Cold Smoke


 
I

Ian-Kentucky

TVWBB Member
Had a pellet tray from when I used to dabble at cold smoking cheese and pork bellies. It fits perfectly between the burners and looks like it will burn nicely sitting above the air/grease hole in the bottom.
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I am not sure what "Cold" smoking is, but it will probably be too cold down in that position to get any real smoke going unless the idea is to start the pellets smoking over heat before putting them down in the bottom of the Q. Then that might work if they keep burning.
 
Cold smoking is smoking something without trying to cook it. Cheese, for example. You just want to get the smoke flavor, but you don't want to melt it into a puddle. After curing green pork bellies to make bacon, you cold smoke it for the flavor, but you don't want to render the fat.
 
Looks like a good idea! Does the heat from burning the pellets inside a closed Q raise the temp any? Also, will it work to add smoke while you are cooking on the Q?
 
It's just a glow at one end of the line of pellets with the burner off, so it shouldn't raise the temp much if any. If the burner was going, there would be an air draw and they might flame up and burn. If that happens, the temp will spike and the smoke will probably drop to nothing. I wired a foil bag full of pellets to the bottom of a grate and it smoked nicely, but the foil started to burn through. Don't know if it would get hot enough above the grate to char the pellets. I'll try it in a few days when I cook something.
 
Ian, I tried cold smoking some cheese with the pellet tray on top of the grates on my Q200 and it would not stay lit. Works great on my S330 though. I will try it next time down between the burner.
 
Have some sharp cheddar and colby jack smoking this afternoon. I priced pork bellies at a couple places and right now it's cheaper to just buy bacon.
 
Ed Pinnell said:
Looks like a good idea! Does the heat from burning the pellets inside a closed Q raise the temp any? Also, will it work to add smoke while you are cooking on the Q?
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Yes, it does work. After I smoked the cheese, I lit the burner to see if it would continue to smoke. If I use the center channel so it's not near the burner, it doesn't flame up. The tube type pellet burners that you can center between the two sides would work too if it weren't too long.

The glow of the pellets did warm the grates enough to soften the cheese closest to it. Might be better if I put them on a roasting rack that stood above the grates
 
I smoked the cheese for about 3 hours and it was much too long. The smoke completely overpowered the taste of the cheese. I think I'm going to try a better brand of extra sharp cheddar and try 15 and 30 minutes. Just want a hint of smoke.
 
Yeah Ian, the longest I have smoked cheese was two hours and that was in my Genesis where the smoke would be less concentrated. I vacuum sealed it and it mellowed out in about three weeks. I usually go for around 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
 
I read that it would mellow in saran wrap in 12 to 24 hours.... Next time I'll let it mellow a few more days before cracking it open.
 
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