Overly woody scent with some sweetness and some bittersweet aftertaste.... without wood.

[souroull]

Hi guys, rookie here when it comes to low and slow.

Decided to reverse sear some NY strips on the trusty weber MT tonight. Ran it on lump right around 260 for about an hour and then seared them. I wouldnt say the fire was choked, bottom vent was cracked and top vent at about half to 3/4

Upon pulling the steaks i couldnt help to notice a very distinct and overly woody smell to them, which was pretty much in line to what the exhaust of the weber smelled like only much more pronounced. (no, not even a hint of smoke came out the vents from start to finish, and no wood used either.)

In addition, the taste was quite sweet, and only slightly smoky. The aftertaste was bittersweet too so i'm wondering what on earth may have gone wrong here?

 

[souroull]

Anyone care to chime in? At a complete loss here....

Thanks in advance.

 

[musicmanj]

I have generally setup my weber kettle with fully lit coals on one half of the grill. Indirect cook the steaks to about 115 internal temp, then sear over the hot coals. I use a slow n sear basket for the coals, but you can get the same effect with a variety of methods (fire brick, the weber baskets, etc).

When I reverse sear on my kettle, I typically use a full chimney of lit coals to start, and add a wood chunk or two for flavor. Then when at 115 IT, I'll remove the steaks and add lump to get things hot for searing. To me, this method comes out with a cleaner flavor.

 

[jzadski]

I am not really sure what a Weber MT is. Smokey Mountain? Sound like it you only had on vent open on the bottom just cracked the smoke may have been just setting in there and not flowing. Sweet? Was there anything left over in the grill say bbq sauce or perhaps from a rub you used. That's about all I have assuming it's a WSM.

 

[souroull]

Thanks for the input so far, MT = master touch.

Positively no sauce residue, sweetness was all over and came along the overly woody smell but have only used lump, no wood..

Fire shouldnt have been choked either, having placed a handful of fully lit coals in front of a line of lump (snake method style), with the exhaust vent opened up (>50%) way more than the intake