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Reloading Charcoal Question

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    Reloading Charcoal Question

    Hi All,

    This is such a great site! I recently purchased a PK360 and am brand new to the Charcoal Scene. One thing I've been puzzling over is a slightly sooty taste from Charcoal smoke (using Weber briquettes at the moment, but have used HEB Mesuite lump and also Kingsford and noticed the same) My friend who is a competition cooker asked me if I was letting my chimney completely ash over before dumping and no I wasn't. I let it stay in the chimney an extra 5-10 minutes until it was completely white and Voila! the slight sooty taste is totally gone. This is fine for most items, but I have noticed trying to roast bigger items when I need to reload that the sooty taste comes back as the new briquettes start smoking when put on the lit ones in the grill. I could certainly start another chimney, just had not heard of that. Just wondering if there are any tricks or types of charcoal that tend to smokeless. Thanks much in advance!

    #2
    The sootiness comes from the fire not being hot enough. The charcoal you use won’t make a difference.

    To to give you more information, I would need to know more about how you have your fire set up, and what you are cooking.

    Comment


      #3
      It may just be you're sensitive to the taste of charcoal smoke too. When doing a low & slow cook where you utilize the "snake" or "Minion" methods, or the Slow 'N Sear in a kettle, there's constantly new coals slowly being lit by the other coals. I, and many others, don't really notice an off-putting sooty taste. I notice a charcoal taste. To me it's good. Add wood chunks! Get some good wood smoke in there and it may help mask some of that.

      Comment


      • jfmorris
        jfmorris commented
        Editing a comment
        This is what I was going to say as well. I for one never pre-light charcoal before adding to the offset or kettle, as that would defeat my use of the minion/snake/SNS/etc, and put me back into tending the fire constantly. Charcoal has a taste unlike gas or other cooking methods (even straight wood).

      #4
      Originally posted by Mosca View Post
      The sootiness comes from the fire not being hot enough. The charcoal you use won’t make a difference.

      To to give you more information, I would need to know more about how you have your fire set up, and what you are cooking.
      Awesome, that makes sense. Hotter fire = more complete combustion. I’m using a pk 360 both with no basket and two kinds of baskets dividing the grill in 1/2 keeping all coals on right side of grill. I do have trouble on the pk with smoke coming off the coals if they haven’t ashed over. I seem to notice the sooty taste anytime I get smoke coming off the coals. This happens when I add new briquettes to reload. I’m not using wood chips, just charcoal. Have been using Weber briquettes as of late.

      thanks again!

      Comment


        #5
        Originally posted by Huskee View Post
        It may just be you're sensitive to the taste of charcoal smoke too. When doing a low & slow cook where you utilize the "snake" or "Minion" methods, or the Slow 'N Sear in a kettle, there's constantly new coals slowly being lit by the other coals. I, and many others, don't really notice an off-putting sooty taste. I notice a charcoal taste. To me it's good. Add wood chunks! Get some good wood smoke in there and it may help mask some of that.
        My new basket allows a snake method. Will definitely try that! It does only seem to occur when new coals are being lit putting off smoke. If everything is lit, there is no sooty carbon like taste. Definitely some smokiness, but not sooty carbon like taste.

        Comment


          #6
          Guessing it's just the high-oxygen environment of new coals. I don't notice it in the controlled low-oxygen low & slow setups. See if you do.

          Comment


            #7
            +1 for low temps! Incomplete combustion - whether from wood splits or charcoal - will result in dirty smoke. Make sure that fire is getting plenty of air, and try adding fewer briqs more often.

            Comment


              #8
              Add less new charcoal.

              Comment


              • jfmorris
                jfmorris commented
                Editing a comment
                Good point - with a snake, or the SNS in my kettle, a limited amount of new charcoal is igniting at any given point in time.

              #9
              You may need to open your exhaust vent more And if the fire is running too hot, adjust the lower

              Comment


                #10
                Briquettes burn at about 1000*. In a snake, that is the temperature of the flame front, that is why it doesn’t smoke; it has reached temp, and coal behind it is dying and coal in front of it hasn’t ignited yet.

                If you dump a big load of unburnt charcoal on a fire, it brings the temperature of the fire down, and it will smoke until it rises. if you put a little at a time, it will stay hot enough. Alternately, you can gather the burning coals to the side, and add new coals at the edge, creating a new snake.

                Comment


                  #11
                  I have found that Weber briquettes produce a very pleasant woodsy flavor as they are heating up and creating some charcoal smoke. When I do a slightly longer cook - like a whole chicken, I'll fill the chimney about 2/3 - 3/4 full and will pour the lit coals over a single layer of unlit Weber briquettes. Doing it this way obviates the need to add coals during the cook as Weber burns for a long period of time and having very hot coals on top of a small quantity of unlit coals is hot enough to produce clean smoke flavor. I always start with all of the vents wide open and after 15-20 I might close the top vent to some extent if I the fire is burning hotter than I am shooting for. What I'm describing is how I do it in my 26" Weber kettle.

                  Comment


                  • Razor
                    Razor commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Yep, and don't do the reverse, unlit briquettes on top of lit briquettes. Ask me how I know, lol....

                  #12
                  This is all excellent and hugely helpful advice. I plan to try all and report back. Just out of curiosity does good lump tend to produce more or less smoke than good briquettes? I had tried mesquite lump several months back. From what I recall it definitely was smoky but in more of a mesquite smoke flavor rather than a sooty flavor. It burned very fast and left a lot of ash so I had not tried it again.

                  Comment


                  • jfmorris
                    jfmorris commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Most lump is said to produce LESS ash than briquettes, as there are no fillers. Now, Weber charcoal and some other brands have less fillers than Kingsford and some others, and may be about the same as lump as far as ash goes.

                    I'm a fan of Weber briquettes, and used them to smoke a brisket on Sunday, and there was for sure no sooty flavor. I just had leftovers! I lit 12 briquettes, let them ash over, put them in my SNS, filled the rest of it with more charcoal, and topped with 4 hickory chunks.

                  #13
                  I think something is going on with this PK360 thats not letting enough oxygen in for complete combustion. I wondering if I need to buy one of those fans as the normal vents don't allow in enough air. It's just my nearest 110 volt plug is a long way from the grill.

                  Comment


                  • jfmorris
                    jfmorris commented
                    Editing a comment
                    You ought to be able to run just fine with the intakes built into the grill. A fan is best for low and slow controlled temperature cooks. That said, if you want a fan that doesn't need AC, I use the PartyQ, from bbqguru.com, as it runs off 4 AA batteries, and requires no AC power. I get a couple of cooks out of a set of batteries. If I wasn't lazy I would probably buy some rechargeables.

                  • mountainsmoker
                    mountainsmoker commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Then the PartyQ would probably work best for you. Wal-Mart sells the Energizer brand charger and extra batteries for a reasonable price. I have had mine for about 6 years and other than keeping on buying more batteries for more things it has worked flawlessly..LOL.
                    Last edited by mountainsmoker; September 10, 2019, 07:00 PM.

                  • Polarbear777
                    Polarbear777 commented
                    Editing a comment
                    How about a pic of your pk 360 all set up? Should be able to get a clean burn at 225-275F easily. Not sure what is going on yet.

                  #14
                  Will do! Will take photos of next cook for sure.

                  Comment


                    #15
                    In the mean time why don't you double check the installation of the air intake tubes on page 12. Do they turn 90 degrees and point to the right when fully open. Just a thought. You can go ahead and set up your 360 like you normally do and see if any one can spot something wrong or right. Disclaimer I do not have a 360 but hope to one day, the info is from the manual.

                    Comment

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