Another first time Cheese Smoker (Pic heavy)

Well, after trolling this forum for the past few weeks, I saw a few threads recently about people trying smoked cheese for the first time and decided to give it a go on my 18.5" WSM. I ordered and received the A-Maze-N 12-Inch Pellet Tube Smoker with Apple BBQ Pellets from Amazon and gave it a go on some cheese this morning.

It has been "cool" (California relative) in the mornings so thought I could get it started early and hope that it wouldn't warm up too much to worry about the cheese getting soft. I saw some comments about people putting Ice in the Water Pan to keep the smoker cool. I decided to go one step further and fill up the pan and deep freeze it overnight to make sure.



I started the Apple Wood pellets in Smoker Tube about 7:15am today and the outside temp was 41* (a bit warmer than it had been the past few mornings).


I lit the open end of the tube as instructed (I wonder if I couldn't use on the Weber Starter Cubes instead) and waited about 10 minutes


I used an array of standard store bought Tillamook Cheese for the first attempt (Except for the Mozz). I know it's not Top Tier Cheese, but I figured it would be good for a test run and I wouldn't be out a ton of $ if it didn't work out well.


Here is is arranged on the tray (I ended up flipping each block a couple times, but more on that below).


Once the Pellets had been burning for about 10 minutes, blew out the flame (as instructions indicate) and put the smoker together and put the cheese on.


Because I use a BBQ Guru for my normal meat smokes I have 2 of the 3 lower vents closed and taped off and the 3rd has the BBQ Guru Fan Adapter thing. I didn't really think about it, and didn't have my Guru fan plugged in to start with. About 90mins into the smoke, I could see some coming from the top vent, but just a "trickle", nor really the "flow" that I expected. When I'd open the lid, it seemed like there was a lot of smoker sort of just hanging out in there, but not really "moving around" much. I flipped the blocks a couple times and at first, it seemed that only the "top" of each block had any smoke color and not so much on the sides or bottom. I attributed that to possibly the smoke not "moving" through the smoker enough to surround the cheese. So I decided to plug in the BBQ Guru fan with the vent damper open just a little bit. After that I could really see the smoke moving out the top vent. So I left it running like that for another 90 minutes or so (3 hours total) and then took the Cheese off. The outside temp at the end was 48*.

There was "some" color on my blocks, but not as dark as I've seen on pics from some of the other threads. All had a great smoke smell. I let them "rest" for a while before Vac-Sealing them up.


Sealed, Labeled and into the Fridge for a few weeks.


I didn't take a pic of the water pan after the smoke but there was still a pretty good chunk of ice in it. Maybe 25-30% "frozen" still. So not sure if it changed much, or if the freezing of the water pan really mattered, or if I would have done the whole smoke when it was less than 40* or so, but overall it seems to have gone OK and we'll see how everything tastes in a few weeks.

Thanks to those that posted threads on here describing their cheese smokes to get me motivated to give it a try!

Comments and suggestions welcome!

-W

Wade Leishman said:

Thanks to those that posted threads on here describing their cheese smokes to get me motivated to give it a try!

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And now you've motivated me to give it a try. Nicely done Wade

Great thread. Make sure you post a follow up

Looks like a good first try, let us know how it came out.

Keep us posted Wade. I love the ingenuity of the frozen water pan.

Yes, please keep us posted because I would like to hear your commence on the taste. Rich and I are going to this a try next year.

Very nice. Looking forward to the results of the taste tests in a couple weeks.

Well Wade, you're nicely stocked with some great looking cheese!

JimK said:

Very nice. Looking forward to the results of the taste tests in a couple weeks.

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Me too - one block would already be gone if it was my cook

Looks awesome. Time to purchase a smoker tube.

Compliments on the creative use of the frozen water in your pan for lowering the temp. Gives others in some of the little more warmer areas a chance to try smoking some cheese.

Cold smoked cheese is a family favorite of ours, Wade. Yours looks really good - and you don't fool around - that's a lot of cheese. I do mine on a 26.5" OTG and I usually leave one of my bottom vents cracked and the top vent wide open so the grill will draw. This usually works out pretty well - although I learned the hard way not to cold smoke cheese in my mini. That darn thing is so efficient it will melt the cheese with just pellets...

Regards,

John

When putting ice in your water pan don't put you heat source in the middle, the condensation from the pan drips and you get a rancid tasting smoke. Put your heat source more towards the side. I like using my kettle and placing very damp rags/towels on the lid to keep things cool

It's now been 2 weeks since the cheese smoke and I couldn't wait any longer. We cracked open the medium cheddar and the Colby jack tonight...

OMG.... some of the best Smoked Cheese I've ever tasted. The smoke smell on both blocks was fantastic and the flavor while certainly there, was not overpowering or bitter or anything, very well balanced and very very pleasing to me and the family. Cheddar was a bit more flavorful than the Colby Jack, but both great.

Way better than any of the "normal store bought" smoked varieties. Can't wait to taste them all and smoke more. I purchased more pellets already from the A-MA-ZAN place (that makes the smoke tube).

I'll be trying my hand at this soon.... I have a few varieties along with some hickory pellets & a square tube.

Rhonda at "A-Maze-N" products is the best! They make a beautifully designed piece of equipment, support is fantastic too!
I got the expanding model, very clever indeed.

Smoked Cheese round 2 (nearly finished all of the first batch). The family enjoyed the Medium Cheddar and Monterey Jack best from the first attempt so did more of those, but also did a Sharp Cheddar and Xtra Sharp Cheddar as well to taste. I used the "A-Maze-N" Applewood Pellets with a handful of Red Wine Apple mixed in.

It was warmer outside this time, about 51* when I put it on about 8:30am. I did the frozen water pan thing again (and made sure to put the Pellet Tube smoker off to the side to make sure it didn't drip on it at recommended above). I also used the BBQGuru (the new CyberQ) throughout the whole smoke to keep a light flow the whole time (dampener was just barely open, but helped move the air/smoke over the cheese) and to use as my timer (and I wanted to play with the new Guru for the first time). I got a few more grate marks on the blocks this time than last, I think just because it the grate wasn't as "clean and brand new" as the first time (it still wasn't too warm I don't think). I'll probably get one of those silicon BBQ mats to try for the next batch.

Nice job Wade.

I think I'll give some out as Christmas gifts this year. I've been enjoying it -- I just ate a couple paninis with pulled pork & smoked white cheddar, pressed in my old george foreman grill I noticed in the basement the other day.

Thanks for posting this. The cheese looks great!

Nice job Wade. That cheese look absolutely lovely. I love smoked cheese. I love how you just figured it out. You have done a really good job. I must try this.