Smokin Cheese on the Mak 1

[Carter13]

Why yes you can smoke cheese on the Mak 1 with a little help from the
A-MAZE-N PELLET-SMOKER or AMNPS for short. I woke up this morning and the thermometer was at 31 degrees for the ambient temp. After cutting the cheese and resting for an hour it was up to 35 degrees.
Here are the players from the good old NW. I actually added one more block of chedder for the smoke.
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Here they are in formation. Maverick 732 ready for action.
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Smokin in a big way. Once the AMNPS got going it was full smoke ahead. I cracked the lid open about 1/2 an inch from the start and one hour in we were at 72 degrees.
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This pic is at the end of the 5 hour smoke. As you can see I rearranged the AMNPS and placed the cheese on either side of it after about the first 45 minutes.
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Close up of the goodness.
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The AMNPS arrived last Thursday and I did a dry run on Friday so I could work out the bugs. What I learned is as follows.
1. I tried the BM Hickory pellets in hopper would not burn so I aborted. I then tried the BM Apple pellets I had in the closet I inteded to use and they burned nicely.
2. After a couple of tries I finally found that placing on the bottom rack with the lid cracked open at least 1/4 of an inch for air flow works best.
3. This morning at 9 am I got the AMNPS going without a glitch and we were smoking. The temp started at 55 and rose to 72 after about an hour.
4. At about the 3 1/2 hour mark the temp started to rise as the two thinner outside channels ended and they started to burn into the wider middle channel. The highest the temp got to was 91 and at that point I raked the coals on one end and let the other smoke on. I did have to prop the lid with a beer can until the coals burned out so the temp could get back into the mid 70's.
At the 5 hour mark the temp was 72 and the lid was back cracked to 1/2 an inch.

Overall I could not be happier with how this unit worked. I will be doing another cheese smoke this Friday and plan on filling one outside rail full and the other full plus half of the middle. The thing I love about this is at most even when full it is burning only 1 pound of pellets. Plus when this is going it is a constant smoke for the entire duration.
I vac packed all 6 1/2 pounds and can hardly wait to get into it in two months.

 

[squirtthecat]

Nice! That is an easy way to add additional heavy smoke to a 'hot and fast' cook as well..

 

[TentHunter]

Nice color on that cheese!

Really good info & report. I've always used half a dozen charcoal briquettes with foil pouches of pellets in the past for cold smoking and it's always worked well, but I've been thinking about getting an AMNPS to add to my arsenal.


I've read mixed reviews on these, but I think you've found the key to operating this successfully and why others had trouble keeping the pellets going.

2. After a couple of tries I finally found that placing on the bottom rack with the lid cracked open at least 1/4 of an inch for air flow works best.

No airflow = no oxygen supply to keep the pellets burning.


Again, thanks for the great info!

 

[ACW3]

Nice! You know I like smoked cheese. I have another batch to do sometime soon.

Art

 

[Carter13]

Thanks guys. Art you are part of the reason I had to try this because of all that great cheese you have been smoking.
I re read my post and will clarify my hopper sentence. The first time I tried it I pulled the Hickory pellets out of the hopper but they would not light. I am pretty sure that was due to them picking up some moisture over time. The Apple pellets were in my house.
As instructed I used a butane torch to light the unit. They said light each end for 30 to 40 seconds but I found it is more like a couple of minutes. I really wanted to ensure I had a good fire and I never had to relight during the smoke.
After thinking about it last night I may just fill one outside channel and half of the middle lighting just one end. It is amazing how much heat is generated by having both ends lit. I would like to keep the temp below 70 degrees if possible. It will be less smoke but I won't have to babysit it. I had the lid open for about 30 minutes on and off during the cook to get the temp back in the 70's so I figure it may come out the same color wise if I don't need to open the lid. The cheese did sweat a little bit when it was up to 91 degrees.

 

[ACW3]

Instead of opening the lid, put a loaf pan filled with ice in there with everything. This will help keep temps down. You may have to refill the ice pan periodically, however. I have found that anything around 80 degrees or below is usually fine for cold smoking.

Art

 

[sparky]

cool idea. maybe next time the smoker thing under the drip pan and then ice tray on the bottom shelf like art said. cheese looks very good though. heh, you every been to the tillamook factory there on the coast. cool place and free cheese at the end of the tour.

 

[TentHunter]

I would like to keep the temp below 70 degrees if possible. The cheese did sweat a little bit when it was up to 91 degrees.

Great follow-up post Carter!

For those who don't know, Above 90° cheese starts to sweat its oils. If that happens the oils can start to taste like kerosene and the cheese can develop a grainy texture. I try staying below 80°, like Art mentioned, as a cushion.

The 1 hour of air dry time before you smoked the cheese is good too. It lets a rind develop to help keep the oils inside and acts as another buffer.