# bad charcoal taste?



## mnola917 (Mar 22, 2009)

I just did my first batch of st. louis ribs today and they were cooked and seasoned perfectly.  I also did a whole chicken, also cooked perfectly.  My problem is that It has a bad charcoal taste to it.  I use charcoal briquettes and it just makes the food taste funny.  How do I get rid of this flavor?


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## petesque (Mar 22, 2009)

Use lump would be my first answer. That is probably not your problem though. I hope you didn't use lighter fluid to start your fire? Was the charcoal well lit when you added the food? Did you fire go out or nearly so? Did it produce alot of ash? What brand of charcoal did you use?

pete


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## mnola917 (Mar 22, 2009)

I use kingsford briquettes, never use lighter fluid, and it was well lit before I added the food, but I had to add some throughout the smoke, but thats a normal to do.


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## rickw (Mar 22, 2009)

Is the Kingsford your normal fuel?


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## petesque (Mar 22, 2009)

I have seen on this forum people talking about Kingsford and a bad taste. I haven't used it in years so I don't know. Try another brand of charcoal. It may be a trial error thing till you find the problem.

Pete


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## jminion (Mar 22, 2009)

Not enough information to really answer the question. What did you use for smoke and how much? What are cooking on? Was the exhaust fully open?


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## ddave (Mar 22, 2009)

I agree with Jim.  More information would help.  But . . .

I had a similar situation when I first started using my UDS.

I have found that the blue bag Kingsford available in my area has a "petroleum" smell to it while it is lighting off.  If you are adding unlit blue bag K to the lit, that may be part of the problem.  

As was suggested, find a good lump charcoal if you can.  If you can't, try the Kingsford Competition Briquettes.  They don't have the bad smell.  But beware, they burn HOT so you will need less.

Dave


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## crewcab4x4 (Mar 22, 2009)

Try some royal oak lump charcoal. It seems to be the over all favorite here at smf.

Jason


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## azrocker (Mar 22, 2009)

I like to start with a layer of briquette but I then use lump with wood mixed in as a sort of Minion method. I make a cone so the briquette lights off and burns down first. But then I have an offset so it might be different for me.


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