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One who’s opinion is supposed to matter the most

ThrasherIII
ThrasherIII Posts: 256
in EggHead Forum
The smoke taste from anything cooked on the egg. How is this possible and how is it correted please help
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Comments

  • kl8ton
    kl8ton Posts: 6,512
    Use rockwood lump.  Probably the most smoke neutral lump. 

    Your fire needs to be well established before putting food on.  The VOCs need to burn off. Try having the egg run at temp 30 minutes before adding food
    Large, Medium, MiniMax, 36" Blackstone
    Grand Rapids MI
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  • Ozzie_Isaac
    Ozzie_Isaac Posts: 21,985
    @kl8ton has it.  Use a quality lump (Rockwood is very nuetral) and let it burn off for a while.  30min minimum if it has not been used before.  If she is very sensitive to smoke let it go 45min.

    I would rather light a candle than curse your darkness.

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  • ThrasherIII
    ThrasherIII Posts: 256
    Rockwood is the only coal i use and i will take  it to the forty five minute mark and try again. 
    I am asking to keep peace. It seems she would rather eat something dried out on a gasser than enjoy any moisture of meat or flavor.
    thank you for the information I will try that approach and see how it works out.
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  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,109
    Are you lighting the top of the lump pile?
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
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  • ThrasherIII
    ThrasherIII Posts: 256
    Thank youall for the input i will make the adjustments and let you know the outcome. If this doesn’t work. I will ask others eating the same meal to make sure it is something that i need to correct or a personal issue to address in another way. 
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  • SGH
    SGH Posts: 28,989
    nolaegghead said:
    Are you lighting the top of the lump pile?
    Not trying to stray off topic, but we use to light turd piles from the top. Seeing your statement made me flash back to my youth for a moment. 

    Location- Just "this side" of Biloxi, Ms.

    Status- Standing by.

    The greatest barrier against all wisdom, the stronghold against knowledge itself, is the single thought, in ones mind, that they already have it all figured out. 

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  • Ozzie_Isaac
    Ozzie_Isaac Posts: 21,985
    edited September 2020
    nolaegghead said:
    Are you lighting the top of the lump pile?
    I used to light from the bottom or middle.  Now I use a torch which lights the top.  I do not see much difference after 30 min.  Now, if using wood chunks for flavor, I prefer to bury them and have lit lump above them.  Seems to make a cleaner flavor, especially since Low&Slow on eggs are more low& smolder.

    I would rather light a candle than curse your darkness.

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  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,109
    SGH said:
    nolaegghead said:
    Are you lighting the top of the lump pile?
    Not trying to stray off topic, but we use to light turd piles from the top. Seeing your statement made me flash back to my youth for a moment. 
    Well, if you lit the turd from the *bottom* you might damage the anus.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
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  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,109
    Ozzie_Isaac said:
    nolaegghead said:
    Are you lighting the top of the lump pile?
    I used to light from the bottom or middle.  Now I use a torch which lights the top.  I do not see much difference after 30 min.  Now, if using wood chunks for flavor, I prefer to bury them and have lit lump above them.  Seems to make a cleaner flavor, especially since Low&Slow on eggs are more low& smolder.
    If you light from the bottom you are cooking VOCs from the entire lump pile above.  Heat goes up.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
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  • Ozzie_Isaac
    Ozzie_Isaac Posts: 21,985
    nolaegghead said:
    Ozzie_Isaac said:
    nolaegghead said:
    Are you lighting the top of the lump pile?
    I used to light from the bottom or middle.  Now I use a torch which lights the top.  I do not see much difference after 30 min.  Now, if using wood chunks for flavor, I prefer to bury them and have lit lump above them.  Seems to make a cleaner flavor, especially since Low&Slow on eggs are more low& smolder.
    If you light from the bottom you are cooking VOCs from the entire lump pile above.  Heat goes up.
    Does it help in practice?  Maybe burn off quicker?  If I wait till smoke is clean I have not experienced any quality difference.  Granted, my bottom layer is almost always used lump.  I pour new lump on top and light with weed burner.

    I would rather light a candle than curse your darkness.

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  • ThrasherIII
    ThrasherIII Posts: 256
    Actually i use a electric starter that is buried in fresh Rockwood. I wait till all i see from the top of the daisy wheel is clear heat. Bo smoke and that is usually after 30 minutes at temp. 
    Indirect, direct raised, same preparations. Have done a couple of clsan burns. Fire box amd ring are white clean. Egg still looks seasoned. Placesetter, deflector are always wrapped in foil. I have learned from all of you all of this and still hear it taste like smoke.
    thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Concerns?
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  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,109
    It does matter.  

    The egg should burn like a candle.

    If the fire is on top, any VOCs below it that it's heating up releases the VOCs below the fire...upstream where it is mostly burned vs all the released VOCs above the fire when lighting the bottom.

    Try this super fun experiment:  light a candle.  It will smoke for a few seconds before it burns clean.  Now turn it upside down and look at the smoke.  Consider all dripping wax is a gas in the egg and would be going up, unburned.  This is a problem of proximity so this would be a continuous issue.  
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
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  • Eoin
    Eoin Posts: 4,304
    Some lump just isn't properly carbonised. Some has contaminants in (found charred nylon strapping in a bag once). Just buy the good stuff.
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  • TN_Egger
    TN_Egger Posts: 1,120
    So if I add so if I add lump during a long cook I should remove the protein to allow VOCs to burn off?
    Signal Mountain, TN
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  • Wolfpack
    Wolfpack Posts: 3,552
    TN_Egger said:
    So if I add so if I add lump during a long cook I should remove the protein to allow VOCs to burn off?
    Technically you will be burning off VOC’s off the new lump. But, would question why you would ever have to add lump during a cook? I can get well over 20hrs from a full load. Make sure you are filling all the way up at the start and it shouldn’t be an issue.  

    To OP- as mentioned above, I suspect you aren’t giving the fire enough time to burn off the VOC’s. To make sure l started lighting in the middle and letting burn for 10 minutes and then give it a little stir to spread the fire. Then let it go at least 30-40 minutes with lid closed and vents set. Then most important part- use your nose to smell the smoke. It should have lost the chemical smell you get from newly lit lump. 
    Greensboro, NC
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  • Foghorn
    Foghorn Posts: 10,250
    ThrasherIII said:
    Actually i use a electric starter that is buried in fresh Rockwood. I wait till all i see from the top of the daisy wheel is clear heat. Bo smoke and that is usually after 30 minutes at temp. 
    Indirect, direct raised, same preparations. Have done a couple of clsan burns. Fire box amd ring are white clean. Egg still looks seasoned. Placesetter, deflector are always wrapped in foil. I have learned from all of you all of this and still hear it taste like smoke.
    thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Concerns?
    I don't know any better way to do it.  My wife has a mild form the disease you are describing.  She prefers anything off the gas grill to anything off of any charcoal or fire grill.  But she humors me and my son and lets us cook over fire sometimes. That may be the best you can hope for.

    @nolaegghead, your candle analogy makes sense - except in an egg, it seems that with 30 minutes or so of the firebox (not the whole egg) getting to 400+ degrees, all of the VOCs can evaporate off.  I'm thinking specifically of an indirect cook where there is a platesetter in place.  By the time the dome thermometer reads 250, each piece of lump is at least at that temperature.  And then give it 30 or more minutes at that temp, is it not possible for all of the VOCs to evaporate off - such that it doesn't matter if the fire is on top or not?

    Don't get me wrong, I light the top of the lump, I'm just trying to understand.

    XXL BGE, Karebecue, Klose BYC, Chargiller Akorn Kamado, Weber Smokey Mountain, Grand Turbo gasser, Weber Smoky Joe, and the wheelbarrow that my grandfather used to cook steaks from his cattle

    San Antonio, TX

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  • Lit
    Lit Posts: 9,053
    I have lit the lump on the bottom and poured fresh lump on top for 15 years it makes no difference. By the time temps stabilize the fire is burning clean. 
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  • Cornholio
    Cornholio Posts: 1,048
    My food used to be way too smokey for my wife and even for me on occasion (more like bad smoke). Now I light the egg, prep stuff I am going to make or just have a beer or three, and let it do it’s thing. Really not much thought goes into lighting anymore. 

    OP - Are you using any wood chips/chunks? Sounds like you are letting it burn long enough so unless you’re doing something else I’d say it’s your wife and not the cook.  ;)
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  • ThrasherIII
    ThrasherIII Posts: 256
    Cornholio said:
    My food used to be way too smokey for my wife and even for me on occasion (more like bad smoke). Now I light the egg, prep stuff I am going to make or just have a beer or three, and let it do it’s thing. Really not much thought goes into lighting anymore. 

    OP - Are you using any wood chips/chunks? Sounds like you are letting it burn long enough so unless you’re doing something else I’d say it’s your wife and not the cook.  ;)
    Regularly I don’t use any chips or chunks.
    i agree I believe it is her taste buds. For to me i do not taste any acrid smoke taste or smoky taste as she states it. Thank you for the information.
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  • ThrasherIII
    ThrasherIII Posts: 256
    Foghorn said:
    ThrasherIII said:
    Actually i use a electric starter that is buried in fresh Rockwood. I wait till all i see from the top of the daisy wheel is clear heat. Bo smoke and that is usually after 30 minutes at temp. 
    Indirect, direct raised, same preparations. Have done a couple of clsan burns. Fire box amd ring are white clean. Egg still looks seasoned. Placesetter, deflector are always wrapped in foil. I have learned from all of you all of this and still hear it taste like smoke.
    thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Concerns?
    I don't know any better way to do it.  My wife has a mild form the disease you are describing.  She prefers anything off the gas grill to anything off of any charcoal or fire grill.  But she humors me and my son and lets us cook over fire sometimes. That may be the best you can hope for.

    @nolaegghead, your candle analogy makes sense - except in an egg, it seems that with 30 minutes or so of the firebox (not the whole egg) getting to 400+ degrees, all of the VOCs can evaporate off.  I'm thinking specifically of an indirect cook where there is a platesetter in place.  By the time the dome thermometer reads 250, each piece of lump is at least at that temperature.  And then give it 30 or more minutes at that temp, is it not possible for all of the VOCs to evaporate off - such that it doesn't matter if the fire is on top or not?

    Don't get me wrong, I light the top of the lump, I'm just trying to understand.
    I think it is possible that the chemotherapy from 5 years ago may have altered her taste sensory. So I guess the best is to humor her and cook her meals on the gasser. I use one of those inexpensive electric fire starter that looks like an element loop and after about 15 minutes the coals are going. I bury it in the lump in the back of the egg. So i have a fire in the back to middle of the egg opposite the bottom vent. Is it possible that not lighting all of the coal is causing this malady. Thank you for the information.
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  • ThrasherIII
    ThrasherIII Posts: 256
    Wolfpack said:
    TN_Egger said:
    So if I add so if I add lump during a long cook I should remove the protein to allow VOCs to burn off?
    Technically you will be burning off VOC’s off the new lump. But, would question why you would ever have to add lump during a cook? I can get well over 20hrs from a full load. Make sure you are filling all the way up at the start and it shouldn’t be an issue.  

    To OP- as mentioned above, I suspect you aren’t giving the fire enough time to burn off the VOC’s. To make sure l started lighting in the middle and letting burn for 10 minutes and then give it a little stir to spread the fire. Then let it go at least 30-40 minutes with lid closed and vents set. Then most important part- use your nose to smell the smoke. It should have lost the chemical smell you get from newly lit lump. 
    I will try this today. Thank you for the information.
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  • dbCooper
    dbCooper Posts: 2,732
    Expectation Bias could perhaps be in play, given you are not having the same negative taste experience.
    Not stating this is a valid test but, you could try giving her something off the gasser and say it came off the Egg, or something off the Egg saying it came off the gasser and see what happens.
    LBGE, LBGE-PTR, 22" Weber, Coleman 413G
    Great Plains, USA
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  • briwald
    briwald Posts: 103
    I still use a good old chimney starter.  I put a BGE fire starter buried in the leftover lump from last cook, fill the chimney starter and set it above.  By the the time the chimney is all the way lit, so is most of the left over lump.  Any reason not to do this?  

    PS: this is only for regular temp cooks.  If I'm doing a long, low and slow, I break the BGE fire starter into three pieces and put them front, middle and back. For what it's worth...
    Maitland, FL
    XL BGE since 2019

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  • ThrasherIII
    ThrasherIII Posts: 256
    dbCooper said:
    Expectation Bias could perhaps be in play, given you are not having the same negative taste experience.
    Not stating this is a valid test but, you could try giving her something off the gasser and say it came off the Egg, or something off the Egg saying it came off the gasser and see what happens.
    Believe me the thought has crossed my mind many times and as a last resort i might have
    to make that a realization factor 
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