Dark smoke, whispy blue smoke question

kweitz · March 2017

OK, So I have read through A LOT of posts, and this is still kinda confusing. Everyone says, after you light your charcoal, wait until the smoke coming out of the daisy wheel changes from dark to almost clear before starting your cook. It has been my experience that the only way to get that "clear" smoke is to have ALL of your lump burning. If only a small portion of your firebox is burning, say for a low and slow, as the unlit charcoal starts to catch, the smoke will remain dark and acrid. What am I missing??

Eoin · March 2017

It does clear quite quickly even with a slow burn and it should be quite obvious that it has. You can find some videos on youtube that show the change in smoke.

Photo Egg · March 2017

If you plan on cooking at say 250 degrees, the color and smell of the burning lump will tone down drastically shortly after your Egg stabilizes at 250 degrees. The degree depends a bunch on your brand of lump. Some lump burns cleaner than others. But you should see and smell the difference in the lump getting to this point. How clean you Egg is also plays a part.

SaintJohnsEgger · March 2017

I don't know what you are missing so hopefully one of the lump or smoke gurus will chime in.

I do know that the smoke does go white and will clear up. But your assessment makes sense. I just know it works.

kweitz · March 2017

Thanks for the input. I just switched from Royal Oak to a bag of Fogo. Maybe I'm just not paying enough attention to the change. I appreciate the help. Absolutely loving my LBGE!!!

OhioEgger · March 2017

When it changes from dark to white, it means there is a new Pope.

But seriously, I look at my Egg with a darker background (a line of trees) and I can see it change from white to pale bluish quite clearly. It has always seemed to me to be related to the temperature, not now much lump is burning.

Eoin · March 2017

OhioEgger said:

When it changes from dark to white, it means there is a new Pope.

But seriously, I look at my Egg with a darker background (a line of trees) and I can see it change from white to pale bluish quite clearly. It has always seemed to me to be related to the temperature, not now much lump is burning.

Yes, a hot fire even if it's a small one.

kweitz · March 2017

Makes sense Buckeye! I'll pay more attention. Thank You from a Northwest Ohio Native!

Theophan · March 2017

kweitz said:

... wait until the smoke ... changes from dark to almost clear before starting your cook.

It's the other way around! "Bad" smoke isn't dark, it's white. Lots of white smoke usually is bad, but sometimes a lot of wood chunks will give off kinda white smoke, so smelling it is key.

But it's not dark smoke changing to almost clear; it's WHITE smoke changing to bluish, and not real heavy.

Killit_and_Grillit · March 2017

I burn BGE charcoal so all my smoke is naturally green. That's how you know it's the best.

lousubcap · March 2017

A player in the smoke/lump deal are the Volatile Organic Compounds. Basically they will cook-off at various temperatures depending on the chemical make-up and that's a major source of the "bad" smoke. Lump does not need to be burning to off-gas the VOC's. Go with the smell-the nose knows.
Paging the resident chemist and more @nolaegghead who can 'splain much better. FWIW-

SemolinaPilchard · March 2017

lousubcap is right about the V.O.C.'s. I believe you are right when you say that unless all of the lump is burning you do not burn off all of the bad stuff. However, it does seem that having a small fire does burn off much of it. I light my egg with a Bernzomatic cane torch, and when I load the egg I hit all of the lump for a while with the flame, and that seems to cut down on much of the white smoke.

Dark smoke, whispy blue smoke question

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