Brown/Black Flakies- dangerous to eat?


 
B

Bryan B

TVWBB Fan
Hello all,

I made Pork Butts Friday night and put water in the pan to make sure it didn't overcook while I was sleeping. After taking them off Saturday, I noticed a great deal of brown/black flakies on the lid of the WSM. I then proceeded to scrape all of them off that I could with a glove.

However, later that day I made some smoked beans in the WSM, and noticed some black specs in the top of my dish. Not a lot but a few specs. I'm not sure if it was the flakies from the WSM lid, or it could've been bits of bacon that were in the baked beans.

Either way, I know it is not ideal for the flakies to get into your food, but is it actually dangerous to eat them? I didn't notice any off taste in the food so I'm hoping it was just really small bits of bacon and not flakies.

Thanks,

Bryan
 
Bryan, I'm still alive and in good health
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I'm sure they blended in quite nicely with the beans... I think you'll be alright.
 
I pull the dome and hit the outside with the palm of my hand (ringing it like a bell). It knocks the big chunks off. Never noticed any on the food but it probably is a good source of iron
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J/K about the iron part.
 
I had a couple of cooks go bad this winter with the flakes. I'd open the lid and what ever I cooked was covered in black flakes. I attributed it to the cold weather, either the heat expanding the lid and cracking and releasing the flakes or the cold ambient temps caused creosote formation on my lid. either way I brushed it off and kept smoking.
 
Does anyone else have experience with actually eating the flakies? Just making sure I am not going to die...thx.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bryan B: Just making sure I am not going to die...thx. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I hate to be the one to break it to you but you ARE going to die......eventually. Probably not from the flakes though.
 
i just cleaned one of my lids with oven cleaner and it came off quickly and no more flakies. going to do the other lids today as well.
 
It is mostly soot/creosote I believe. Same stuff that is adhering to your meat, sort of. Might not taste good after being bonded to your lid, but it's not poisonous.
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I have found that they add a delicious smokey flavor to food! I ate a lot of paint chips as a kid!
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Just kidding of course. Use a ball of foil to knock them off the underside of yer lid as needed...
 
Had this happen a couple years or so ago on a long butt cook. Just used paper towels and some water in a spray bottle to wash off the meat best I could. I'll hit the high spots in my cooker dome every so often and haven't had any more issues since.
 
Isn't that where the smoke flavour comes from
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Seriously, I don't clean the inside of my WSM other than giving the lid a few scrapes with a wire brush when I see flaking.

I don't usually see the flakes floating around anyway. Maybe give the inside a rinse down with a hose. Just make sure you dry all sections well before reassembling.
 
After further review, it may not have been "flakies." I seem to have only noticed the flakies on the bottom of my water pan if I use water in the pan, which is rare. The black specs I brushed off the lid were smaller, and I guess were maybe creosote? I shut all bottom vents and the top vent when I want to extinguish the flames and I know that causes creosote buildup. I'm thinking some of the small black specs that fell into the baked beans were probably creosote. Can that cause any problems when eating it?
 
Originally posted by Bryan B:
I shut all bottom vents and the top vent when I want to extinguish the flames and I know that causes creosote buildup.

Hmm not really. Creosote is the result of a poorly combusted fire IMO. When I shut-down all vents after a cook the next time my lid still looks like a well-seasoned pc of CI.
No flakeys or specks unless I add some moisture or go to the Egg configuration on HH.
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Tim
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I saw this in another post: It's just carbonized gunk-you're okay. Here's what Weber's Dave Estren has to say:

"We get a lot of Weber customers who contact us with the complaint that their inside lid paint is peeling. Being that the porcelain enamel is fired on at about 1500 degrees, this isn't very likely. What they're seeing is carbonized grease that has built-up to the point that it starts to peel away. Your waterpan has a similair problem. After a while, the debris that falls into your waterpan just needs to be removed. Here's how to clean both lids and waterpans:

Starting with a cool grill, scrape away any loose carbon build up using a plastic scraper or dull putty knife. Wash the inside of the lid or waterpan using a soft cloth and hot soapy water. To remove stubborn build up, scrub gently with a wet soapy steel wool cleaning pad such as SOS. Do not use lemon-based cleaners. Rinse thoroughly. To prevent grease buildup and rapid reappearance of the flaking, wipe the grill lid or waterpan with a paper towel when the grill is cooling down after cooking."
 
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