Fat Freddy
is Blowin Smoke!
To the OP...I know you said you cook on UDS and I cook on WSMs so not the same but maybe what I have learned might help somewhat anyways. Earlier this year i did a Back to back contest at the same location. Well a week before I did some brisket and butts practice cook. Didnt clean out my drip pan. Went to the contest on the weekend first day cook did briskets and butts on same cooker everything looked good and seemed ok. Next day due to heavy winds and rain i started my cook an hour earlier than normal. When time to wrap everything looked to dark. Temps were deadon but just to dark.I blamed it on starting cook an hour early. However when I got home I noticed all the grease in the drip pan. I changed drip pan foil and didnt think nothing else about it until this past week.
On Thursday my wife had a catering job where I had to cook 5 butts. By the time the job was done and everything it was getting late so I didnt clean my cooker Friday morning had to leave for a charity contest where we had to cook whole pork shoulders for Saturday. Having never cooked a whole shoulder and had 2 to cook I used 2 different WSMs. One with clean grates and drip pan foil. Other is the cooker that had the butts the day before. In the morning the clean one looked really good but the one that had the dirty drip pan looked really dark and had a taste to it that just wasnt quite right, fine for public sampling but not turn in...Both cooked a same temp both using Royal Oak Lump and both using same Mojobricks cherry.
After the cook I looked at the drip pans one had some grease but not bad but the other seemed to be half full of grease :shock: so ultimately I think it has to be because of the grease in drip pan and dirty cooker.
On Thursday my wife had a catering job where I had to cook 5 butts. By the time the job was done and everything it was getting late so I didnt clean my cooker Friday morning had to leave for a charity contest where we had to cook whole pork shoulders for Saturday. Having never cooked a whole shoulder and had 2 to cook I used 2 different WSMs. One with clean grates and drip pan foil. Other is the cooker that had the butts the day before. In the morning the clean one looked really good but the one that had the dirty drip pan looked really dark and had a taste to it that just wasnt quite right, fine for public sampling but not turn in...Both cooked a same temp both using Royal Oak Lump and both using same Mojobricks cherry.
After the cook I looked at the drip pans one had some grease but not bad but the other seemed to be half full of grease :shock: so ultimately I think it has to be because of the grease in drip pan and dirty cooker.