# first cheese smoke



## ralphed (Nov 10, 2013)

I got the smoke pistol mounted on the electric ECB.

Then I got a brainfart and bent a piece of stainless mesh in a cradle to hold wood pellets - and drove around for 2 hours looking for wood pellets without finding them. (I know I'm gonna get some pitches for the AMNPS, and I will get one, but I can't afford the AMNPS/pellets order just yet. Maybe that's what I'll get myself for Christmas this year.)

I did call around and found a sporting goods store in North Canton that had some cherry & hickory pellets, I'll get them tomorrow.

So I'm using the smoke pistol for the first run. I stopped at Aldi and picked up 8 oz pcs of Colby-jac, pepper jack, NY sharp chedda, Colby and mozz.

I put a pecan cartridge in the pistol and voila! This thing needs to be tended to about every 30 -45 minutes. I think maybe longer if your using a high setting, but I'm not sure yet. Note to self, mount it next to the door so you can reach in to clean it out when it needs it, not way over on the other side of the smoker. I may gnaw my left arm off after a few more beers, it smells that good.

It's been in since ~2:30, but I am getting no color as of 5:30. It's on the top shelf, under the dome and the highest temp the middle shelf has gotten is 51 F, so I'm not in danger of melting. The chamber is filled with smoke and it wisps out of the lid/body junction.

Here's pics of the start: (there's more smoke than that coming out)













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## ralphed (Nov 10, 2013)

Here's pics of the mesh cradle I'm gonna try 'till I get my AMNPS:













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## bmudd14474 (Nov 10, 2013)

how did the holder work


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## ralphed (Nov 11, 2013)

I'll try to try it out today. It's a sheet of ss mesh I got at McMaster-carr. I bought several for jerky and fish.

ralphed


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## ralphed (Nov 11, 2013)

I had a lot of unburned pellets in the smoke pistol cartridge this morning. When I pulled out the cartridge the hopper was completely full. This was after 5 hours of smoking. (the cheese is way smoked),  so I emptied them into my pellet cradle and lit them.

These are supposed to be pecan, but smell strong &  like hickory. I have no experience with pellets, only small amounts of pecan chips used with other woods, so I don't really know what it smells like by itself.

Temp is 41 and internal went to 55 pretty quick, we'll see if it stays lit. Thermocouple is on the lower shelf.

Here's some pics a few minutes after.













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## ralphed (Nov 11, 2013)

I went to KAMES and found out the really helpful lady behind the telephone doesn't know what BBQ wood pellets are. They only have chunks.

So I came home and emptied out a maple smoke pistol cartridge. I dumped about half a cartridge into the cradle. Filled about 6 inches of it clear up and lit it. Works like a charm.

The cheese should be out  within the next half hour. I'm just gonna let it burn out, since it gave me about 2-2 1/2 hrs smoking time. I even got some color on the tops, then flipped them over about a half hour ago.

I put the cheese on the top rack.  The middle rack came up to 78 deg for a while. Pics when it's done. Outside temps in the high 40's today.

ralphed


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## driedstick (Nov 11, 2013)

I'm in 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






   Sorry to hear your problems,,,, dang it. Let  us know the Maple taste I like more of the fruity wood for smoked cheese.


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## ralphed (Nov 11, 2013)

pics of 2 Colby, a NY sharp, A med cheddar, a swiss, a Colby-jack and an asiago smoked with maple. The grill grates need cleaned, too.

All the square stuff is Aldi cheese for 1.49 a block (3.00 a pound).

ralphed













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## driedstick (Nov 11, 2013)

Looks good from here, remember to wait at least two weeks before eating - enjoy


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## ralphed (Nov 12, 2013)

Bmudd here's what was left after todays 2 1/2 hr run. The mesh is 12 inch square. I bent the trough around a pc of 1 inch EMT and formed the legs around a dowel around 1/2 inch dia.













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It was in the low 40's today and I smoke off the top rack only right now and put the T/C on the lower rack just to get data on how low I can mount racks. It hit 78 yesterday when it was close to 50 outside and I was smoking in the old detached garage. It may have been in the 50's in the garage and no wind. It stayed well below 60 today (no data logger, just check one in a while). The smoker was outside the garage and it was spitting snow.

ralphed


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## driedstick (Nov 12, 2013)

Boy not much left - that's good,


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