Rodney
Full Fledged Farker
Hey guys-
I smoked a turkey yesterday, and although it was really good, it had a slightly off flavor... I think it was creosote. I thought that was weird, because I've never tasted it before, and I cooked this thing at 325 vs. the usual 225 that I've cooked everything else at. Aside from the hotter temperature, which I'm sure wouldn't cause creosote formation by itself, there were two differences from any other run I've done in the past:
1) I used a Weber kettle lid, which was very obviously more restrictive than the 2" pipe outlet in my drum lid. I had to run two pipes fully open in order to maintain 250 degrees, and all three pipes wide open to run at 325. I've heard that restricting the outlet can cause creosote, but that fire was very healthy and stable the whole time.
2) Along with a bunch of cherry chips, I burned two almost baseball-sized pieces of apple wood that had sat in the rain for the last week and were pretty waterlogged.
I'm thinking that the waterlogged wood chunks may have been the culprit. Given that the fire in a UDS is a fairly cool, slow-moving fire in the first place, having a thoroughly waterlogged chunk of wood in that fire could possibly result in sluggish combustion and possibly creosote.
Does this ring true to anyone?
Thanks,
-Rodney
I smoked a turkey yesterday, and although it was really good, it had a slightly off flavor... I think it was creosote. I thought that was weird, because I've never tasted it before, and I cooked this thing at 325 vs. the usual 225 that I've cooked everything else at. Aside from the hotter temperature, which I'm sure wouldn't cause creosote formation by itself, there were two differences from any other run I've done in the past:
1) I used a Weber kettle lid, which was very obviously more restrictive than the 2" pipe outlet in my drum lid. I had to run two pipes fully open in order to maintain 250 degrees, and all three pipes wide open to run at 325. I've heard that restricting the outlet can cause creosote, but that fire was very healthy and stable the whole time.
2) Along with a bunch of cherry chips, I burned two almost baseball-sized pieces of apple wood that had sat in the rain for the last week and were pretty waterlogged.
I'm thinking that the waterlogged wood chunks may have been the culprit. Given that the fire in a UDS is a fairly cool, slow-moving fire in the first place, having a thoroughly waterlogged chunk of wood in that fire could possibly result in sluggish combustion and possibly creosote.
Does this ring true to anyone?
Thanks,
-Rodney
