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Fuel taste

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BlueSmoke
BlueSmoke Posts: 1,678
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
A couple of times in the last six months, we've gotten a fuel-like taste in some Egg'ed food. Initially, we thought we got some *bad* lump (first experience was with BGE lump), but last week, we had the same fuel taste after cooking shrimp on Chef Wagon lump. If my memory serves me correctly, on all three occasions, this happened after adding fresh lump to the cooker. Any ideas what could be causing this?[p]Thanks in advance for your input.[p]Ken
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  • eggor
    eggor Posts: 777
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    BlueSmoke,[p]my guess would be that the lump wasn't finished lumpifying. I picked up a couple bags of royal oak two weeks ago. Some of the 'not yet lump' looked like they passed a propane torch over it, so broke up a couple pieces and it was not fully 'cooked'. My guess would be, in the case of the royal oak that they sell to wallmart that if they don't burn it all the way thru it will weigh more=more profit. you may just be getting some of the unburned chemicals flavoring the food???[p]Scott

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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    BlueSmoke,
    My guess is that the fuel source was not hot enough.
    Wierd, I know...if its too low (130) then you'll get a funny, fuel flavor. Crank it up to 250 and keep it around there....make sure the charcoal is well on its way.
    Maple leaf does not do that...only briquettes left though.
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 25,888
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    BlueSmoke,
    It's going to sound like an echo in here, but my last two bags of Royal Oak had some unfinished wood pieces - of course they came from the same firing since I bought 3 bags at the same time. I learned to listen for the "clink -clink" and look the lump over before the fire up. OTOH I use Weber cubes and 3 or 4 times I can recall the cubes would snuff out before being totally consumed by fire. There then was a lingering odor that wasn't nice - I gotta wonder if either of these I experienced could have happened to you too.
    Re-gasketing America one yard at a time.
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  • Steve-B
    Steve-B Posts: 339
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    RRP,[p]My last couple bags of Royal Oak also have been like that (bought from GFS). I even had some long oak pieces that were almost untouched. The only reason they were dark at all was from the dust in the bag. My new bag is great though...hopefully it will continue.[p]Steve-B
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 25,888
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    Steve-B, small world!!! My 3 bags of Royal Oak also came from GFS! Looks like they had kiln problems and maybe you and I got some from the same batch! I believe it has been a fluke though cauz I've been using R/O for years and have been satisfied with it.

    Re-gasketing America one yard at a time.
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  • chuckls
    chuckls Posts: 399
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    BlueSmoke,[p]my 2 cents - after cooking wood to make charcoal, there's still some VOC left in the lump (as anyone who has experienced flashback can attest to). So until the fresh lump heats up in the egg, the VOCs are being driven off, and will condense onto your still-cool meat. I believe that's what's causing the "fuely" taste.[p]BTW, I found some uncooked oak mill-ends in my last bag of Cowboy. I left a few in, treating them as "oakwood smoking chunks". Worked fine![p]Chuck
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