Hi everyone! I've been having this problem for some time now. My Big Green Egg is creating/imparting too much smoke flavor on the food. I'll start with my routine....
Lighting Grill
Remove small Green topper
Remove Grill piece
Stir up old charcoal really good
Check for accumulated ash in bottom (remove if too much)
Insert electric starter
Add more charcoal to fill up to the joint between ceramic pieces
Plug in starter for 10 mins.
Remove starter
Replace Grill piece
Leave lid open until fire is burning good
Clean grill
Close lid and lesson air flow until approximate temp is reached (happens very fast)
Start grilling
Shutting down grill after use
Close air flow at the bottom
Replace steel cap with green cap
For instance 2 nights ago i wanted to cook eight burgers, i had a 10" circle of red hot coals in the middle of the charcoal pile. This was so i could cook some burgers a little faster than the others (kid size and adult size). Everything i've been told or read suggests you need to KEEP THE GRILL CLOSED will cooking, but maybe that only applies to smoking/low temp cooking. I tried shutting the lid, lessening the airflow and smoke just pours out the cap. I open lid to check burgers and it's like i'm sending smoke signals, huge amount of smoke, smoke in my eye, can't see a thing. Decide to leave grill open and finish cooking burgers. Still so much smoke coming off the grill it's kind of ridiculous. Wife says burgers tasted smokey, but not as bad as previous grilling.
So this is what i'm wondering, by re-using the charcoal, which would be soaked with previous grillings drippings, is this stuff burning causing the excess smoke?
It's been so rainy this summer, is my charcoal absorbing that moisture, and most of my smoke is water vapor?
What else could i be doing wrong?
I cooked a frozen pizza not to long ago (lid closed) and i'm telling you it tasted like someone doused the pizza with that liquid smoke, i couldn't even eat it. I also smoke some salmon, that i added soaked hickory chips too, it was so acidic with smoke you couldn't even eat it.
I've got to fix this!
Lighting Grill
Remove small Green topper
Remove Grill piece
Stir up old charcoal really good
Check for accumulated ash in bottom (remove if too much)
Insert electric starter
Add more charcoal to fill up to the joint between ceramic pieces
Plug in starter for 10 mins.
Remove starter
Replace Grill piece
Leave lid open until fire is burning good
Clean grill
Close lid and lesson air flow until approximate temp is reached (happens very fast)
Start grilling
Shutting down grill after use
Close air flow at the bottom
Replace steel cap with green cap
For instance 2 nights ago i wanted to cook eight burgers, i had a 10" circle of red hot coals in the middle of the charcoal pile. This was so i could cook some burgers a little faster than the others (kid size and adult size). Everything i've been told or read suggests you need to KEEP THE GRILL CLOSED will cooking, but maybe that only applies to smoking/low temp cooking. I tried shutting the lid, lessening the airflow and smoke just pours out the cap. I open lid to check burgers and it's like i'm sending smoke signals, huge amount of smoke, smoke in my eye, can't see a thing. Decide to leave grill open and finish cooking burgers. Still so much smoke coming off the grill it's kind of ridiculous. Wife says burgers tasted smokey, but not as bad as previous grilling.
So this is what i'm wondering, by re-using the charcoal, which would be soaked with previous grillings drippings, is this stuff burning causing the excess smoke?
It's been so rainy this summer, is my charcoal absorbing that moisture, and most of my smoke is water vapor?
What else could i be doing wrong?
I cooked a frozen pizza not to long ago (lid closed) and i'm telling you it tasted like someone doused the pizza with that liquid smoke, i couldn't even eat it. I also smoke some salmon, that i added soaked hickory chips too, it was so acidic with smoke you couldn't even eat it.
I've got to fix this!