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Soot on food (two different eggs)

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busmania
busmania Posts: 414
edited November 2016 in EggHead Forum
Did a turkey at 325 degrees on my dads egg the other day (after a 50% successful "clean burn" the day before).  Today, i am doing a pork butt on my egg (i kepe it pretty clean, never had this issue) and today I am having hte same issue.  I am getting what looks like soot on the food?  Help?  Is this normal?  Been Egging 5 years and never seen this before, strange that it is now two cooks in a row on two different eggs.  
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  • busmania
    busmania Posts: 414
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    ALso, i definately let the VOC's burn off before putting food on.  ON my dads egg, it was running for 2 hours before I started the food.  This morning i was in more of a rush but it was 45-60 minutes before i put the food on.
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  • FATC1TY
    FATC1TY Posts: 888
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    Picture ??

    sounds like an airflow issue if it's soot but I'm having trouble imagining it. 
    -FATC1TY
    Grillin' and Brewing in Atlanta
    LBGE
    MiniMax
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  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
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    Comes from one of two places, the lump or the dome, IMO. Have found some brands of lump will create significant air borne ash as they come to heat, and may continue throughout the cook to a lesser extent. Also the dome, if not scrubbed down with some foil or good stiff nylon brush can also drop some soot as it comes to heat. 

    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
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  • busmania
    busmania Posts: 414
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    Hard to see in this picture.  Maybe i am imaginining it today due to the turkey fiasco two days ago.

    https://imgur.com/j9MdwmF


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  • busmania
    busmania Posts: 414
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    I thought airflow too but it doesnt seem to be an issue.  If i open up the vent, the temp spikes almost imediately.  
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  • FATC1TY
    FATC1TY Posts: 888
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    Looks like junk from the dome. But the cook looks a little blackened from some incomplete burning I guess. Very odd. 
    -FATC1TY
    Grillin' and Brewing in Atlanta
    LBGE
    MiniMax
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  • busmania
    busmania Posts: 414
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    Ugh, disapointing.  like i said, never had this issue (been using hte same lump during my entire 5 years of egging).  guess dinner is going to taste like an ashtray.  damnit.
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  • busmania
    busmania Posts: 414
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    This butt has only been on a little less than two hours.  Wonder if i should move to the oven?  or how fast i can get my stick burner up and going....
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  • tikigriller
    tikigriller Posts: 1,389
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    Bad bag of lump?  If you used the same bag in both eggs, that would explain how it could happen in each egg in back to back cooks. 
    Just bought an Egg?  Here is what you get to look forward to now:

    Plate Setter, FlameBoss 200, Spider, PSWOO-CI, Additional Rig Shelf for dome cooking, Thermapen, iGrill2, Cast Iron, Blackstone, Cooking Accessories for the Blackstone, Cover for the Egg and the Blackstone, shopping for Rub like a fine wine or IPA, and a new fascination with lump and what brand is the best-all to be debated every Friday Night.  Next desires-Joetisceriie, Adjustable Rig, Grillmates, table and more eggs

    Livermore, California
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  • EggNorth
    EggNorth Posts: 1,535
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    Happens to me some times, I just take some aluminum foil and rub the top dome, do a clean burn then good to go for a while.
    Dave
    Cambridge, Ontario - Canada
    Large (2010), Mini Max (2015), Large garden pot (2018)
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  • busmania
    busmania Posts: 414
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    Different bags of lump. As the butt blackened and cooked it looked more normal. Thinking i am just having fear from recent turkey cook on dads egg(which absolutely was sooty).  I'll do a clean burn when this butt is done to be sure. 
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  • Wolfpack
    Wolfpack Posts: 3,551
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    If it's off the dome it shouldn't be too bad as far as taste. When you open the lid next time see if you have stuff starting to flake off. 
    Greensboro, NC
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  • NPHuskerFL
    NPHuskerFL Posts: 17,629
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    Looks like buildup from the dome.  It happens.

    LBGE 2013 & MM 2014
    Die Hard HUSKER & BRONCO FAN
    Flying Low & Slow in "Da Burg" FL
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  • pgprescott
    pgprescott Posts: 14,544
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    Could just be an ingredient in the rub burning. 
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 25,890
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    pgprescott said:
    Could just be an ingredient in the rub burning. 
    Yup...sugar in fact! 
    Re-gasketing America one yard at a time.
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  • busmania
    busmania Posts: 414
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    I think I was just paranoid from my recent turkey cook.  This butt turned out to be one of my better butts.  I may never go low n slow again.  325 for about 5 hours till it reached 160 internal, then I foiled and put in the oven at 300 (I had to run to do a plumbing repair on a rental property I own so I didn't want to leave egg management up to my wife).  At 195, I had her shut off the oven and just leave the butt in there till I got home.  Holy moly was it good...and I don't even like pork butt.  Used the drippings from the foil as a sauce which made it even better.
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  • GATraveller
    GATraveller Posts: 8,207
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    Maybe from getting too hot then dialing back to arrest a really hot fire.

    "Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community [...] but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots."
                                                                                  -Umberto Eco

    2 Large
    Peachtree Corners, GA
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  • westernbbq
    westernbbq Posts: 2,490
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    Do a clean burn, remove everything, blow it out with a leaf blower

    Then you should have sootless food.  If you still have soot problem its either the fuel or dry rub?
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