# Smoking cheese on an unmodified Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker



## Smoke-Chem BBQ (Feb 20, 2022)

There are a number of good ways to smoke cheese, often in cold smokers or smokers modified to generate smoke (and heat) outside of the smoker. I’ve had some success using an unmodified WSM.

Picking a cold day, and using very, very little charcoal is critical to avoid melting the cheese. I shoot for a target smoker temperature of 80F, as many cheeses start to melt around 90F. On the day I did this smoke, it was 12F outside in the morning, warming only to 20F as I was finishing. This is not something I would try to do in warm weather.

For my latest smoke, I started with 2 lbs each of Jarlsberg, Dubliner, imported Gouda, and 48-month aged Cabot Cheddar, plus a pound of fresh Mozzarella, all from Costco. 








I cut the big blocks in half to give more surface area; the wedges I cut in half crosswise, since lengthwise would give _too_ much surface area on the narrow end of the wedge.

I filled the water pan with chilled water plus snow from the deck. The cold water helps keep the smoker temperature low.







To hold the charcoal, I cut a mini-fire ring from a 1 lb steel coffee can. I lit just enough briquets to cover the bottom of a charcoal chimney, and when they were ready, I transferred 5 briquets to the fire ring, topping with some of the smaller wood chunks leftover from a bag of apple chunks. 







I assembled the smoker with all vents fully open. After 30 minutes the temperature had stabilized at 85F, and I added the grate holding the cheese blocks, and throttled all vents down to half, to keep internal temperatures low. .







I needed to add briquets twice during the cook, about two hours after lighting the first batch, and again 3.5 hours after lighting. To keep temperatures low, I added only two or three briquets each time, with a few pecan chips on top. I found that the briquets wouldn’t light reliably when put on top of the few existing coals, but I had good results lighting them individually with a propane torch before adding them to the coffee can ring.   Temperatures in the smoker stayed between 70F and 90F throughout the smoke, though it did require paying attention in order to keep the temperature stabilized below 90F.







I took the mozarrella and the smaller chunk of each of the other cheeses off after 3 hours on smoke, and the larger blocks after 4 hours. All were wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored in the fridge.











Tasting after two weeks showed the smoke flavor hadn’t yet penetrated far into the cheese. After four weeks, the result was much better, with little difference between the cheese smoked for three hours, and that smoked for four. We gave a lot of it away to neighbors, to rave reviews!

Nine pounds of cheese smoked with just 10 charcoal briquets!


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## SmokinEdge (Feb 20, 2022)

That looks great, but I have to ask, why not use a pellet tray or the tube? Not that what you’ve done isn’t fine, but the pellet trays are sure simple.


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## Smoke-Chem BBQ (Feb 20, 2022)

SmokinEdge said:


> That looks great, but I have to ask, why not use a pellet tray or the tube? Not that what you’ve done isn’t fine, but the pellet trays are sure simple.


That would probably work fine, and does sound simpler.   Since my only smoker is the WSM (and occasionally a second WSM I borrow from a neighbor), I've never had a reason to buy pellets or a pellet tube--so this was just my way of using what I already had.


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## mneeley490 (Feb 20, 2022)

Smoke-Chem BBQ said:


> That would probably work fine, and does sound simpler.   Since my only smoker is the WSM (and occasionally a second one I borrow from a neighbor), I've never had a reason to buy pellets or a pellet tube--so this was just my way of using what I already had.


You don't need to buy a 20 lb. bag. Not sure where you're located, but plenty of places sell 2 lb. or 5 lb. bags.
Here's Amazon's page:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=a-maze-n..._sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_16&tag=smokingmeatforums-20

But they're cheaper here:


			https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/search/a-maze-n%20pellets?


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## bbqbrett (Feb 23, 2022)

Smoke-Chem BBQ said:


> That would probably work fine, and does sound simpler.   Since my only smoker is the WSM (and occasionally a second WSM I borrow from a neighbor), I've never had a reason to buy pellets or a pellet tube--so this was just my way of using what I already had.



I do mine in my offset with charcoal and wood.  I have found about 2 pieces of charcoal and a chunk of wood does great for smoke flavor, just replace as needed. Haven't had to add ice to prevent melting even to outside temps that are around 50.


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## Newglide (Mar 16, 2022)

bbqbrett said:


> I do mine in my offset with charcoal and wood.  I have found about 2 pieces of charcoal and a chunk of wood does great for smoke flavor, just replace as needed. Haven't had to add ice to prevent melting even to outside temps that are around 50.


Interesting, Do you have any pics or more details? 
Sorry if hijacking the thread


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## kilo charlie (Mar 16, 2022)

Great job! Looks like you did everything the right way!


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## gmc2003 (Mar 16, 2022)

Your cheese looks really good Smoke-Chem BQQ. I also smoke my cheese in a WSM. However like SmokinEdge mentioned. It's far easier to control the smoke and heat by using a tray or tube. I found by using dust in my tray. I can eat the cheese the same day it's smoked. No need to wait for it to mellow. If you find yourself smoking cheese on a regular basis it may be something you want to look into.

Here's a shot of my tray with apple dust, Once lit it goes on the charcoal grate:






...and here's a shot of the finished product(next day) after a couple of hours of smoke:







All these started out as Cabot White Cheddar's. Various sharpnesses. 
Chris


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## Colin1230 (Mar 16, 2022)

Great job on the cheese there 
S
 Smoke-Chem BBQ
 . It sure looks like you know what you're doing. Very well documented too.  Your post will benefit a lot of people here and we thank you for that.
I've smoked cheese on my gasser as the smoke chamber with the A-Maze-N tube and pellets.  Next time I will try it on the WSM. Will need to watch the weather forecast for cool enough temperatures now, will be running out of opportunities before long.  I have found 40-50*F ambient temperatures to be ideal.
Again, thanks.


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## bbqbrett (Mar 16, 2022)

Newglide said:


> Interesting, Do you have any pics or more details?
> Sorry if hijacking the thread


 
Not a great pic with the offset as you can't see the charcoal and wood but lots of cheese.  







I did find another pic though from before I had my offset and I used to use an old gas grill with the burners taken out and a pan put in to hold charcoal and wood.  That might give you a decent idea.







Hope that is what you were looking for and will help.


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## Newglide (Mar 17, 2022)

bbqbrett said:


> Hope that is what you were looking for and will help.


That's what I was looking for thanks


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