The Mistake

I was running low on smoked cheese: white cheddar, sharp cheddar, Colby jack, and a wedge each of un-smoked Gouda and Swiss. It was cold outside, so I skipped the water pan full of ice I’d normally use — a shortcut I wouldn’t take again.

I loaded the tube with hickory pellets and let it run. I watched the progress from my office and the smoke just kept rolling. About 50°F outside, but the black Weber surface sitting in direct sun picked up more heat than I expected. By the 3:45 mark, when I finally checked, the smoke level was heavier than anything I’d produced before.

Smoke and Heat Are Two Different Problems

Too much smoke or too much time leaves cheese harsh and bitter. Heat is separate: without ice, or with the smoker in direct sun, the cheese can soften and sweat oil, taking on smoke differently than intended. This batch pushed closer to both problems than I normally intended.

I removed it, let it rest about an hour, wiped off the excess oil, then labeled and vacuum sealed it for the usual 3-week rest.

The Result

After the full three-week rest, I sampled the white cheddar and it was great. That’s the only final result I recorded, so I can’t honestly say how the sharp cheddar, Colby jack, Gouda, and Swiss compared. The white cheddar showed that an oily, slightly softened appearance coming off the smoker didn’t necessarily mean the batch was ruined.

The lesson was that the ice pan controls heat, not smoke output. If you’ve had the opposite problem — a pellet tube that won’t stop flaming — see How to Stop a Pellet Tube From Flaming.

I now use it even on cold days because direct sunlight on the dark smoker body can raise the internal temperature regardless of the outside air. I also generally keep the smoke within my tested two-and-a-half- to four-hour range. For the complete process, see The Complete Guide to Cold-Smoking Cheese.

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