smokey but bitter taste.. creosote or too much wood?

[souroull]

Right so i cant get my head round this....


Dumped a 3/4 chimney worth of lump on top of another that much on the side of a 22incher and let it come up to temp having both vents at about half. Temp shot up to about 400 and wouldn't budge below 350 even with the vents barely cracked throughout the entire cook.



Being in a hurry, i didnt mind that much and proceeded with the pork chops. At the time no sign of smoke was coming out of the vents.



Although i wasnt intending to, i had some hickory chips on hand and thought why not. A handful of chips directly over the fire ensured white billowing smoke for about 3-4 min. I repeated with another 2 fistfulls for another 10 or so min worth of thick white hickory smoke....


Chops came up to temp, seared to finish them off, and dove right in after they had rested..


Donness and texture was very very good, but my god were they thing bitter... like really really bitter.


So what gives? Creosote or too much smoke?


Input is appreciated. thanks

 

[charrederhead]

some info:

white, billowy smoke is the enemy. thin, blue is the target.

1 lit chimney is enough fuel, no need for unlit.

top vent stays 100% open, 99.99999% of the time.

 

[WilliamKY]

Sounds like the billowing white smoke is your culprit. Also lump charcoal burns hotter than briquettes so maybe next time try using less lump. I use lump in my Weber all the time and I find less is more manageable. Once lump gets rolling it's hard to back down the temp especially with a lot of charcoal.

 

[souroull]

tossing a fistful of wood chips into any fire will ensure thick white smoke.... so if i had done less at a time for less white smoke (but white smoke nonetheless) over longer duration, would it have been any different?

ive never seen smoking woods produce blue/clear smoke, always thought that had to be the case for the charcoal itself..

 

[1MoreFord]

Creosote = white smoke. White smoke = creosote. Simply the same thing.

 

[SmokeRingsMatter]

Combination of vents closed too much, the unlit charcoal was most likely smoking and not burning clean (that will most certainly give you a bitter taste in food, and the handfuls of wood chips billowing white smoke added to the over smoked/bitter taste.

 

[souroull]

Thanks for the input so far.


Yes vents were closed almost all the way @350f so i guess the fire was choked to some degree, but there was no smoke whatsoever coming out of the vents before i added the wood chips.


So how to prevent the white smoke when adding the wood chips then...?

 

[AUswimKC]

I don’t use chips anymore because by the time they are burning clean/pure (thin blue smoke) they are burned up.

Typically you’ll want to add chunks and then wait until the smoke goes almost away and turns thing and blue before you add food.

Because you had the vents closed you likely never would’ve gotten thin/blue smoke from chips, chunks, logs, etc. For a clean fire you need airflow. The airflow has to match the amount of combustion otherwise you get creosote

 

[frognot]

top vent stays 100% open, 99.99999% of the time.

Ditto. I only adjust the bottom vent.

 

[SirPorkaLot]

Chips are for potatoes. Use chunks or splits

 

[SmokeRingsMatter]

Thanks for the input so far.


Yes vents were closed almost all the way @350f so i guess the fire was choked to some degree, but there was no smoke whatsoever coming out of the vents before i added the wood chips.


So how to prevent the white smoke while adding the wood chips then...?

your going to get white smoke no matter what. You just need to control how much white smoke gets produced. You need good air circulation for one, and if your cooker is small (22 inch what? Kettle, wsm..ect?)


try wrapping a small 1/8 cup of wood chips in some tinfoil with a few fork poke holes in it. That should prevent too much smoke genrating at once. Wait till no more smoke coming out the vents and add another pouch. Your time may very depending on how hot the coals are.

 

[pjtexas1]

Clear smoke doesn't always mean it's clean. In most cases it is clean smoke. but if choked down or early after the fire is started you can see no smoke but the fire can still be not ready. I make sure by running my fingers thru the exhaust and seeing if my fingers smell like an ashtray or like something good is cooking. I agree with not using wood chips.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[rovster]

You’re better off having a smaller amount of charcoal running hot than a lot of charcoal being “choked” of air. Choked down and adding wood makes it even worse. Good learning point though. You can adjust next time. We’ve all been there...

 

[mbt]

are you sure that the bitter taste comes from the smoke and not from rub or other?