First try at cheese

[GeeBee]

Well, I did my inaugural try at cold smoking cheese yesterday. I tried an experiment, in the quest to automate the process. I have to report failure, but I did learn from the process . I put the Auber probe #1 (cabinet temperature) under the cold plate, in the same "chamber" as the heating element. I then set the Auber for 90 degrees at 2 hours. Put a pan full of ice cubes on top of the cold plate and the cheese blocks on the top shelf. Here's where it didn't work. The temperature got up to 90 real quick, and then of course the Auber shut off the heating element. No smoke! So, I fell back to the manual method of blasting the heating element at 225 for 18 minutes, then shut it off. Repeat twice. Cheese was still solid, still had lots of ice in the pan, end product was excellent. I have another idea for automating the process, but I have to eat all the "mistake" cheese first. BTW, I used Fruitawood peach wood, 2 ounces. Next time I may cut back to 1 ounce, it was pretty strong, but excellent flavor.

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[DivotMaker]

Gary, sounds like you're on to something.  I haven't tried to cold smoke with the Auber, only with the manual analog #1.  I've been giving your automation process a little thought...

First, the Auber probe needs to be above the cold smoke plate, not below.  The reason is that you want to make the probe "think" that it's not hot enough, so it stays on.  Here's how I think I'd program (everyone feel free to chime in if you think differently):

C01  250  E01  t   t01  0.3 (18 minutes)
C02   0     E02  t   t02  0.7 (42 minutes)
C03  250  E02   t  t03  0.3
C04   0     E03  t   t04  0.7
repeat up to 1 more time.  If you're cold smoking something that will need more than 3 "doses" of smoke, switch the unit off at the end of t06, and back on to start the program over.

I'm definitely going to have to try this now!  Thanks for getting the wheels turning, Gary!

edit:  I think the time off should be .7, as this would be 42 minutes resting in the smoke.  I usually put an upside-down glass over the smoke hole, too, to keep the smoke inside as long as possible.
 

[GeeBee]

Tony,
You beat me to my next idea. That's exactly what I was going to do. Program the Auber to kick on, rest, kick on, etc. I was just experimenting with the probe under the plate, to see what happens. Now I know! The cold plate with pan of ice worked very well. I was pretty amazed that there was still ice in the pan when I got done. I'm also thrilled with the Auber. It truly gives me total control over my smoker.

[DivotMaker]

Glad to help, Gary!  Hadn't really thought about a cold smoke program until you mentioned it!