I unwrap the butter so once its smoked the cubes can be wrapped up and placed back in there box for freezer storage.

Try some salt while your smoking the butter. Just dump some salt on a paper plate and throw it on the top rack of the smoker, I usually stir it around once or twice during the smoke process. I usually just use the sea salt purchased at Costco but any salt will work.


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