cold smoking cheese

Here is a little info on smoking cheese.

Hope this helps a little.

to some degree the temp will depend on the type of cheese you're smoking, as harder cheeses can take a little heat. The idea with cheese is to cold smoke with as little heat as possible.

To me the whole cold baffle thing with CS is counterintuitive. You insert the baffle with a bunch of ice on it as you heat the wood box below to burn the wood for the smoke. Problem is the CS temp probe is way above the heat source with the cheese and, therefore, the heating element theoretically would not cut off, which is why the manual says to only run CS for 20 minutes. So you have to watch it carefully and when the smoke gets going good you turn off the CS and hope the wood is going good enough to keep smoking.

Simpler/cheaper methods are using the old soldering iron with wood chips in a can, or start a few charcoal brickette and add some chips. These methods don't generate much heat. Then there are also the smoke generators out there; some don't add any heat just smoke.

I know that some of the units probe are located in different areas. The 020 unit can have the baffle above the probe if the racks are in the top notches. Then it could be possiable for the smoker to smoke extended times in the 130-40 range and less if you want to dump the heat after the warmup period.

My experience tells me that 1 hr of smoke on sharp cheddar is just wayyy to much, but to each his own. I used 1 oz chunks of wood and never had a problem with it smoking REAL good.

I've found that pellets work really good for this. They start smoking in my 025 at just under 100 degrees so you don't have to produce much heat to get some smoke up.

I don't think you have to worry about the probe. Using the cold baffle, there are only two things to worry about:

1) You don't want to let the heating area (where the element is) get too hot.

2) You don't want the cheese area (above the baffle) to get over about 90 degrees (unless you want your cheese to melt)

My rule (and it seemed to work just fine) was to put a temp sensor in the top area, put a pan full of ice cubes on top of the baffle, and start my 055. I would let it run for one of two events: a) 25 mins have elapsed, or b) the top area reached 85 or 90 degrees.

Then I would turn the 055 off and let it set for 1 1/2 hours. Works like a charm and there is usually ice still in the pan when the cheese is pulled.

If your CS isn't too well used yet, you might not get as good results since the seasoning will also add a lot to the smoke flavor, but I don't have any real knowledge on that.

Also, the cheese will taste a LOT better the next day, or even after being frozen for a year. (I'm eating some now that is well over a year old)