Need help...numbness and foul taste

[txschutte]

In the pic I noticed you have the exhaust damper closed a bit. Open it all the way and regulate your temps with the intake baffle as Rookie says. You are choking out the clean fire to a smoldering pile of embers. No good. Get it to a smaller fire, with less smoke.

 

[NorthwestBBQ]

I would thoroughly clean your pit and re-season it to be safe.

 

[BRBBQ]

Here is a pic of the smoker and a picture I don't think you can tell what it is, but is build up on the door already. I have er hot and may hose it down now on the inside. Is this really a good idea?

Your smoke looks light compared to my CTO, I posted a complaint about a similar problem, acidy taste after my last cook, I think the woods not seasoned. At least I hope.

 

[bacardi2001]

Almost sounds to me like you smoked with some walnut.
That has been known to cause numbness.

really? well.... i have some in the backyard

 

[Brew Crew]

Well I have been reading, reading, and then reading any prevoius threads of anything I could find to help me out. It has to be creosote.

This is totally new to be, I guess I have just been lucky up to this point. I have been smoking for over 15 years and this is a first for me. We have had more rain or snow than I can remember in some time. We don't get snow here very often and Christmas Eve we had 11 inches and this past Thursday we had 8 inches and we have had a lot of rain in between the snow fall. The wood is just plain wet and the smoke was just plain bad.

Do I need to throughly clean my pit and re-season it? I have only used it 3 times, but those three times the majority of the smoke was not clean. There is some noticable build up already, I tried to take the picture but it did not turn out to well. I am off tomorrow and have the time to do this, but don't want to if I don't have to. This thing is very heavy and hard to move, a forklift was used to load it on my trailer to take it home. I would love to able to put it on my trailer and take it to the carwash, but there is no way I can do that alone. Most friends I have work tomorrow. Should I do as earlier stated, get it as hot as I can and then put my hose in it? Or should I try and find a pressure washer since I can't really take this to the carwash? Any other suggestions?

 

[bingo1912]

It looks to me like you need to get that sucker hotter n heck!
Open it up all the way on the damper and the inlet air. Feed it lots of dry wood, not just seasoned. (I've notice some people will call wood that has been down a year "seasoned". it needs to be bone dry and when you knock it together you get a high pitched ping)
If you have a buildup of tar or creasote in the smoker already for sure you aren't getting enough air in. remember you are getting used to a new cooker/smoker so you have to change the way you do things. Your smoke (as was mentioned earlier) should smell good, not too strong.
Hope this helps.
Bing

 

[River City Smokehouse]

Numbness on lips and tounge= Too much smoke/not enough air flow. And the fire could have not been ready as well. You want to see a faint blue smoke. No white smoke...... Faint blue!

 

[blues_n_cues]

small hot fire w/ plenty of airflow next time. remember,if you're using wood you're getting the smoke flavor even if you can't see the smoke.
a softball sized chunk should be good to go in that smoker for about an hour or so.