Options for reducing dirty smoke

[danpatdav]

Hello all! I have been wondering for a while if there is a good way to reduce the dirty smoke produced late in the smoking cycle. My smoke starts off clean and pleasant but eventually turns thicker and a touch acrid as more and more fat drips down into the coals. The meat tastes great, but I can’t help feeling like it would be better without hours of dirty smoke towards the end.

Any thoughts on this?

Daniel

[mountainsmoker]

First what type of smoker. Many of us use a drip pan of some sorts. Oops, forgot to check what smoker you had. Yea there as AverageJoe says not you can do with a PBC without a modification

[AverageJoe]

I have not seen a way to do that with a PBC besides a mod. Is this happening for all of your cooks or just certain specific meats? A good charge of the smoke that you see towards the end is, like you said, the fat drippings burning off. So aside from taking a bit more fat off, I have seen some mods that allow for an additional grate lower down to add a drip pan in to keep the fat from hitting your charcoal.

[Mr. Bones]

I'm confused, a bit (nuthin new)...

I thought th fat renderin, an drippin on th coals was th very essence, th whole gestalt of th PBC's unique flavour profile!?!?!?

Did I miss a memo, somewhere along th way?

(Great, now my brain hurts...thanks, a lot!!!)

[AverageJoe]

Mr. Bones no you are right. That is the selling point the company uses. I have seen the mod and wanted it to be brought up just as an idea. I personally have not seen acrid smoke during my last few cooks. Beef ribs going now in fact.

[JeffJ]

You didn’t miss anything. Smoke from meat drippings is different than smoke from wood. If it’s not an outright grease fire, the heavier smoke coming out of the PBC is a welcome sight.

[Mr. Bones]

Thanks fer confirmin what my poor lil pea brain was thinkin it remembered, Brother!
I'm sure th intercranial swellin will subside, with time, an alcohol diligently applied, in proper measure...

[gdsim1]

Question... are you using anything to monitor the temp in the PBC? As you stated, I’ve smelled that same smell on occasion, but it’s usually a sure sign that my PBC is running too hot.

[Razor]

I don't have a PBC but I was thinking the exact opposite. It sounds to me that the coals are too cold. The fat is not burning off quickly but rather smoldering. A smoldering fire pit smells a lot different from a strong burning one.

[danpatdav]

I’m probably overthinking it. Brisket tasted great again today, no off flavors. I keep thinking all that dripping grease (and heavy smoke) will eventually effect the flavor in a negative way, but no evidence of that so far. And I agree with the comments above about this being native to the pbc design. A pro, rather than a con.

[Mr. Bones]

Yer not alone, in overthinkin things, Brother, but try hard to let some of it go, as I try daily...

I assure ya, ya'll feel better, as ya progress...

pic

[JeffJ]

Keep in mind that the PBC was meticulously engineered. They spent 6 months and went through 27 prototypes before settling in on the current design. If you follow Kathryn's lighting instructions (I regard these instructions as kind of like a bible) the thing really is almost too easy. Just let it do its thing.
fzxdoc

[JimLinebarger]

I'm also wondering if it comes more from the unlit coals as they try to start rather than if the juices fell on hot coals. I usually put what I am smoking on the opposite side of the hot coals at the beginning. That would mean that towards the end of a longer cook those coals come into play. When the cook is done, I snuff out the fire quickly. When I come back to do the next cook, many of the unlit coals are stuck together from the grease of the previous cook. I try to use those coals in a chimney to start then next cook.

[gdsim1]

Smart! 😃👍

[fzxdoc]

I'll repeat gdsim1 's question, danpatdav : are you monitoring the temp of your PBC at all? Just curious, since barrel temp might be a clue to what's going on.

I've done tons of PBC cooks, and don't recall a heavy acrid smoke at all during the cooks. But then I monitor each cook with two probes inside the barrel and adjust temperatures when needed.

Sometimes, after I have opened the lid to move a probe or wrap the meat, when I reseat the lid may get a bit more white smoke before it settles back in to its clear or wispish smoke state. This is partly due, in my case, to the fact that opening the lid stokes the fire with oxygen causing wood chunks to flame up until the lid is placed back on.

Are you spritzing your brisket maybe?

And FWIW, making the dripping meat juices sizzle on hot surfaces to produce flavor-enhancing vapors is not unique to the PBC. That's one of the reasons, says Weber, for the flavorizer bars in their gas grills.

I hope you find the culprit for that smoke that you don't like soon, because a well-running PBC can turn out some delicious stuff.

Kathryn

[mountainsmoker]

I agree there is no reason for that heavy smoke.. While drippings on the coals are common white smoke should not be present. It should be clear to light blue.

[Anton32828]

I don't have a PBC, but from what I've seen of them, wouldn't a "drip tray mod" turn them into a kind of bullet smoker by creating indirect heat? It seems to go against the design philosophy of that particular cooker. Just my opinion.

I may have to buy one to run a comparison.... (MCS alert!!!!).

[gdsim1]

Agreed. After reading up on the science behind how the Pit Barrel does what it does, I’m extremely hesitant to make any mods internally for fear of screwing up the thermodynamics.

[JeffJ]

You are correct, Anton. The beauty of the PBC is it doesn't use a plate to shield the meat from the fire. It's a great way to cook and I wouldn't even consider changing it.

[hoovarmin]

Agreed. Leave the PBC alone (except for the cool vent I just ordered for the lid from Etsy)

[gdsim1]

I'll repeat gdsim1 's question, danpatdav : are you monitoring the temp of your PBC at all? Just curious, since barrel temp might be a clue to what's going on.

I've done tons of PBC cooks, and don't recall a heavy acrid smoke at all during the cooks. But then I monitor each cook with two probes inside the barrel and adjust temperatures when needed.

Sometimes, after I have opened the lid to move a probe or wrap the meat, when I reseat the lid may get a bit more white smoke before it settles back in to its clear or wispish smoke state. This is partly due, in my case, to the fact that opening the lid stokes the fire with oxygen causing wood chunks to flame up until the lid is placed back on.

Are you spritzing your brisket maybe?

And FWIW, making the dripping meat juices sizzle on hot surfaces to produce flavor-enhancing vapors is not unique to the PBC. That's one of the reasons, says Weber, for the flavorizer bars in their gas grills.

I hope you find the culprit for that smoke that you don't like soon, because a well-running PBC can turn out some delicious stuff.

Kathryn

I’ll wait to hear more from danpatdav Kathryn (the curiousity is killing me too lol) but given the info we’ve got now I’d be willing to bet it’s from the temperature spike due to lid removal as you theorize.

When end it happens to me it’s usually cracking the lid to bring the temp up... I get to fiddling with something else instead of paying attention to the numbers on the Smoke alarm... smell that smell and be like "Uh oh!" @fzxdoc

[fzxdoc]

I never smell an unpleasant smell, though, gdsim1 , I just get some white smoke for a while until things settle down after opening the lid.

K.

[jecucolo]

When I cook two briskets on the PBC it can get a pretty Smokey after I crack the lid. There is a lot of moisture and fat dripping on hot coals so I expect it. It usually not too bad on a normal cook but to be honest this is what it is designed to do. Some folks actually add a little fat to hang from the rebar to increase the the fog.

[fzxdoc]

Plus, because of its moist environment, you rarely have to spritz the meat. In fact, I've never spritzed anything cooking in my PBC.

Kathryn

[HawkerXP]

Its the fog, the fog is what makes the PBC special.

[ColonialDawg]

Is what you are seeing acrid smoke or steam mixed with smoke? I would think juices hitting hot coals would produce steam that might be interpreted as acrid smoke. Just a thought (maybe a dumb one).

[JeffJ]

The PBC produces a lot of white smoke when it's moderately full. With a charcoal fire the only time you will see gray/black smoke is if you are using wood chunks and the fire is being choked for air or if you have a grease fire. When it comes to wood chunks I'm a minimalist when using the PBC. 1 fist-sized chunk is plenty. Every time I've used my PBC it has produced good results.

[HawkerXP]

When I open the lid the fog is so thick at times you'll not be able to see the meat. This is good.

[JeffJ]

Yep. A couple of summers ago when I was removing racks of ribs to be sauced one tore away from the hook and fell into the fire. There was so much fog I had a difficult time finding the slab.

[HawkerXP]

I always double hook now for the same reason. JeffJ

[hoovarmin]

Meat smoke good