# slight metal taste



## acklin123 (Dec 2, 2007)

My chickens that I just pulled off had a slight metal taste to them......any comment?


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## rip (Dec 2, 2007)

Did you season your smoker first???


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## bbq bubba (Dec 2, 2007)

Wow, that's a new one!!


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## reents (Dec 2, 2007)

If You Brined It Was It In Plastic Container? I Use Stainsteel Pot. If You Used Aliminum You May Obtain Metal Taste.
That Alli Can Think Of On What Your Problem May Have Been


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## squeezy (Dec 2, 2007)

Probably just need to remove the buckshot!  ... LOL ... sorry! couldn't resist that one.

That is odd though ... where did you get the chickens?


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## homebrew & bbq (Dec 2, 2007)

How did you prep the chicken?

If you marinated it in an aluminum pan, the marinade might have reacted with the aluminum.


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## hawgheaven (Dec 2, 2007)

'Splain your process Lucy!


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## acklin123 (Dec 2, 2007)

I bought 2 Sanderson Farms Whole Chickens from Kroger. Also purchased a poultry rub from off the store shelf. I did not brine the chickens. Used lump charcoal in ECB and got things started. Filled container with hot water, rubbed down birds, stuck temp probe in, and periodically added lump charcoal and red oak (without the bark) seasoned. I used a new chimney charcoal starter twice during the process. It got hot enough to burn the black paint off of the starter. The ECB is 5 years old and have had a pork tenderloin and brisket in it prior. Could the new charcoal starter cause this? Do you have to brine poultry each time?


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## squeezy (Dec 2, 2007)

Did you lighter fluid to start the charcoal by any chance?


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## hawgheaven (Dec 2, 2007)

Hmmmm, puzzzling. Maybe it was in the rub you purchased...?


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## acklin123 (Dec 2, 2007)

No, I took the 5 day course.  I'm wondering if it was my chimney starter?


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## acklin123 (Dec 2, 2007)

Do you always have to brine?


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## ron50 (Dec 2, 2007)

You don't have to brine. Many people do because they feel it produces a moister bird. The lack of a brine did not contribute to the metallic taste. The only things that makes any sense is 
1) it was the new charcoal starter
2) the bird was bad, although why it tasted metallic is beyond me.


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## deejaydebi (Dec 2, 2007)

You said you burnt the paint off your chimney that could posibly be it maybe the paint got into the charcoal? 

You don't always have to brine. I always brine whole birds but not always parts.


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## zapper (Dec 2, 2007)

Wow?

I would consider the stuff that is new to your method

Unless you put the charcoal starter into the smoker while you were smoking? I wouldn't think that would hurt. (I am assuming that you lit the charcoal outside of the smoker and then added it as needed)


The off of the shelf rub? Did you taste it straight from the container to see if it had an off taste?


Just grasping at straws here, but maybe a touch of residual soap from the previous clean?

Is it the same batch of wood that you have been using?

Any chance that there was something buried in the fire box ashes (A kids toy maybe?)


Matbe try to describe the taste a bit more


I had an aluminum foil pouch full of wood chips melt on me one time. When I caught a wiff of that, I thought it was an electrical fire and started to unstack my smoker to find the source. (I seem to remember it leaving a hint of a clove like taste on the meat) Nobody complained, maybe it was just me.


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## richtee (Dec 2, 2007)

Question: Was any ingredient of the rub a curing agent?Or was it CALLED a "cure"? Over-nitration can cause this too.

Just a shot in the dark.


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## fatback joe (Dec 3, 2007)

I was thinking along those lines as well.  Wondering if the salt in the rub was Iodized, have heard that can cause the metallic taste also.........interesting.


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## chris_harper (Dec 3, 2007)

My chimney was a silver color when I bought it. Now it is silver on top, fading to black on bottom. I don't think that was the problem. I agree with the salt in the rub theory. I have never had a metallic taste in any of the meat I have smoked.


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## bald smoker (Nov 24, 2014)

Funny how Google works, I just smoked town birds, one has a slight metallic taste. Google that and end up at the best forum ever


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## gary s (Nov 24, 2014)

*Good evening and welcome to the forum, from a very nice and cool day in East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything*

*           Lots of questions, not sure on the brining, I use stainless steel or plastic, If it's a new smoker and you didn't burn it out and season it that may be your culprit  *

*Gary*


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## sammysound (Apr 10, 2015)

i have the same issue

except mine are with ribs, whenever i smoke ribs i feel like i'm biting into aluminum foil

it all started on a gas grill, i would foil wood chips and let them go and then my ribs tasted like foil

fast forward 5 years, i just made beef ribs on 14 wsm and i just took them off and tried a bit and other than the fact that they taste like they've been coated in salt (anotherr crises i may start a separate topic on) i have that same aluminum taste in my mouth

any thoughts???


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## frank morris (Oct 4, 2016)

One of two probabilities. As mentions above nitrates/nitrites which seems less unlikely than creosote build up. This can be caused by not enough air flow where the smoke sits on the meat too long. Did the meat also give a slight numbing sensation to the tip of the tongue? If so that's your culprit.


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## frank morris (Oct 4, 2016)

http://bbq.about.com/od/barbecuehelp/f/f062904a.htm


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