charcoal smoke when lighting?

Sevenrats

Hi there! I just got my Egg! A large. I used it last night and made a nice beer can chicken. The Egg held the temp eggsactly at 350! My question is about the smoke that happens as the charcoal lights. I lit the lump in the center and waited until it was burning about 8 inches around before I closed the lid. As the charcoal heats up it smokes. I know from experience I don't want that strong charcoal smoke as it heats up on the chicken. So I reopened the lid and let the lump get hotter until it stopped smoking but then the fire was big so when I close the lid the temp shot right up over 400. I closed the bottom vent most of the way and opened up the top all the way and it cooled down in about 10 minutes, readjusted for 350 and then I put the chicken in. My question is, is this the best way to avoid that smoke? Also, is that smoke going to be ok for say ribs or too strong? I want the smoke to taste like wood, not charcoal!

stike

light it, set vents for temp, wait. when the smoke smells good, ten, fifteen minutes usually for me, it is good to go. some wait an hour. i've never needed that.

Sevenrats

I think that the start up smoke probably wouldn't overpower ribs or brisket or pork butt especially if there is some smoking wood in there but it is way to strong for my nicely brined and rubbed Beer Can Chicken!I like just the mild subtle taste of the hot charcoal!

Billy Grill Eggster

Sevenrats,

You said "Charcoal"... I hope you mean LUMP.

Sevenrats

Lump is charcoal. Briquetts are chemicals.

Billy Grill Eggster

Sevenrats,

Good, because sometime people use CHEMICALS. That can leave a burnt or too much charcoal taste. It maybe your lump, which brand are your using?

stike

not sure what you are asking, then. start up smoke isn't good for any food, ribs, chicken, etc.

light it, let the volatiles burn off, and you are good to go.

people confuse the fact that there is new lump unburnt somewhere in the cooker, with the thinking that when it starts burning, that it will start giving you "start up smoke" too.

the start up smoke is from the volatiles in the fresh lump. with a fire going in one part of the cooker, and a strong draft, those volatiles (from even the unburnt lump) are driven away during start up. "volatile" means they are vapors that are fugitive, and easily driven off and burnt.

when the fire reaches unburnt lump, it doesn't have to drive off any volatile vapor from it. it's already gone. it's aired out, heated up (hot environment) and already driven off or burnt. nothing but carbon. plus, the fire from an adjacent bit of lump is at 1000+ degrees (as much as 2000), so it is burning efficiently when it gets to new lump, which burns efficiently too because of the contact with the already burning lump.

you could remove almost all the volatiles simply by laying out the lump in the open air and letting it air out (not that you'd want to, just saying, volatiles aren't there unless the lump is fresh from an newly opened bag or container).

stike

briquettes (the kind without lighter fluid) are made from the fines (the small pieces) left over from producing lump. the binders (like cornstarch) are chemically inert, but give you a pantload of ash which can be a problem if you tried to burn them in the egg. but they don't usually have any "chemicals" in them.

my wife thinks she preferes the smell of briquettes (childhood nostalgia thing). i tried to tell her, she likes the smell of the lighter fluid. the briquettes are just pulverized lump

Keving

In my very short experience with the egg. I have found that if you get the temp set and leave it alone in about 15 or 20 mins the smoke is gone. That is when I put the food in. I have never had any smoke problems after that. It just takes a little time for the smoke to go away from when you shut the lid and the fire goes out.

Sevenrats

I am using BGE lump. I think stike is correct. I think though that I might have put in more lump than I needed so that there was a lot more unlit lump at the bottom of the fire chamber so it smoked longer. For a single chicken I probably could have used half as much.