Newbie Help - Too much black smoke

Boken Smoker

Hi,
I did my 3rd cook today and I was getting a lot of black smoke, and the food came out with a slightly sour taste. I have read and searched, and I am seeing some people claim up to 1 hour to get the coals to burn off and not produce much smoke. This is my 3rd cook, and I did a long cook last night with spatchcock chicken for over an hour. Now I do notice that later in the cooks, the smoke content goes down considerably.

Do I really need to take an hour before each cook to get the fire started?

Some posts have referred to this issue and that it goes away after a few cooks? Can you explain this to me as I assume you are adding new charcoal after a few cooks.

Should I be doing anything between cooks to the coals (Moving them, removing some, etc?)

Note that I am using WGC which is very highly rated and it is very dry and stored in the garage (bag is 2 days old).

Thanks for the help.

Fornia

Could it be if you did the Spatchcock direct, you ended up with a bunch of grease on the lump?

When doing this cook, you lit that greasy lump. The grease burns and gives off an unpleasant taste?

Hoosier

how are you lighting the lump? The charcoal itself should not be producing black smoke. Could be that whatever firestarter you are using it the source of that sour smoke.

Grandpas Grub

 
Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new egg.

NO!!!! You don't need an hour to get a clean burn.

NO!!!! There is no break in with the egg, nor does the egg need to be seasoned.

I don't see a black smoke but when lighting the eggs there is a heavy white smoke. The smoke needs to 'burn clear' to a very light white or even a clear bluish color. If you have smoking wood chips in the egg those at time will too give off acrid taste.

When first lighting the egg, putting one's hand over the upper vent then smelling the aroma there will usually be an acrid aroma. If that smoke is acrid and one puts food on the egg the food will too taste acrid.

The smoke will burn clear and again smelling the exhaust the aroma will be pleasant. Anytime after that the food can be put on to cook and the aroma & flavor will be pleasant.

Here is a link to some FAW: Tips & Useful Information in these links you there are two other links to where you can see pictures of clean burning exhaust.

I cook chicken direct all the time and I have no unpleasant aroma/flavors in the food of the next cook.

Possibly you are not getting a good air flow up through the lump bed which would cause more 'bad' smoke.

GG

Boken Smoker

Thanks everyone.

Grandpas Grub- You mention airflow through the lump. I just dumped the lump in from the bag. should I have done anything differently?

egret

Your problem is most likely caused from pieces of charcoal that aren't fully "carbonized". This will cause the black smoke and unpleasant odor that you're experiencing. These are pretty easily spotted right after lighting the charcoal by an unusual amount of smoke coming from these pieces and, sometimes, they'll be burning. Just remove and dispose of them. If you look closely at these pieces they will look like a piece of burnt flooring, plywood, etc. In other words they'll look like something other than charcoal. That's a good brand of charcoal, but, I've seen this happen in all the brands I've tried from time to time......yes, even the Big Green Egg stuff....and at eggfests, no less!! :woohoo:

LFGEnergy

Boken Smoker,

How did your first two cooks come out? Any issues with the black smoke on those? Could it be the bag of lump, or some other issue?

I have never seen "black smoke" from my egg, a lot of white smoke, but never black. Doesnt sound like something I would want to cook over, for sure!!! Something not right, and not typical, my guess....

Good luck on this one!

Dave

Firetruck

Not to speak for GG but I prefer to dump straight from the bag. I've read in the past where on long low and slows some folks stack and place lump for the best air flow but pouring works for me.

stike

He cooked a chicken the night before. The black smoke is from chicken fat. If he'd added new lump it'd be the cause, but if the lump
is reused, it has to be fat

very unlikely it is solely from lump that isn't fully carbonized. When you add straight wood in the form of chunks or chips, that's the least carbonized wood you can add, and it ain't black smoke. And it isn't plywood or flooring that remains uncarbonized either.

Never seen plywood Anyway. Plywood isn't used to make lump. A piece might get in there from handling or the production side of things, but no one is selling lump where plywood is intentionally used in the retort

Grandpas Grub

 
I do the same thing other than I do make sure nothing is blocking the holes in the fire grate. When I do an over night cook I do place some larger pieces on the fire grate then dump.

GG

[Deleted User]

Allow 20 minutes for your fire to get going and the smoke to clear. sometimes it will be more, sometimes it will be less (particularly with re-used lump). Getting up to temp has nothing to do with whether or not your fire is burning clean.

Black smoke is probably from chicken drippings from previous cook. I've had some uncarbonized lump that was close enough to leave in without problem. These usually look more like a piece of wood (or tree) with some of the black worn off than a piece of charcoal . When I add lump and I see a piece that looks more like wood (like it still has bark on it) I will usually cull it out.

I have had my worst smoke from firestarters that didn't burn up completely. using the BGE (or other brand) sawdust and parrafin squares, they will sometimes stop burning and just continue to smolder, giving off a megadose of acrid smoke. Just because they are "firestarters" don't assume that they will burn up completely.

sorry, this ws supposed to be short.

SmokeyPitt

You should give the old lump a good stir- rake the coals over the grate to let the ash fall through, then add some fresh.

If you see nasty smoke- another tip is to go ahead and let the egg burn hot for a while. "How hot" depends on your target temp. Don't let it burn at 700 if you are planning a low and slow 250 cook . However, if I am planning to cook at 350 and I see or smell "bad smoke" I let it burn at 500 for a little while until it smells good , then bring it back down.