Smokey - Heavy charcoal flavor

bwalek

Let me start with....I'm new to the BGE, only had it about 1 month now.  My wife has complained several times that food is coming off with a very heavy smokey-charcoal taste. (i noticed on some things too.)   I used BGE charcaol at first, then bought some Cowboy natural lump at Lowes....The Cowboy does seems to burn different.

The heavy smokey flavor seems to happen more on the direct heat grilling.  Its seems to happen more now with the cowboy charcoal...but just not sure.

It happend the first or 2nd time I cooked on the BGE.(with nBGE charcoal)....but realized then i didn't let it heat up properly, and was creating a lot of smoke and not waiting til it was ready

Amy Suggestions ????  Is it the Charcoal ??  Does the Charocal brand make a big difference in flavor ?Am I doing something wrong ? 

I want the nice charcoal flavor of the BGE.....but some items are very stong flavor.

Any ideas, suggestions or help is much appreciated....

mustgrill

Direct grilling, I am guessing that you're grilling for a short period of time, like steak, burgers, chicken things that take 30 mins or less. Let your lump turn into a hot bed of red coals. Then grill... Yes the lump does make a difference also. Huge chunks that look more like tree trunks rather than lump, that's not heavy,  you should not use or if you do make sure they have cooked off. You can smell what is going on also.

GreenhawK

I think you just need to give it more time to warm up.  You shouldn't have any white smoke.  It should be clear.

maxPowers

Given you are grilling direct, this may not be your problem, but I had a strong smokey taste because of residue on my plate setter.  After burning it off at 800 degrees for a couple hours, my wife hasn't complained since.

Flamethrower

When its ready It should look like the heat coming off of a jet engine,No matter at what temp. As you will see in more threads,There arnt many that cook below 250 dome temp which turns out to be about 225 grate temp. My XL really doesnt clear out between 250 and 300 and at 500 should be really clear,No smoke just the heat waves.

BOWHUNR

The other guys have nailed it, you're putting your food on too soon.  Tonight my small was up to 400* in 15 minutes, but it was 30 minutes before the smoke ran clear.  You just can't be in a hurry with eggs.

Mike

Flamethrower

Tru Dat Bow!!!!!!!!

stevesails

I had the same problem wihe i first got the egg, I was so anxious to get cooking.   wait for clear smoke, all you should see are heat waves.

RichmondBGE

Your problem/taste you are noticing may be from putting the food on too early, but I bet when cooking direct, it's also from fat/grease dripping into your coals, which then burn and create a lot of burnt smoke taste.  I notice this especially with chicken that has skin on it.  Because of this, I tend to cook chicken, especially thighs, with my plate setter and a drip pan.  When I first got my grill, I didn't realize the importancee of the drip pan on top of the plate setter and figured that anything falling onto the plate setter would just burn off, which it does. But when it does burn off, it tends to flavor the food with this burnt grease taste. A clean plate setter with a drip pan is as important as waiting for the smoke to clear, if not more important in my opinion. The only chicken I do without a platesetter are wings, which still produce a little smoke while cooking, but nothing like cooking thighs.