Overwhelming Charcoal Flavor

[rrweather]

I'm a new PBC owner (1 1/2 weeks). I've struggled with temperature control, which I posted about in another thread. That I can work on with better lighting technique and sealing my lid.

The bigger issue so far is the dominant charcoal smoke flavor that takes over everything we've cooked and eaten so far.

My smoking history...I've owned a Cookshack electric smoker for the last 6 or 7 years. I've never had it break and always been happy with the outcome. My favorite aspect is the fact that the smoke flavor can be greatly controlled (read: reduced). I understand the limitation of getting good bark in the humid environment of an electric smoker.

I had to get rid of my old gas grill in preparation of moving. It ran on natural gas and we sold our house. With the expectation of renting for the next 3-4 years, I was inclined to go back to charcoal so I wouldn't need to mess with propane tanks.

I stumbled on the amazing ribs PBC page when I was researching new charcoal grills. I found a local dealer that had them in stock and jumped on it. Prior to getting the hand-me-down gas grill about 4 years ago, I used charcoal exclusively for 5 or 6 years of grilling. I had the Cookshack so I would smoke with that and grill with a weber kettle. The PBC is my first foray into using charcoal as fuel for smoking--I only ever grilled with it.

So far I've made pork ribs, beef ribs, Simon and Garfunkel Chicken, a rack of lamb, brisket, and a tri-tip this evening. Every thing we've eaten, there is an overwhelming charcoal smoke flavor that dominates the food. I just got back from a week of camping where we used a little weber kettle and the same Kingsford charcoal and neither of us ever tasted the charcoal in anything we ate. Now, with the PBC, it's all we can taste. The most enjoyable thing we cooked was the lamb, partially because it was cooked perfectly, partly because the flavor of the meat masked the charcoal smoke flavor better than anything else.

Are my wife and I just too sensitive to the flavor of charcoal smoke to enjoy a PBC and smoking with charcoal? My plan was to give the Cookshack away and buy a 26" weber kettle once we were settled. I also planned on adding a S&S too it. Now I'm beginning to wonder if I should stick to the Cookshack for smoking and use a kettle for grilling only. I fully admit that my usual approach to smoke flavor is "less is more." Usually I don't like overly smoky food.

Overall, we are a little bummed. I read so many articles and posts that were full of enthusiasm that I wanted to love the PBC and the food we made with it. Perhaps our pallets just aren't ready for "real smoking."

[Huskee]

Two questions-
1. Are you using Kingsford briquets? I ask because I know for a certainty not all briqs are made equally. One time I picked up a bag of generic store brand briquets and the food tasted like it was cooked over a trash fire.
2. Are you following the PBC's lighting procedure to a T, not putting the food on too early, etc etc?

If the above answers are both yes, then I am tempted to believe that yes, you just don't care for charcoal. Usually when someone says 'less is more' with smoke, their palates are tuned to an electric smoker, pellet cooker, or gas grill, which are inherently very mild by nature. I'd like to say you'll get used to it, but that's impossible to speculate.

[rrweather]

Thanks for the reply. Yes it was kingsford. The first few times, my lighting was not perfect. I chalked off the excessive charcoal flavor to putting the food on too early. This evening, I waited too long and the charcoal was extremely hot. It still produced a smoke flavor that dominated the meat. In fact, it was difficult to taste the flavor of the beef. About 2 weeks ago we made tri-tip on the gas grill (we eat it often) and the desired beef flavor mentioned in the Santa Maria tri-tip recipe was what I've come to expect from tri-tip--a strong beef only flavor. Perhaps years of the Cookshack and gas grill have ruined our palettes!

[boftx]

As an experiment, try using oak lump charcoal. Unlike briquettes or logs, lump charcoal is ready to burn immediately with less smoke as it starts up.

[Huskee]

rrweather I don't care for a lot of smoke on beef either. When I cook I try to use only well-lit charcoal on beef. ...Unless of course it's a chuck for pulled beef, or a brisket. But for roasts or steaks I prefer little to no smoke, so well-lit charcoal it is. If you're doing a somewhat slow cook on a roast, that could be where your overpowering charcoal flavor is coming in to play.
You will definitely learn your equipment and its strengths & weaknesses for your tastes. It appears your PBC is not going to be your tool of choice for roasts or steaks. You may find that it makes KILLER ribs & pork butts though. Keep experimenting!

[rrweather]

Thanks. I'm not ready to give up yet. I also think if I could have seared the outside of the tri-tip this evening, that would have drastically altered the flavor. One thing I could do with a kettle and a S&S that I can't do with the PBC.

[Jerod Broussard]

Growing up everything we ate is what people would call "grilled." NEVER saw a piece wood being used.

The Pit Barrel is like what I ate growing up, only better. Just a mack daddy BBQ flavor. People around here love it. No wood, just ignited juices doing their thang.

Next Tri-tip I do in the Pit Barrel is going UP to pull apart tender. That should give it plenty bark.

[scottranda]

Be careful you don't have a ton of juices, oils, or fat dripping into the charcoal. I had that happen in my early days, and really had bad smoke taste on my food.

[scottranda]

A little is ok. A lot is bad.

[SoCalTim]

Not a PBC owner, but here's a couple scattered thoughts, saw a guy on CL's here in Los Angeles who's been trying to sell his barrel (for the last 6 months) for the exact same reason. So far no takers.

I've actually seen his price asked on the PBC drop from $300 to $200. Think I might make an offer.

Second, I've done some research on this PBC, have you called or emailed the owner, I think his name is Noah, I think as an owner he wants nothing less than a very satisfied customer. Maybe that's your next move.

Third, are you that guy on CL?

[Voltron15]

I have had this issue a few times with my PBC as well. I started to use MOSTLY all lump charcoal with my cooks for the past 10 months and have not had that problem again. I put a single layer of KBB on the bottom of the charcoal basket and then I fill the rest of the basket with lump, the single layer of briquettes helps to keep any small pieces of lump from falling through the basket, if there are small pieces of lump. I agree with boftx , you should try some good lump if you have not done so yet?

[David Parrish]

Be mindful of the smoke the PBC is generating. If it's invisible, thin blue, or thin white you're getting good smoke flavor. It it's thick white smoke that's when you're getting the overpowering, and sometimes acrid, smoke flavor. For cooks less than two hours try using fewer coals and make sure they are fully or mostly lit.

[fzxdoc]

My PBC likes to generate a lot of white smoke if I add the meat too soon. I don't like the flavor of that smoke. It's too much. That's one reason why, in the lighting method I use, I let it burn an extra 10 minutes with the lid on and rebars out. First 15 min in the chimney (or however long it takes to get the topmost chimney coals to show a bit of ash); then 10 min after lit coals poured, leaving the lid off, rebars out; and finally 10 min with the lid on, rebars out.

When I do this, I don't get a ton of white billowing smoke when the cold meat is added. I get white wispy smoke for about 10-15 minutes and then the PBC settles in to a nice blue-smoke cook at a rock solid temp for several hours. Sure, there are cooks when this ideal (for me) smoke/solid temperature situation does not happen, but they are few and far between. I never (knock wood) see white billowing smoke.

Sometimes, 5-6 hours into a cook when I start fiddling with the fire or want to pull the meat to wrap it, the wispy white smoke will return for a while before the blue smoke takes back over.

Kathryn

[fzxdoc]

I just had another thought, rrweather . Dr. Blonder says that smoke sticks more when the meat is wet and cold. I wonder whether hanging meat that has a dry surface and which is closer to room temperature would diminish the smokey flavor.

Kathryn

[RonB]

Good thinking Kathryn.

[bep35]

It could be that the additional flavor generated by the PBC is more than what you and your wife prefer. On the other end of the smoke spectrum some folks don't like pellet grills because they tend to generate less smoke flavor. Possibly that is where you are headed. Lots of folks here have opinions on what is a good pellet smoker/grill if you head off in that direction.

[vandy]

I have to agree with that statement, if you don't like the smokey charcoal flavor then a pellet may be the way to go because of the mild smoke flavor. Sometimes I can't taste any smoke at all when I use my Traeger smokers for long cooks.

[JeffJ]

What about a heat diffuser? Has anyone modded one of those for the PBC? The way the PBC is set up you are going to have drippings hit the hot coals and create smoke. It's pretty much unavoidable.