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Weird ammonia smell coming from BGE after lighting

Beanie-Bean
Beanie-Bean Posts: 3,092
edited November -0001 in EggHead Forum
Lit the SBGE for some Filet Mignons this evening, and noticed that the smell coming out of the top was almost like ammonia--very strong. The grate was removed, so the only thing in there was the lump. Has anyone experienced that before with some old lump? I used the charcoal last weekend to smoke some fatties, and just shut the vents and put the rain cap on--standard procedure for shutting down. When I removed the grate I did not notice anything strange. However, when I lit the lump and shut the lid, I could smell something funny coming out of the top. The metal top was not installed, either. Just the lower vent wide open, and nothing on the lid because I was trying to setup for a TRex cook for the steaks.

I let the lump burn until there was no more strange smell coming out, then I put the grate in and let that heat up for a while, hoping to let the temp get up to at least 600. The temps didn't even hit 450. I ended up cooking the steaks on that heat, and they came out OK, just without the nice 650+ degree crust on them. Really don't think that I'll be letting old lump sit in the cooker like that anymore. I may just invest in a cheapie rubbermaid container to hold the old lump after it's been cooled, and just leave the eggs empty until ready to cook again.

Didn't notice any mold in there, but could really tell because the inside was all black to begin with. How do you know if there is mold in there anyway? Any feedback welcome at this point.

Thanks!
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Comments

  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    Mike,

    My large had never been without used lump in it. When you say charcoal do you mean brickettes?

    If so could there be some lighter fluid in the egg?

    I have never had an amonia or any other oder coming out. I have only used lump thought.

    GG
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  • Luvs to shoot clay
    Luvs to shoot clay Posts: 774
    Same here, if it was lump what brand was it?
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  • Luvs to shoot clay
    Luvs to shoot clay Posts: 774
    Here is an ugly image :(
    Was the lid left open at any time that a critter could have marked it? :whistle:
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  • Mike in Abita
    Mike in Abita Posts: 3,302
    I have noticed this at work. I work in the gasoline industry and use activated carbon as an adsorbent. The resulting ammonia smell in my application, is a result of the carbon oxidizing. Not sure why you would be smelling this in this application.
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  • Beanie-Bean
    Beanie-Bean Posts: 3,092
    Thanks for the responses, fellas!

    Kent - I don't use anything but lump charcoal in the BGEs. I only used briquettes in the Weber, which I haven't used since last October. Don't use lighter fluid for anything.

    Willy - The lump in the cooker was a mix of Royal Oak (U.S. made) and B&B Experts Choice. The rain caps are always on the cookers when I'm not using them, so no critters could possibly get in and leave some gifts for me inside.

    Mike - It's been raining here for the past few days, and I noticed that the grid was bit wetter than what I'd normally see from a normal cook.

    Here's what was in the cooker before: plate setter, aluminum pie pan for a drip pan, and a piece aluminum grill topper which was used to support the fatties.
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Could it have been a piece of foil that was burning? I have never had this happen to me and I always leave/burn old lump.....except when I'm doing a low temp cook. Paul
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  • Luvs to shoot clay
    Luvs to shoot clay Posts: 774
    Why not on a low temp cook?
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  • tach18k
    tach18k Posts: 1,607
    First, heat your grate when you start your egg. Dont wait to put it in, in fact plate setter, pizza stone and other odds and ends. Get the silcone gloves to move things around at cooking time if needed, these will assorb heat for quite a while. Second, seems/smells like drippings burning off, pretty normal, it is quite an ugly smell.
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  • Angie2B
    Angie2B Posts: 543
    Regarding the mold question--You would know if you had it in your egg. I've been sicky-poo for the last 6 months and haven't fired up my eggs. Last week I looked inside them and YUK!- light green (Maybe more like grey) fuzzies everwhere. I am going to do a high temp burn as soon as the next good day comes along. --Yuk, mold in my babies!
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  • Beanie-Bean
    Beanie-Bean Posts: 3,092
    Yup, that's normally what I do...I had the grate off this time because it looked like some pork fat drippings from the ABTs and/or the fatties made their way down the fire ring and toward the fire box so I wanted to burn that stuff off first while I was cleaning off the grid out side the cooker. When I went to put the grate back in there, the nasty (different) smell hit me. I let that go for a while until it was gone then put the grate in. I recognized the smoke coming from the drippings burning off that.

    Whenever I'm firing up the grill, I usually always have everything in place because of how long some things take to get up to cooking temp, like the plate setter, and the multi-rack setup I normally use for low-and-slow cooks. Even when doing the nuke temps, I'll stick the CI grate in there to get it nice and hot when I drop the steaks in there.
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