[tschmidlin]

No food but I did smoke some malt yesterday:

Are there holes poked in the bottom of those trays?  Do you stir the malt at all during the smoke?  Do you wet it?

[corkybstewart]

Yeah, there are holes all over the bottom and sides, and every 20 minutes or so I stir it.
I did a batch of pale rauchbier with my applewood smoked malt last year and it was the hit of our Oktoberfest, it really goes great with grilled bratwurst.
right now the malt is in a paper bag in my beer room.  It smells great, very heavily smoked so I probably will only use it for about 20% of the grain bill(after it sits a couple of weeks).

[tschmidlin]

Cool, I've been thinking about trying to smoke some malt with that ProQ cold smoker I've been using to make cheese.  A lot of cheese.  I have lots of different types of dust I can use, so it should be fun to experiment.

How long did you smoke it for?

[corkybstewart]

Yesterday I let it sit about 2 hours in the smoker because I was cleaning my barn and didn't have time to mess with it.  Every time I walked past the smoker I'd stir the malt.  Once he apple chunks caught on fire I didn't have to do anything to the fire, I just closed all the doors and let it smolder.  I had figured the little pile of wood I used  would probably be gone in an hour but it just kept smoldering.
I used a roofing nail to punch the holes in the trays.  It makes a big enough hole to let smoke in but not have the malt fall through.

[markaberrant]

Great looking Q, Tim!  Makes me want to fire up my smoker.  It's 11*F today though and I'm not sure how well my WSM would do.  It's a workhorse, to be sure, but I'm not sure it could handle the tundra that is Minnesota in January.

Me and my buddy up here in Canada have been cooking all winter, I have a UDS, he has a WSM, and it has been much colder than that.  As already mentioned, it is humidity and wind that can cause problems.

[deepsouth]

[euge]

Some things require no words...

[tschmidlin]

Yesterday I let it sit about 2 hours in the smoker because I was cleaning my barn and didn't have time to mess with it.  Every time I walked past the smoker I'd stir the malt.  Once he apple chunks caught on fire I didn't have to do anything to the fire, I just closed all the doors and let it smolder.  I had figured the little pile of wood I used  would probably be gone in an hour but it just kept smoldering.
I used a roofing nail to punch the holes in the trays.  It makes a big enough hole to let smoke in but not have the malt fall through.

Awesome, thanks.  I'm going to give it a try eventually, but I don't have a smoked beer in the queue for a while, I still have 10 gallons of smoked dopplebock.  Well, a bit less than 10

[redbeerman]

Some things require no words...

+1

[hamiltont]

MMM MMM MMM!  Those baby backs look real good Deepsouth!!!  Cheers!!!

[corkybstewart]

Cool, I've been thinking about trying to smoke some malt with that ProQ cold smoker I've been using to make cheese.  A lot of cheese.  I have lots of different types of dust I can use, so it should be fun to experiment.

How long did you smoke it for?

How long and how cool do you have to go to smoke cheese?  The malt smoked at 90F which is just above the smoker's normal temp on a sunny day.  If I leave the door open and close the smokestack I should be able to keep the cheese cool, especially on a day like tomorrow where the high will be mid 30's.  What's your favorite smoked cheese?

[tschmidlin]

Cool, I've been thinking about trying to smoke some malt with that ProQ cold smoker I've been using to make cheese.  A lot of cheese.  I have lots of different types of dust I can use, so it should be fun to experiment.

How long did you smoke it for?

How long and how cool do you have to go to smoke cheese?  The malt smoked at 90F which is just above the smoker's normal temp on a sunny day.  If I leave the door open and close the smokestack I should be able to keep the cheese cool, especially on a day like tomorrow where the high will be mid 30's.  What's your favorite smoked cheese?

I've been going for about 7-10 hours (a full ProQ worth) to test the woods.  I've also been playing with how much of a gap I leave at the bottom of the box, more closed gives it a much more intense flavor.  When it's the smallest gap I can make it, It comes out to be a bit much for my wife - her favorite was a cherry wood smoked one that was a total PITA to keep lit and it ended up very lightly smoked since i had to keep opening the box and the dust didn't fully burn.

The temp has varied, but I added a small heating pad to the box (reptile type) to help keep it warm (which helps it stay lit), so it stays 10-20F above ambient.  I'm still smoking somewhere around 50-60F for the most part, but you can definitely go warmer.

All of the tests have been with cheddar so I can differentiate the flavors of the smoke.  Some come out more ashy than others when the smoke gets really intense.

[bluesman]

The temp has varied, but I added a small heating pad to the box (reptile type) to help keep it warm (which helps it stay lit), so it stays 10-20F above ambient.  I'm still smoking somewhere around 50-60F for the most part, but you can definitely go warmer.

All of the tests have been with cheddar so I can differentiate the flavors of the smoke.  Some come out more ashy than others when the smoke gets really intense.

Perhaps the colder months would be the most ideal to smoke some cheese. I wonder what the optimum temp for infusing the smoke without melting the cheese would be. I understand that keeping the cheese below 90F is best mainly because it will start to melt. I need to try smoking a block of some decent cheddar this winter.

[boulderbrewer]

I have a bunch of quail coming up that more than likely will be a grilling fodder. Next is rabbit. For those following. Might be willling to send quail to some of you officinados.

[tschmidlin]

The temp has varied, but I added a small heating pad to the box (reptile type) to help keep it warm (which helps it stay lit), so it stays 10-20F above ambient.  I'm still smoking somewhere around 50-60F for the most part, but you can definitely go warmer.

All of the tests have been with cheddar so I can differentiate the flavors of the smoke.  Some come out more ashy than others when the smoke gets really intense.

Perhaps the colder months would be the most ideal to smoke some cheese. I wonder what the optimum temp for infusing the smoke without melting the cheese would be. I understand that keeping the cheese below 90F is best mainly because it will start to melt. I need to try smoking a block of some decent cheddar this winter.

I think an ambient temp between 50 and 70F would be best for my setup, just so it stays warm enough but not too warm.  With the heating bad, I think it will work under 40F.  It turns out great.