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Question, the more I cook the less I understand

FatMike
FatMike Posts: 464
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Why do we let the bad smoke clear when firing up the egg when cooking steaks,chicken or whatever, and start a small fire with a lot of unlit lump when doing butts. Doesn't the unlit lump that ignites give off that same crap in a low n slow? Ok, enough thinking for me tonight.. :P

Comments

  • srq2625
    srq2625 Posts: 262
    A good question and one that I've pondered a bit - with no results. Looking to see what someone with a lot more experience might have to say on the matter. :blink:
  • Mike, the 'simple' answer is NO it does not.

    The explanation will have to be up to the more technical folks.

    I've just always thought it was because the burning lump gradually ignites adjacent pieces with a slow cook instead of so many pieces being simultaneously igniting with a 'hot' cook. Simplistic explanation, but it lets me focus my 'worrying' on other things. :laugh:
  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    Actually, the "bad" smoke needs to clear for both kinds of cooks.

    All lump still contains some organic matter. For, instance, the last batch of RO I dumped into the Egg still had a few chunks that were brownish, not carbon black. When the lump heats up, those remaining chemicals begin to evaporate, releasing a fair amount of nasty stuff. Likewise, any water that is in the lump and wood chunks begins to steam. At temperatures a little above boiling, that steam can combine with elements in the smoke vapors to form creosote (!YUK!). So, while the fire is being established, it is generating the "bad" smoke.

    Once it is established, even in a small area, it is very hot. The VOCs are mostly burnt up, and the water nearby is gone. So, even for a small lo-n-slo fire, it usually takes about 20 minutes for the fire to begin burning off the VOCs as they are produced.

    If you smother a fire by closing the vents all the way, as the heat drops, more and more smoke is generated. If the fire was big/hot enough, as its starved for oxygen, the remaining VOCs fill the Egg, and when it is opened,

    !flashback!

    (See the Naked Whiz's site for a more thorough explanation.
  • SmokeyPitt
    SmokeyPitt Posts: 10,490
    I think you still get some of the bad smoke/VOCs as the fire spreads, but they are just in a much lower concentration. Every once in a while I will notice a puff of white smoke during the cook and I always assumed the fire just found a new chip to burn :).


    Which came first the chicken or the egg?  I egged the chicken and then I ate his leg. 

  • The VOCs (volatile organic compounds) disipate from the lump when the temperature is elevated within the egg even though some of the lump has not burned. The initial lighting and preburn warm the egg and all the lump in it releasing the majority of the compounds that produce the acrid smell.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    yes and no.
    all the free VOCs (the "fuel-like" smells) are driven off whether the lump is lit or not by virtue of it being in a hot environment with a continuous draft.

    there are some VOCs IN the lump too, but the size of a lo-and-slo fire is minimal, and the vast majority of the "bad smoke" is long gone
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • FatMike
    FatMike Posts: 464
    Thank you all, I may even understand this now. You all Rock B)