# Black Residue on Meat in Smoker



## friscojoe

I have a propane smoker, the tall rectangular box style with 3 racks.  It is propane driven, I use Pecan wood logs from Academy Sports.

A friend borrowed it cleaned just the outside.  (Or so he claims.)  I have been getting a dark black residue on whatever I cook since then.  I washed the interior completely and it is still occuring.  I have not changed the gas tank yet, will try it.

It is a greasy residue in that if you touch it with your finger, it will transfer to whatever else you touch.  When I slice my meat that I smoked, it gets all over the cutting board as well.

Does anyone have an idea of what that might be and how to eliminate it?  We had some babyback ribs it coated them and ruined the enjoyment of eating them because we were a mess!!

Thanks in advance!

BTW, Frisco as in Texas.  Not the home of Nancy Pelosi.


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## dick foster

I don't know but to me loaning someone your smoker is kinda like loaning someone your wife. Maybe your smoker thinks you deserve it and now you are being punished for your trangression. You know how females can be about pay back.


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## carson627

If he cleaned it, could it be the "seasoning" coming off the walls inside?


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## DanMcG

I get a similar thing happening with my electric smoker in the cold weather, the smoke filled moisture from the smoker hits the cold chimney and condensates, collects, then drips down on the meat below.

Could that be the issue?

 You would have a better chance of this happening with a gas unit do to the byproduct of gas  burning is water.


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## mgnorcal

I had the exact thing happen to me on my vertical gasser.

Check your flame, if you have too much of a long flame with orange flickering tips, you'll get a sooty incomplete combustion.  This will deposit on your meat.

Getting a clean blue flame has to do with the air mix at the venturi, some tinkering there can solve that problem.

I don't have a link handy, but if you do a search or look at your owners manual you can find more details on adjustment and this will likely be a cure.


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## alblancher

Dan just described the process to make liquid smoke.

If the flame is properly adjusted as described by MGNorCal try just running the smoker without food in it for a couple of hours.  If just seems that you have a lot of moisture (could be from the gas) hitting the smoker and turning the grease and old smoke into condensate.  Change your tank, see if the last refueling gave you a bunch of water  vapor in the gas.  Is the smoker running at a lower temp then normal?

You said the residue is greasy, carbon from improperly burned gas will not be greasy unless it is picking it up from the food.  Maybe an old china plate in the smoker while you run it empty will give you a better sample of the residue.

Al


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## surestop

Black Residue on meat, same problem discovered the tube connecting to the burner had a spider nest inside. Used a bottle washer to ream it out. Worked, the nest came out on the brush bristles (got a packet of bottle brushes at Harbor Freight). All's well am smokin' away like no bodies business.


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## Tim P.

surestop said:


> Black Residue on meat, same problem discovered the tube connecting to the burner had a spider nest inside. Used a bottle washer to ream it out. Worked, the nest came out on the brush bristles (got a packet of bottle brushes at Harbor Freight). All's well am smokin' away like no bodies business.


My first time here, thanks for being here to help.
In Jan. 2020, I just purchased the Camp Chef Woodwind Pellet Smoker.  For several years I used a Masterbuilt smoker until it finally died,
The Camp Chef works really well with good Temp settings, smoke level settings and wifi monitoring.

But I have the same issue as you with Black Residue on meat.  Especially chicken being the color it is, it is black when finished.  It is cooked well but has that residue.  I am using their Camp Chef pellets, I have different temps from 225 on up.  Being used only a few times, the chimney and grill is clean.  This started right away.  Camp Chef support tries to help with tips, but none really has changed the problem.  So here I am with an expensive grill, new and black residue.  I read your other answers, wondered if anyone has additional ideas.  Thanks


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