MeatyOakerSmoker
is Blowin Smoke!
So in my reasonably short amateur bbq career I had very few failures. I've had cooks that were significantly better than others but never a cook that was just plan bad... that is until this past weekend. Of course, luck has it it was also the first time I was making BBQ for my wife to bring into work.
Now I don't mind as long as I learn from the cook but I can't really figure this one out. I knew right away something was going completely wrong. Before I even took anything off the smoker I told my wife I had a really bad feeling about the way the smoker was putting out smoke. I just had a white cloud of smoke constantly streaming out of my UDS. While I've seen this happen for a short time when the charcoal is first light this just wouldn't stop. I tried increasing the airflow to bring the temp up. I tried decreasing the airflow to bring the temp down. Just nothing would get me the nice blue smoke I'm usually get. The resulting cook was overly smokey and had an almost gasoline like smell (and I'd say taste but I have never tested gasoline). Creosote induced maybe? Terrible tasting definitely.
What was different? Well not that much. I'd say the only part that was different was I used some fairly green (3 month old) wood but it was a very small piece and I've used green wood before with success. Maybe it was a bit wetter than the last piece? I'm not 100% sure.
As an aside, I'm beginning to deplore Kingsford Competition briquettes. I find that they are horrible for a Minion method that is typically used with most on my UDS as they kick off a lot of smoke as they are lighting.
Any ideas what else I could have done wrong?
Now I don't mind as long as I learn from the cook but I can't really figure this one out. I knew right away something was going completely wrong. Before I even took anything off the smoker I told my wife I had a really bad feeling about the way the smoker was putting out smoke. I just had a white cloud of smoke constantly streaming out of my UDS. While I've seen this happen for a short time when the charcoal is first light this just wouldn't stop. I tried increasing the airflow to bring the temp up. I tried decreasing the airflow to bring the temp down. Just nothing would get me the nice blue smoke I'm usually get. The resulting cook was overly smokey and had an almost gasoline like smell (and I'd say taste but I have never tested gasoline). Creosote induced maybe? Terrible tasting definitely.
What was different? Well not that much. I'd say the only part that was different was I used some fairly green (3 month old) wood but it was a very small piece and I've used green wood before with success. Maybe it was a bit wetter than the last piece? I'm not 100% sure.
As an aside, I'm beginning to deplore Kingsford Competition briquettes. I find that they are horrible for a Minion method that is typically used with most on my UDS as they kick off a lot of smoke as they are lighting.
Any ideas what else I could have done wrong?