Sour Tasting Meat

[dvuong]

I think it's the pellets.  I smoked two briskets using Jeff's Rub with a base of olive oil.  Kept the temperature between 225-250.  There's definitely a sense of sourness to the meat.  A few other people noticed it too.

 

[will75]

I don't think it's the smoke at any facet.I mean, i am one who starts row 1 of a smoke at minute 1... And then at hour 20 on a 8 pound butt, if the smoke's done, i refill a row and start over. i have NEVER had anyone complain my meat is oversmoked with AMNPS or any sour tasting, and i'm one of those guys who consider their smoker "seasonsed" opposed to scrubbing the walls after every smoke.   I used to use a different pellet, but i am sticking with the special blend by todd

 

[daricksta]

 
I've been noticing that the meat I've been smoking has a bit of a sour taste to it.  I'm wondering if this is because of the pellets I use or the mustard...

I apply yellow mustard to the meat before applying rub.  I smoke using PitMasters pellets mixed with a little bit of charcoal pellets from Todd in the AMNPS.  

I'm pretty sure it's not my rubs or the meat itself gone bad.  What do you guys think? 

The simple answer without knowing any more info is that you're oversmoking your meat. For some people it might taste sour, for others it could be bitter. I spread yellow mustard all the time on meats before I apply a dry rub and my Q never tastes sour or bitter because I've learned how to control the amount of smoke that's imparted onto the meats. 

I've had my homemade and commercial dry rubs last for a couple of years. If the meat went bad you should be able to both smell it and see it. Also, I always keep the meat out of the fridge for 30-60 minutes before placing it inside the smoker. You really don't want to put cold beef or pork in a cooking device because it makes the device work that much harder and longer. From my reading beef and pork can safely be left outside a fridge for that amount of time but you've got to get that IT up to at least 140° within 4 hours. 

 

[brickguy221]

 
The simple answer without knowing any more info is that you're oversmoking your meat. For some people it might taste sour, for others it could be bitter. I spread yellow mustard all the time on meats before I apply a dry rub and my Q never tastes sour or bitter because I've learned how to control the amount of smoke that's imparted onto the meats. 

I've had my homemade and commercial dry rubs last for a couple of years. If the meat went bad you should be able to both smell it and see it. Also, I always keep the meat out of the fridge for 30-60 minutes before placing it inside the smoker. You really don't want to put cold beef or pork in a cooking device because it makes the device work that much harder and longer. From my reading beef and pork can safely be left outside a fridge for that amount of time but you've got to get that IT up to at least 140° within 4 hours. 

Rick may very well be right about too much smoke based on my "lot of smoke Sunday with the JD Pellets". See my post about this here ...

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/235361/nuking-the-pellets#post_1465177

The reason I say this is because I tasted a wee bit of that on these ribs. Wasn't that bad as the taste of sour was barely there and the ribs were good, but I did taste something  a wee bit sour. My wife didn't notice it, but I did.

 

[daricksta]

 
Rick may very well be right about too much smoke based on my "lot of smoke Sunday with the JD Pellets". See my post about this here ...

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/235361/nuking-the-pellets#post_1465177

The reason I say this is because I tasted a wee bit of that on these ribs. Wasn't that bad as the taste of sour was barely there and the ribs were good, but I did taste something  a wee bit sour. My wife didn't notice it, but I did.

My wife has smoke-sensitive palate. If something's oversmoked she lets me know. I have a higher tolerance for smoke flavor but there are many times I agree with her. In my early days of smoking when I was using wood chips the Q I produced in my MES 30 had a bitter, harsh aftertaste--the hallmarks of too much smoke. After switching to wood pellets and the AMNPS that ceased to be a problem and I learned how to use smoke as an enhancement. The exception to this is the last time I smoked baby backs in the MES. My wife felt it was a little too smoky and I agreed. That's when I decide to cut the cooking time down to 4 hours total.

 

[daveomak]

Olive oil can go rancid... It's basically good for 6-12 months if kept away from light and heat....

 

[dvuong]

Olive oil can go rancid... It's basically good for 6-12 months if kept away from light and heat....

Definitely not the olive oil that's bad.  

 

[drewed]

 
The simple answer without knowing any more info is that you're oversmoking your meat......

That is what I would say.  And it may not be a time in smoke or amount of smoke thing.  It could be the type or manufacture, or just that bag of pellets.  

 

[smokinginsf]

Just curious as I recently acquired an AMNPS.  Is the smoke supposed to be barely noticeable? 

 

[daveomak]

This picture is a little deceiving... I just opened the MB mod....

.... click on pics to enlarge .....

Picnic Ham 2 011.JPG

• daveomak
• Sep 22, 2015

Smoke trickling into the smoker.....

Picnic Ham 2 012.JPG

• daveomak
• Sep 22, 2015

My first ham after 6 hours of Pitmasters Choice pellets...

Picnic 6 hours of smoke 001.JPG

• daveomak
• Sep 22, 2015

 

[smokinginsf]

Should the vent be opened all the way with the AMNPS? How about the chip loader and tray? 

 

[daricksta]

 
Just curious as I recently acquired an AMNPS.  Is the smoke supposed to be barely noticeable? 

I've noticed it very some smoke to smoke and sometimes within a smoke. It seems to depend on the type of wood pellets and the cooking temperature. Thin blue smoke (TBS) is what we shoot for but I'll primarily see that during the first couple of hours. I have a MES 30 Gen 1 and use the AMNPS for smoke generation. I rarely--almost never--have problems with oversmoking using the AMNPS.

When I'm cooking with my smoker, I always predetermine the number of hours I want the meat exposed to smoke and that varies as to what I'm cooking.

 

[daricksta]

 
Should the vent be opened all the way with the AMNPS? How about the chip loader and tray? 

I keep the top vent of my MES 30 Gen 1 wide open with every smoke. The chip loader and the tray both remain fully inserted; I don't recall if I leave the chip loader in the fill or dump position. I always insert the AMNPS with the lit end towards the rear wall. I think there's more airflow back there. Because of this the first row burns toward and not away from me. Sometimes when I see the far left row is unburnt I have to remind myself that I have the maze reversed.

 

[daricksta]

 
That is what I would say.  And it may not be a time in smoke or amount of smoke thing.  It could be the type or manufacture, or just that bag of pellets.  

There's a school of thought that it's almost impossible to tell the difference in smoke tastes between different types of wood pellets. I somewhat agree with this, except perhaps for hickory but I'm not 100% sure of that. I buy all my wood pellets from Todd Johnson to be sure I'm getting the finest quality. I think hickory is among the fastest burning and produces a lot of smoke. But my style is to restrict the amount of time whatever I'm smoking is exposed to smoke. For example, with baby backs I like no more than 3 hours over smoke. With brisket 6-7 hours or an 11-hour smoke seems to provide plenty of smoke flavor.

 

[carlnh]

I've been noticing that the meat I've been smoking has a bit of a sour taste to it.  I'm wondering if this is because of the pellets I use or the mustard...

I apply yellow mustard to the meat before applying rub.  I smoke using PitMasters pellets mixed with a little bit of charcoal pellets from Todd in the AMNPS.  


I'm pretty sure it's not my rubs or the meat itself gone bad.  What do you guys think? 

so just got the cold smoker attachment! So far no issues! Attached well even with MB stand. Some grip about smoke leakage but nothing a high temp silicone seal wont fix. I make my own sausage but will update in 2 weekss.

 

[smokinginsf]

 
There's a school of thought that it's almost impossible to tell the difference in smoke tastes between different types of wood pellets. I somewhat agree with this, except perhaps for hickory but I'm not 100% sure of that. I buy all my wood pellets from Todd Johnson to be sure I'm getting the finest quality. I think hickory is among the fastest burning and produces a lot of smoke. But my style is to restrict the amount of time whatever I'm smoking is exposed to smoke. For example, with baby backs I like no more than 3 hours over smoke. With brisket 6-7 hours or an 11-hour smoke seems to provide plenty of smoke flavor.

I've noticed some people smoking their briskets for the whole entire cook time.  Is that too long? 

 

[daveomak]

 


There's a school of thought that it's almost impossible to tell the difference in smoke tastes between different types of wood pellets. I somewhat agree with this, except perhaps for hickory but I'm not 100% sure of that. I buy all my wood pellets from Todd Johnson to be sure I'm getting the finest quality. I think hickory is among the fastest burning and produces a lot of smoke. But my style is to restrict the amount of time whatever I'm smoking is exposed to smoke. For example, with baby backs I like no more than 3 hours over smoke. With brisket 6-7 hours or an 11-hour smoke seems to provide plenty of smoke flavor.

I've noticed some people smoking their briskets for the whole entire cook time.  Is that too long? 

Start out by adding maybe 2-3 hours of smoke and a mild wood.... then you can adjust from there to more intense flavor and more time......

 

[daricksta]

 
I've noticed some people smoking their briskets for the whole entire cook time.  Is that too long? 

I think so. Briskets should be foiled after they reach 160-175F° IT, depending on when it stalls. For me this takes about 6 hours which to me is plenty of smoke. While it's foiled I take my AMNPS out of the smoker and separate the smoking pellets from the unburnt ones. No sense wasting wood pellets when the smoke can't penetrate the foil. And that's it for the smoke. My personal tastes run to oak smoke for beef brisket. But there are many people who like a strong smoke flavor so they'll expose the brisket to smoke for a longer period of time.

There's more to how I cook brisket but I can share that in another comment.

 

[will75]

Yeah  i foil also in that range, when you're talking a full packer, smoking with no foil would be a huge pain. Doable, but my last one was godly and it was foiled.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Watch out Guys! Don't want this...

...I've been there, done that...Stay on topic...JJ