As an experiment, I smoked half of a year old Gouda that had developed a bitter flavour due to the use of vegetable (Mucor) rennet.... I smoked it using Apple wood pellets for 3 hours, with the cut side down, and did not turn it during smoking.... I then vacuum bagged it and placed it in a beverage cooler at 44*F.... I planned to eat a quarter each at about 2 months and 4 months after smoking.... but today (at 1 month after smoking) I noticed there was a bit of liquid in the bag, so I opened it to dry it and rebag it.... Of course we had to try a little bit, so I cut a thin slice off the cut side.... The smoke flavour was quite strong, but not acrid, but unfortunately the bitterness had not reduced.... It was just a bit strong tasting, but I have a feeling most of that is the bitterness from the rennet....
After we determine how it ages over the next few months, I will decide how long to smoke an entire Gouda so as to get lots of smoke flavour, but without overpowering it.... I'm thinking that smoking an entire cheese, which has had 4 months to age in wax, would probably be OK at 3 hours, turned halfway through.... The final decision on smoking duration will depend on how far the smoke flavour penetrates into our test sample over the next 3 months....
Bob