BBQ Newbie with some questions

[foam2]

I cook with Kingsford all the time, no bad odors. A couple thoughts though - as others mentioned it could be a rust inhibitor or something left behind in the drum. I would wash it out with soapy water and season all over again. The other thing may be your exhaust - try running with them wide open and then use your intakes to control temps.
Also, just for sh!ts and grins, on the next cook wait for an hour after temps have stabilized before you put your meat on and see if that makes a difference.

[Vinny P]

Thanks Foam, I've always run the exhaust wide open, and used only the intakes to control the temps, so sounds like I got that right at least!

This weekend I'll either find a power washer, or just a good old stiff bristle brush and get to cleaning off the inside and re seasoning with lump charcoal. I'll report back after that to see if the results have improved or not.

Thanks again for all the tips and suggestions guys!

[Vinny P]

Ok, so to update this thread, last week I cleaned out the UDS after the first few cooks that left a seemingly "petroleum" type smell after the cook. Most notably after cooking a bacon wrapped fatty.

The cleanout was with good ol dishwashing detergent, a plastic bristled brush, and several hours of scrubbing and hosing down. That should have cleaned out any residue not initially cleaned. Essentially this was back to clean metal inside, as this was originally a brand new drum.

So I dried off the interior and exterior and about an hour later, did a 5 hour burn with temps as high as 375 to 400 degrees. Used ONLY Lump charcoal in the basket and started to red hot coals with a chimney starter.

The next day I put on another bacon wrapped fatty as it has been suggested is a good first cook to get all the rendered fat to help season the drum. Again, completely lump charcoal in the basket, and a few red hot lump coals from the chimney and smoked the fatty for a couple hours at 220 to 235.

Once done to 195 internal, I opened up the drum to a LOT of smoke (same as first time) and the similar but only slightly less strong smell of what I can only describe as petroleum again.

I'm convinced that it has nothing to do with the drum or the fuel at this point, but the bacon itself. It was the same store bought, commercial bacon used the first time around, and I can say that with all the fat rendered out and hitting the hot coals, it produces a really strong smoke that really isn't pleasant.

So once again, I cleaned out the drum, but basically just wiped it out entirely with paper towel until there wasn't any more residue coming off the inside. I left it open to "air out" for a week, and it doesn't have that oily smell any longer.

Today I'm smoking some baby backs on a charcoal fire with some dry hickory chips (no lumps yet) for 3 hours at 250. I'm halfway home, and so far the smell is pleasant and the smoke isn't overpowering.

Using a dry rub I have used with success on lots of other grilled meats, plus a good coating of brown sugar on top. Every half hour I'm spraying with apple juice, and for the last half hour I'll be mopping with a hickory based but store bought Q Sauce.

No foil for these, based upon reading other forums here that say the best bet is 3 hours at 250. I've seen lots of debate over the 3,2 1 method, or 2,2,1 method, or even less, producing ribs that are literally falling off the bone, and essentially "overdone" So I'm trying this "unfoiled" method to see how it goes. I'm due for another spritz of juice, and I'll give them a bend test to see how they're getting along.

Once cooked, and cut, I'll take pictures and post, and hopefully the problem of the bad smoke will have been taken care of forever.

I'd be interested to hear if others have had issues with bacon wrapped meat causing strong or unpleasant smoke in their UDS cookers. I don't use a diffuser or pan, (which I could easily do, as the Big Poppa Smoker kit I've used has hardware that allows for a higher basket to do grilling on. I could just lay in another grate or perforated Pizza pan on those brackets to act as a diffuser, or even a pan to catch excess fat in the future.

Still learning, so I'm all ears to any advice. Thanks again for all those reading.
Vinny

[jeffreywp1]

How did you run your dampers? Im not familiar with using a drum smoker but if you choke your fire back, it will give you an off flavor as you described.

[Fwismoker]

Yep beautiful cooker! Lot's of ways to use that BP..you'll love it! I love lump..it's pretty much my go2.

Using mine today as a grill but cooking indirect with the basket up high. I like lighting my un burnt charcoal from the last cook...this gives you a small hot fire and good smoke.

[smoke ninja]

Nice "intimidater" paint job.

[Vinny P]

To complete this thread as promised, the Baby Backs turned out pretty good yesterday. I did a 3 hour cook at around 250 with no foil. Meat was tender, but not falling off the bone. No horrible petroleum flavor this time either. As a matter of fact, the smoke flavor was more mild than I'd have liked it, but considering that all I had was a handful of hickory chips, I'm not surprised at all. The smoke from those chips is not long lasting, and I've yet to get some decent hardwood chunks to cook with.

To address the question about the dampers, I cook with the exhaust wide open always, and the bottom slide vents as open or closed as necessary to keep a particular temperature. To keep it as low as 220, I've got pretty much everything but one 3/4 vent hole closed off (Each side with half a hole open) . 250 temps are held with 2 holes open (one on each side). I can get pretty hot temps with all 4 holes on each side wide open if wanted, and the Big Poppa has a second set of bolts to hold the basket up just below the cooking grate, so it can be used as a high temp grill, which I've not done yet.

For those not familiar with the Big Poppa Smoker kit, it installs by drilling 4 3/4" holes near the bottom edge on both sides, and you install a metal channel that has a flat sliding door inside it. The door allows you to cover or uncover as many holes as needed.

It's not as "air tight" as the pipe nipples and ball valved set ups on a regular UDS, as there are gaps between the channel and the drum, as well as between the sliding door and drum holes. So even fully closed, it would be hard to say that there is NO air getting inside the drum. With both sides fully closed and the exhaust closed, it will choke out a fire in time however, so it works just fine.

As to whether or not the fire was choked down too far, I have always had very light smoke, without any meat on the fire. Once the fat starts to render out, the smoke gets thicker.

Lastly, I forgot that my paint job was also the same colors as Dale's legendary no 3 car, but in all honesty, the paint job was modeled after the 1978 corvette pace car, which was also Black over Silver with a red pinstripe. Either way, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

[KC Transplant]

I totally agree with everyone. I can smell Kingsford from a mile away. I'd use Stubb's or Coshell. I'd clean it out and season it a couple more times. Part of it is probably some residue left in the barrel and part is probably the charcoal. Some people get good results with Kingsford, but I can't. I use spray cooking oil to season. It's easier. I spray the inside the first 4 or 5 times I use a new barrel to build up a good seal. Fatties help too. And you're on the right track with lumps. The chips burn up too fast and give off a bad smoke.

[mrp116]

Get rid of KBB. Get some Stubbs and hickory and apple chunks at Wally World (they sell both). I used to use KBB, but now I can't stand the smell when it's firing off. When using the miniom method in my WSM, there is always some gettin' going.

[Vinny P]

To clarify, I haven't used the Kingsford briquettes since before I did the cleanout, and re-season, only lump, and no wood chips or chunks either. The 2nd fatty, which was identical to the first fatty I did to "season" the drum, was a bacon wrapped sausage fatty. In BOTH instances, the presence of the offensive odor was profound, leading me to believe it was something in the FOOD leading to the odor, and not the drum, or fuel that was causing the problem directly.

It is my opinion that with that much fat rendering out of the fatty and directly onto the coals, it was causing a nasty burnt "oil" or fat smell, and the residual grease on the inside of the drum seems to point to the same.

I'd suspect that if I used either a diffuser, or a drip pan to catch most of the drippings, the problem wouldn't be quite as bad.

I did wipe out the barrel with paper towel after that 2nd fatty cook, and it looked like used motor oil on the paper towels! Once clean of the residue, the next cook (2 slabs of baby backs) on lump charcoal was clear of any oily smell or flavor.

I'm gonna chalk this up to the bacon drippings directly onto the charcoal creating a "too thick" and caustic smoke that has caused the offensive smell and taste. To that end, I won't be cooking another bacon wrapped fatty without some way to catch the larger portion of fat drippings first.

[Sweat'in Pig]

I would cook some of that bacon in a skillet to see if it gives off a "nasty" odor!!