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[Conumdrum]

Well it's gonna be about 30f Fiday AM in Vegas, finally.  I got 13.3 lb of cheese to go in my trusty old Masterbuilt smoker.  I have three shelves and a AMNTPS I have used more than a few times for cold smoking stuff.

So my question is.  I have three loaf pans with ice.  Going to use one at a time. Should I place them on the top, middle, bottom shelf?  Or the bottom of the smoker near the tube with pellets?

I know cold drops to the bottom and heat rises.  If I put it on the bottom where the tube is it will help counteract the heat before it rises.  If I put it on the top the cold will fall to the bottom.  Whats best?

Its kinda a science question and I love science. 

[bregent]

At 30F, you should not need any ice. The AMNPS should only increase the temp by 10-15 degrees. You just want to keep it below 70F, so no ice should be required.

[mowin]

Place the tray or tube as low as possible, and put the ice between the tray and cheese. You want to ice to be a heat sink to cool the smoke down before getting to the cheese.

[Bar-B-Lew]

Yeah, I don't think you will need ice if it is 30° outside.  Depending on the cheese, you could probably be as high as 90° smoker internal temp before you start to see any melting.  I know I ran just below 90° on the side chamber on my MAK measured with a Thermoworks product inside the chamber at two places.  The colby jack was the only cheese that deformed a bit.  The rest stayed as cut.  If you have a method to put a grill grate probe inside the Masterbuilt, you can monitor the temp to determine whether you need the ice or not.

It was snowing and close to 30° a few weekends ago when I smoked some cheese.  The MAK as running between 180°-200° and the side chamber wouldn't go about 50°.

[Bentley]

At that temperature, I am gonna be in the no ice need camp...You would have to be in the high 50's for me to even worry...

[Conumdrum]

Thanks folks, I'll just monitor temps with my Maverick and use ice if needed.

[Bobitis]

I've done the amazen route in my Traeger Jr at 50 deg ambient with 3 loafs of ice. It still got to 90+ deg at the end.

Size matters as well as temp and design.

 

Only way to find out is to try it. Sounds like you have a good experiment in the making. Please post back on the process.

[Conumdrum]

I did it before with 45f and some got a bit soft.  So the ice is ready if needed.

Pics for sure tomorrow.

[DE]

I freeze old orange juice bottles (or other bottles) and most always put one or two in a pan just in case. Frozen bottles of water will not allow the possibility of humidity having any possible impact on my cheese either and cost nothing but a little time and gives me peace of mind.

[Conumdrum]

6:45 AM
Cheese on at 6 AM.  Outside 34f chamber at 50f at 6:15 and holding steady.  Pellet tube having hard time staying lit, was too full.  Went to 3/4 full bit of open area at top, I shoulda known, that's the way it works.  Using 3 year old hickory pellets bit dusty going to switch to Lumberjack MHC on the next tube.  I have two 6" AMNTS.  Smokin' for 4 hours total.

[Bar-B-Lew]

Well, how did it go?  Ice or no ice?

Does anyone other than me cut up their blocks of cheese into smaller pieces to get more surface area for smoke penetration?

[hughver]

I cut my blocks down to about 4 oz. chunks.

[Bar-B-Lew]

I cut my blocks down to about 4 oz. chunks.

That is about what I do to.  I usually cut those 1# blocks into 4 pieces.

[Conumdrum]

All done

Used a ice pan but didn't make a big diff.  A Meatloaf pan, it only melted 1.3 of the way if that.  At 8:30 AM smoker was at 59f.  Had a bit of tube issues not staying lit, prolly low air flow.  Did a third tube and finished at 10:15, 4 hrs.  smoker temp 64f, out side 43f.  Cheddar was to to the bottom, got lots of smoke, Jack n Japapenos cheese and Moz got the least to the top, perfect. 

I'd like to thank Owens BBQ for the tube and the pellets, Masterbuilt for the chamber, Maverick for the temp probe, And the amazing old vacuum machine in the pic.

If anyone can figure out why they are rightside up on my PC and sideways on the post, thanks.  I think the forum defaults to the W vs H of the pic.   

Anyhoo, a pile o' cheese!

[Bar-B-Lew]

How long you gonna let them sit in the vacuum before you try them?