Meat getting a black smokey coating early in cooking phase.

[jimc]

My meat is getting a heavy black smokey coating early on in the cooking phase. It just started do this about the last 3 times using my smoker. The meats were all different, chicken, turkey, and ham. Normally the meat gradually turns a golden brown. My smoker has steam capability. I have tried it with steam & without steam, meat still coated with heavy black smokey coating early on. I am using hickory wood @ a temperature of 220. Any ideas on what's causing this?

[mds2]

Is your wood wet when you put it in the smoker?
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The Saucy Lads BBQ Team

[SoEzzy]

Open up the exhaust vent fully, then use a small but hot fire instead of a large smoldering fire.

If you are cooking with wood, build a bed of charcoal to keep it small and hot.
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Here's a change Robert.

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[lantern]

To go along with the comments already posted I'd take a good look at the inside of your cooker and firebox. There's a good chance that you've used some really green wood and have coated your cooker in creosote. If it is then you need to clean that bad boy out or everything you make will be like this for some time.

Also, I have to ask, are you putting the meat on after the smoker has come up to temps and there is only a thin blue smoke coming from the vent?



Now, that's as good as I can do right now until you give us just a bit more info on what kind of smoker you have along with the model. Then we can really dig into this and have ya serving your kinda Q in no time!

[Harry Nutczak]

Is the food already in the cooker when you light your fire?

As the others have already stated;

Get a small efficiently burning fire going with properly seasoned wood, let the pit come up to temp and stabilize before adding your food.
Keep the exhaust wide open and control the fire with the amount of fuel and the air intake instead of choking down the exhaust.

My guess as to the cause of this symptom is a slow burning fire with way too much wood and the smoke generated from that type of fire is still heavy with unburned resins which are coating your food.

another option, but much more time consuming is; you could use a bed of coals to start things going, and add small pieces of wood regularly to maintain the fire, or you could pre-burn in another container and shovel those coals in to the cooker as needed.
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[jimc]

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. Problem resolved! Cause was wet green hickory! It's raining here in Weatherford, TX today. Found some dry seasoned hickory to get my pit started then was able to dry some of the seasoned hickory by placing it near my firebox. Thanks again!

Jimc

[saltwatercowboy]

I think your fire may not be hot enough. Smaller hotter fire is working better for me
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