Smokin-It User Forum!
Recipes => Cold-Smoking => Topic started by: Muttley on October 15, 2013, 11:40:13 AM
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Did it!
Morning temps were cool. I had a pound or so of pepper jack that has been mocking me for months now. You may have followed my posts about my AMNPS testing in my #2, maybe not, but I was having some mild issues with air flow and temp. Air seemed low, temps were high.
I took out the smoker box altogether to promote air flow. I filled up the drip pan with ice and put it directly below the cheese. I put a tin foil tent over the AMNPS to prevent any condensation from dripping on the wood.
I put the cheese in for two hours, checking on it at the one hour mark. I decided at that point to put a air pump into the drip hole to "promote" a little more air flow. I did so more as an experiment more than anything.
I pulled the cheese at 2 hours, and it was cold to the touch when I pulled it. Not sure what the outside temp was, but internally the smoker never got above 56F. One thing I noted and I think it is a result of the cold temp inside, smoke was mostly coming from around the doors and drip hole vs coming out the exhaust vent. I think the ice had that much of an impact the density would allow the smoke to rise out of the top. Since I opened the smoker to pull the cheese, the internal temp has risen to 70, and I am seeing smoke out the top now. So, I'm not a science major, but I am guessing my air density theory is correct.
The cheese is drying before I vac-seal for a minimum of three weeks.
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Since I have the smoke going, I put in some coarse and fine sea salt, pepper and garlic just to give it a try. Going in for a minimum of 5 hours. I'll post pics when I am done.
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At 2.5 hours, the smoke being generated. Internal temp is 73F.
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So, it's been a couple of weeks. I'd call the cheese so far a success. I did two batches, same variety of cheese (Vermont Incredibly Sharp Cheddar), one for an hour, one for two hours. I put them both up the the Pepsi challenge, and my esteemed panel of judges had no harsh words about either.
Personally, I don't care for the extra sharp cheddar, it was a poor choice of cheese on my behalf, it's just not what I wanted in a cheese.
I still have some jalapeno cheddar (from Wisconsin!!) and some fresh mozz aging. What I learned from the fresh mozz, get it in a bag right away. Don't let it air out, it will loose a lot of moisture. I let it sit for an hour and that was too long. We'll see how it turns out. I suspect it will be good. Thinking meatball subs...