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Hi all
I've just completed my smoker based on a small tin (3" wide, by 8" tall) with an aquarium air pump. I'm still at the experimenting stage and have smoked a piece of cheddar. I used about a mug full of cedar chips (had them knocking around and they are a good size) and smoked about 300g cheese for about 3 hours. Result - cheese was inedible. Incredibly stong flavoured, bit of a burnt flavour, but worst thing was that it was a bit petrolic. Was it the cedar chips, the smoking time, or do I need a larger chamber (the one I used was only about 2 litres) to dilute the smoke?

I was wondering if anyone had a guide in terms of - cheese needs half the time of bacon, but twice the time of salmon....jsut as a guide?

Thanks
Kev

It does sound small Kev, the cheese should take a cold smoke for much longer without spoiling the taste. I have no experience of cedar smoke but cheese needs a very light smoke if you are smoking portions as opposed to a whole cheese with its natural skin.
I find that cheese needs less smoking than fish and bacon and hams need a lot longer (days).

how do you build a smoker with an aqaurium pump?

Like this:

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=3185

Dave

Kevster, cedar has a lot of oil and resin in it so you run the risk of a taint if you over smoke. The mugful of wood for a 2 litre container was probably overkill. Less time, a larger container and less wood, would all have reduced the intensity, so you can alter all three parameters to see which will achieve the best results. While you are experimenting use a smaller piece of cheese

Do you have a BBQ you could use as a smoking chamber?

Dave

...and ideally you only want a trickle of smoke passing over the cheese. The smoke needs to be vented out of the chamber at, sort of, the same speed as it enters.

Phil

OK....sounds like I may have well-and-truely overdone it

I have a large bbq with a lid that I could use. It is sufficiently leaky that there should be more of a through flow, rather than accumulation of smoke.


The cedar chips were jsut available for experimenting with...maybe they were totally unsuitable.

I'm asuming smoking times vary with the individual appliance...but what would you say would be a sensible place to start with cheese, bacon, salmon, pork chops and the like?

For interest, here is a of picture of my smoker


Kev[/img]

I 'trickle' smoke cheese for 6 hours, bacon and salmon for 24 hours, for a mild smoky flavour. Allow to mature, and for the smoky flavour to develop, in the fridge for a couple of days.

I've never smoked pork chops.

Try to get hold of some traditional smoking woods. Oak, Beech etc. Fruit woods such as apple are nice for cheese.

If your anywhere near Kettering there's a supplier there who does smoking wood at very reasonable prices.

Phil

wheels wrote:I 'trickle' smoke cheese for 6 hours, bacon and salmon for 24 hours, for a mild smoky flavour. Allow to mature, and for the smoky flavour to develop, in the fridge for a couple of days.

I've never smoked pork chops.

Try to get hold of some traditional smoking woods. Oak, Beech etc. Fruit woods such as apple are nice for cheese.

If your anywhere near Kettering there's a supplier there who does smoking wood at very reasonable prices.

Phil

Thanks for that Phil...I'll give it a go.
I'm based in Grantham and Melton Mowbray.....so not too near, but not too far. Does the place that does the chips do small sizes? My smoke generator only seems to work with very small chips or sawdust. Could I have the address, just in case I'm down that way some time.
Thanks
Kev

They certainly do dust and small pieces about the size of 1/3rd of a matchstick.

Ashwood Smoking Chips, Telford Way, Telford Way Industrial Estate, Kettering, Northamptonshire, NN16 8UN. Tel: 01536523220


I think the sacks are either 15kg or 25kg, I can't quite remember but they're a bit bigger than a 25kg sack of potatoes. Beech and Oak are around £6, then varying prices upto around £40 for a bag for cherry.

Phil

Your BBQ will be fine and the smoker looks spot on.

Dave

wheels wrote:They certainly do dust and small pieces about the size of 1/3rd of a matchstick.

Ashwood Smoking Chips, Telford Way, Telford Way Industrial Estate, Kettering, Northamptonshire, NN16 8UN. Tel: 01536523220


I think the sacks are either 15kg or 25kg, I can't quite remember but they're a bit bigger than a 25kg sack of potatoes. Beech and Oak are around £6, then varying prices upto around £40 for a bag for cherry.

Phil

Wow...that is a good price.....worth taking a special trip for. From what I've read it seems that oak is a good based one to start with. Is this right? Will I need to dry the sawdust at all...or is it ready to rock?

Your BBQ will be fine and the smoker looks spot on.

Dave

Great....ready for trial number 2 (once I have blended up some shavings from my plum tree at the weekend....not a longterm solution...but hopefully good enough for a trial.

The wood is used straight from the bag - it's certified for food use etc as they are major suppliers to the smoking industry.

Phil

kevster wrote:]
Great....ready for trial number 2 (once I have blended up some shavings from my plum tree at the weekend....not a longterm solution...but hopefully good enough for a trial.

Plum is superb stuff, I have a whole tree's worth Make sure it is well seasoned and completely bark free and it's lovely.

Dave

saucisson wrote:

kevster wrote:]
Great....ready for trial number 2 (once I have blended up some shavings from my plum tree at the weekend....not a longterm solution...but hopefully good enough for a trial.

Plum is superb stuff, I have a whole tree's worth Make sure it is well seasoned and completely bark free and it's lovely.

Dave

It isn't likely to be seasoned as it is still part of a tree. Can the wood dust be dried out quicker? Of is there more to seasoning than drying?

I also had another question for you Dave....I saw your article on the ProQ smoker and you used oak dust to smoke a camembert (among other things). I love this cheese and would like to smoke some (plan is to embed it in some homemade bread). Is oak a good wood for cheese?

Kev