Author Topic: Grease fog taste - too much  (Read 8763 times)

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Offline Aclarke44

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Re: Grease fog taste - too much
« Reply #29 on: July 16, 2015, 07:32:17 PM »
OK guys this is for those of you at sea level (or very close) with the temp drop issue. I spoke with Noah today (he is every bit as friendly and easy to talk to as you've heard).....I explained it seems that there were folks in humid areas that had issues with temps dropping in the PBC. Assuming you are following the lighting procedures correctly he said to try opening your vent cap (intake) to 1/2 open. He also said he thinks the temps dropping could be due to the humidity getting to the charcoal you are using and it may be obsorbing some of the moisture (my words). If your temps still drop he said to crack your lid 3/4" and let it stay that for for at least 20 minutes. That will help the fire get going better. He thinks those two procudures will help with the issue. He said it seems that people in humid areas buy a bag of coal open it and cook with little or no issues but run into the temp issues when they cook again with the remaining coal (that was left in the bag not in the coal basket after a cook). That's why he thinks the humidity may be getting to the charcoal.

Now he didn't say this but I believe cracking the lid for 20 minutes may help "dry out" your coals so to speak. If the humidity is getting to the charcoal, that along with the juices dripping on the coals would help us understand the temp drop. Your coals don't have to look or feel wet either. But don't forget charcoal will absorb moisture and unless they are soaked you probably won't know. I didn't even think about that when I mentioned the temp drop issue seem to only be in humid areas. I would also recommend putting your charcoal in an air tight container after opening to keep humidity out.

Hopefully this will help you guys.....

Offline jjjonz

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Re: Grease fog taste - too much
« Reply #30 on: July 16, 2015, 08:45:39 PM »
Thanks for posting this...I live close to sea level and high humidity. I posted awhile back that I was having a lot of moisture collecting inside my lid a getting a creosote smell my PBC. I pretty much did what Noah told you.....I opened the intake more and put a folded piece of aluminum foil to crack the lid.
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Offline Aclarke44

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Re: Grease fog taste - too much
« Reply #31 on: July 16, 2015, 09:10:28 PM »
That's good.  Do you leave the foil under the lid throughout the cook or just for 20-30 min?

I also wonder if lighting more coals in the beginning would work too.  Noah didn't say that but I wonder if 5-10 more lit coals from the beginning would help....

Offline Bart57266

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Re: Grease fog taste - too much
« Reply #32 on: September 21, 2015, 10:29:41 PM »
Well, I haven't sold my PBC yet, and there have been a couple of suggestions I hadn't tried, so I did one more cook with the same meat (chicken leg quarters). This time, however, I changed a whole list of other factors, and guess what? Most of the problems went away.

Here's what changed:
 - Humidity was only 47%, compared to 90%+ in all previous cooks.
 - Bottom vent was open wider (a little less than 1/2, according to PBC instructions).
 - Charcoal pan was lifted 3/8" on small scraps of ceramic tile.
 - Used brand new bag of Kingsford Original, never opened, stored indoors.
 - Used lighter fluid lighting method, lit at four points around outside edges of grate.
 - Two large wood chunks added, between charcoal grate and edges of PBC.
 - Burn-in time was 20 min with lid off, and 80-90% of coals ashed over during that time.
 - Coals were so hot when lid was added, flames were rising from the middle.

And... What I think was the most important change:
 - I trimmed all extra skin and fat from chicken prior to hanging.

There was no excessive dripping or sizzling from the chicken during the cook, no thick white smoke (just thin blue), and NO grease fog taste to the chicken - a first for me.

Here's how the barrel temps went:

Hit 311º peak temp a few minutes after adding lid, then it quickly fell.
0:15  272º
0:30  246º
0:45  232º
1:00  227º

Probe was moved to a chicken thigh at this point, and it read as follows:
1:00  159º
1:15  160º
1:30  163º
Cracked the lid (slid sideways) to crisp up the skin
1:45  165º
1:50  169º and a lot more smoke was rolling
Pulled it for dinner

It was delicious, and a lot closer to what I was expecting when purchasing the Pit Barrel.

Bottom line:

 - I think the barrel temps are still dropping too fast, but would like to hear some opinions.
 - Trimming the chicken skin & fat made a huge difference. Less grease drippings = almost no grease fog taste.

So that's the chicken you've all been raving about!

I've posted these issues in a couple of other threads, so this will be duplicated in them, as well. Hopefully it will help others.
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