Too much smoke

Unknown

Mac in NC
Appreciate your answer. We live in central Illinois, and we have
a lot of wind and terrible long winters here on the prairie. So
we rigged up the range hood and put a med. EGG under it in a table
I built It took out the smoke in using Kingsford which was a very
small amount. It would not take the smoke from the natural
charcoal.
My next question is, will the Kingsford harm the EGG?[p]Thanks!!!![p]Jane Tom[p][p]

Wise One

JaneTom, charcoal briquettes will not harm the BGE but be sure they are white hot before you put the food on. Kingsford briquettes were created by Henry Ford as a way of dealing with the scrap lumber he had from running boards and floor boards as well as a way to gainfully employ his son-in-law (whose last name was Kingsford). As someone else said, they are only ground up wood with a non-toxic binder to hold it in the shape of a briqutte. However since the wood withg the binder is rather difficult to light, there is a layer of pyro-technic on the outside which is not the tastiest thing going. (Don't confue this with the self lighting briquettes which has a lighter fluid impregnated as well in this layer. This lighter fluid has an absolutely horrendous taste.) So to encourage folks to burn this layer of pyro-technic completely, they first put a layer of lime around the sawdust/binder and then put the pyro-technic subsatnce around that. When the coals get that white ashed-over look, you can be sure the pyro-technic is gone because the lime is showing. Since learning all this, I have never used briquettes inmy BGE although I know it doe snot affect the taste. (But be absolutely sure NEVER to use the auto-light variety.)

Mac in NC

JaneTom,[p]Bill "Wise One" was kind enough to answer the safety issue so I was wondering if you could clarify this statement for me?[p] "It took out the smoke in using Kingsford which was a very
small amount. It would not take the smoke from the natural
charcoal."[p]Does "it" refer to the range hood that you rigged up?
You could always try this method of starting the EGG. Put a layer of natural lump inside the EGG. Fill a chimney starter with lump and start from the bottom. When these coals are good and hot, dump on top of the fresh lump in the EGG. It should cut down on some of the smoke you are refering to. [p]As you both will soon learn, ceramic cookers are wonderful for use during windy and/or cold days. Read the next post that I put here for you. It's from Kelly Keefe, a fellow Egger. He has gone to great lengths to provide some very valuable info. to new EGG owners. Regards, Mac

Sundown

JaneTom,
Kind of wondering why you would buy a smoker? Anyway, Some lump has different qualities than others and some has more "smoke" than others. A little experimenting and you should be able to find real charcoal that will meet your needs. Below is a link to TNW's site where he has compiled an awesome list of different lump. Read through and see what you can find. The other thing to keep in mind is real charcoal imparts a taste that takes some getting used to. You'll miss out on a lot of great cooking using Kingsford so, don't give up till you've explored alll of the avenues available.

[ul][li]Lump Database[/ul]

Unknown

Mac in NC ,
Your suggestion of using a chimney worked beautiful!!!
All the smoke was at the beginning of the burning
and then went away.[p]Can,t thank you enough!![p]Jane & Tom