How do I reduce the smoke flavor

BINGO! Recently I swear I saved a marriage with the same diagnosis - well maybe not the marriage, but the guy's wife had had it with smokey food and wanted him to sell his pride and joy! After I figured out the problem they are love bugs and BOTH enjoying their BGE cooked foods!

Are you cooking the chicken direct or indirect ?
If it is direct, the fat coming off the chicken will give you the awful smoke.

You might want to try INDIRECT.

Let stabilize for 45 minutes and do your bird indirect.

Never control the temperature with the top vent, always control from the bottom vent. The top controls the the amount to smoke in the egg (and fine tunes the temperature), as you have found this out. Leave the top off so all the smoke goes out quickly and control the temperature with the bottom like always.

but you can't let more air (smoke) out than is coming in anyway.

example. i am cruising at 350. but i think i have too much smoke. if i open the daisy or take it off, and more smoke starts coming out, then more air must be coming in, and the temperature must rise.

if i take the daisy off, and the temp doesn't change, then the rate of the air into (and out of) the egg hasn't changed. which means the smoke isn't moving out any faster.

if i turn the tap down so the water coming into the hose is at a trickle, i can't make the water come out any faster by taking the nozzle off the end of the hose

if a fire is stable, it's not being held to temp by being snuffed (choked).

i agree though, if you are talking about the few moments before and after adjusting a vent, yeah, i can keep the smoke in or let it out. but i'm simply talking about an egg cruising at temperature.

you can't have an egg that's been at 250 for three hours, and smoking along the whole time, suddenly vent all that smoke FASTER (taking the daisy off), without make-up air coming in and the fire growing

well, given that no one's analyzed it, i guess my answer is just as correct as any other

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

"Smoke never comes in the egg. It always goes out of the egg. Smoke is created inside the egg, but it never comes in the bottom draft door, therefore it always goes out."

smoke doesn't enter the egg, correct.

air comes in, some of it is combusted, and then it goes out, carrying smoke. the faster the exhaust is moving, the faster the air is coming in. if air exits faster, air will need to come in at the same rate to make up for it. that air will have more oxygen, and the fire can only grow.

you cannot let out exhaust faster than it comes in. not for any extended stable period, i mean. of course i can shut an egg going along at 750, and snuff it. i can also open an egg wide which was previously clamped at 200. but those moves will change the temp.

my point is if you are at 250, and were at 250 for an hour before, and want to be at 250 for another hour afterward, you cannot let out more exhaust than was previously coming out without causing more to come in. and if more comes in, the temp will go up.

my thinking is that when controlling the temperature by choking down the exhaust, you are creating an environment where smoke can linger longer with the food.

not trying to prove it scientifically, just saying that's what I do. As you know, there's no one in my household that thinks smoke improves the flavor of anything, so I always do whatever I can to minimize smoke.

I could be doing it wrong because wife still doesn't like anything off the Egg.