cold smoked mussles

Good question, wide door. It would help to know what your intentions were.
Being one who cold smokes more than hot, when cold smoking seafood, it is either for immediate consumption or for canning. As this is a Cookshack forum, which I respect, canning smoked foods would be a thread on its own which I haven’t done yet, but would like to do. Canning would probably be more suited in another forum or you can PM me.

The following will help you with cheese.
http://forum.cookshack.com/eve...1028883/m/6582921117

Welcome to the forum,
Mr. T

I would like to cold smoke New Zealand Green Shelled mussels, they are quickly blanched and then frozen when harvested. I figure since they're pretty much already cooked, they would take a light to medium smoking well. I just don't know what temp. to set my Q at. I was planing on using apple saw dust because it will give off smoke at a lower temp. But what temp. is a good rule of thumb for cold smoking? I have the cold smoke baffle that I purchased from Cookshack, it didn't come with any instructions or guidelines to get started. Once I get the hang of cold smoking, I'll be doing cheese, sausage, and lox. I'm not looking to store anything for any length of time at this point in time. I'll keep it in the fridge in containers.

Okay, thanks for the info. The true definition of cold smoking is, smoking at a temperature of 90° or less. This does not mean that all products can take temperatures of 90° though, for example cheeses especially soft cheese such as Cream Cheese. It’s my opinion that cheese will begin to change its consistency at 80°, so when the internal temperature of the smoker reaches 75° soft cheese at 55°, I pull the cheese. If more smoke is needed, I continue on when the conditions are more desirable.

I have a cold smoke baffle also for my A/Q. You can make it work by placing ice in a pan and putting it on top of the baffle after you get the smoke going. Suggest you program the set temp at 200°, leaving the door open until smoke gets going, around 15 minutes. When the smoke gets going, turn the heat off, place the baffle and ice on the lowest rack and the cheese above it. Monitor the smokers’ internal temp, when the temp reaches 75° pull the cheese, let things cool down and start the process over if more smoke is desired. This will get you started, but experience will be your best teacher.

A note of caution: You state that your product will be stored in a refrigerator. As the product will not be taken to the temperature needed to kill bacteria, I would suggest you consume it within 24 hours.

Maybe the following will help in the future.
Mr. T
http://forum.cookshack.com/eve...1028883/m/2462907527

http://forum.cookshack.com/eve...1028883/m/4172979907

I have started using other methods to cold smoke. The ice and the temps are just to much for me. I have been using Grillkicker lately.

https://www.outcookerproducts.com/ocart/

and there are other simular options out there. I get a cartridge smoking, put it in the bottom of my CS 025 and let it go. I don't even turn the CS unit on. Sometimes the cartridge goes out and you have tio restart it, I guess do to lack of oxygen?? I am doing mostly cheese and fish.

I cold smoke a lot of cheese. I started on the SM009, and now the SM045. I have the cold smoke baffle for both of these. The way I do it is to load the smoker with the baffle that has been in the deep freeze for a day or 2. Start the smoker on high until I get good smoke rolling out of the vent (15 to 20 minutes), and turn the smoker off. The wood will continue to burn. I wait an hour, turn the cheese a quarter of a turn, and do the same thing. I have done this up to 4 times depending on how much smoke flavor I want. I haven't done clams, but they are very mild in flavor to begin with, and don't need much smoke. Since yours are already cooked and not fresh, you don't have to worry about the cooking part. A lite smoke with a mild wood should be really great.

Thanks for the replies, I used a good handfull of apple wood shavings, set my sm066 at its lowest setting (100deg.f),used the baffle(but didn't know about the freezer trick), loaded the mussels and let it go for an hour. The internal smoker temp reached as high as 157deg.f. The mussels came out nice and lightly smoked, tender and not dry. I packed them in a container with sunflower oil for near future consumption. I can see where I'm going to have to get the smoking temp. down if I'm going to do cheese and lox. Idaho Mike has a good method by shutting the smoker off when he gets good smoke, I'll certainly do the cheese and lox that way.