Let me start by saying, I have always used Kingsford blue bag exclusively for my charcoal needs, regardless of which of my cookers I was using. (The only real exception was the bull market on Rancher from a few years ago where they were practically giving it away).
I never understood people that complained of the off gassing or foul smells that they associated with Kingsford blue. Other than very minor odor in the chimney ignition process, I never smelled anything other than "burning charcoal" when running it in my smokers.
I've used it in insulated cabinet, a vertical offset, a horizontal offset, and in my WSM22s. NEVER a problem. This is going on 8 years.
Last week I got a WSM18. The first time I fired it up, I smelled a distinct smell that I originally called "alcohol" but now better describe as "ammonia". The smell was persistent through the entire burn, NOT just at start up (small Minion fire with a target temp of 225 that ran 7-8 hours). Since it was the first time I fired the "new to me but not new" cooker up, I figured maybe there was something in there that needed to burn off, despite the fact that I scrubbed the thing spotless before ever lighting it. In fact, I began to wonder if I got zealous with simple green and coated the cooker with it by accident. Also, I will point out I was running three other cookers at the time, all with blue K from the "same bags", and this one was the only one with an odor.
A couple days later, I decided to try again. This time I decided to turn the heat up, in case I really was trying to burn something off. I ran it around 300 for an hour or two of a 6 hour burn. I will say, the smell was definitely reduced, but I clearly smelled "ammonia" at times.
Today, I did it again. Blue Kingsford, and I got that fire HOT. I mean real hot. I mean "Don't tell John how high that stoker probe really reads" hot.
Guess what: There were still several (albeit infrequent) periods of slight ammonia, especially when the cooker was at the lower points of my temperature curves that I was runnign it through.
I have a theory: that little WSM is very air tight, and is simply restricting air flow so much that the normal ignition an burn is being impeded enough that I can smell the combustion happening. Anybody that has cooked with a 18 and a 22 will vouch that the 18 is much "tighter". Is it too efficient for my kind of cook? Why aren't others noticing this?
So, now I am worried. A product I have come to rely on for it's affordability and consistency suddenly is not going to work for me? Does this make any sense? Do any other Kingsford lovers have similar tales? My next test is to get some lump and run it through the same way, but believe me, that is not really the "answer" I am hoping for.
Thoughts are appreciated.
I never understood people that complained of the off gassing or foul smells that they associated with Kingsford blue. Other than very minor odor in the chimney ignition process, I never smelled anything other than "burning charcoal" when running it in my smokers.
I've used it in insulated cabinet, a vertical offset, a horizontal offset, and in my WSM22s. NEVER a problem. This is going on 8 years.
Last week I got a WSM18. The first time I fired it up, I smelled a distinct smell that I originally called "alcohol" but now better describe as "ammonia". The smell was persistent through the entire burn, NOT just at start up (small Minion fire with a target temp of 225 that ran 7-8 hours). Since it was the first time I fired the "new to me but not new" cooker up, I figured maybe there was something in there that needed to burn off, despite the fact that I scrubbed the thing spotless before ever lighting it. In fact, I began to wonder if I got zealous with simple green and coated the cooker with it by accident. Also, I will point out I was running three other cookers at the time, all with blue K from the "same bags", and this one was the only one with an odor.
A couple days later, I decided to try again. This time I decided to turn the heat up, in case I really was trying to burn something off. I ran it around 300 for an hour or two of a 6 hour burn. I will say, the smell was definitely reduced, but I clearly smelled "ammonia" at times.
Today, I did it again. Blue Kingsford, and I got that fire HOT. I mean real hot. I mean "Don't tell John how high that stoker probe really reads" hot.
Guess what: There were still several (albeit infrequent) periods of slight ammonia, especially when the cooker was at the lower points of my temperature curves that I was runnign it through.
I have a theory: that little WSM is very air tight, and is simply restricting air flow so much that the normal ignition an burn is being impeded enough that I can smell the combustion happening. Anybody that has cooked with a 18 and a 22 will vouch that the 18 is much "tighter". Is it too efficient for my kind of cook? Why aren't others noticing this?
So, now I am worried. A product I have come to rely on for it's affordability and consistency suddenly is not going to work for me? Does this make any sense? Do any other Kingsford lovers have similar tales? My next test is to get some lump and run it through the same way, but believe me, that is not really the "answer" I am hoping for.
Thoughts are appreciated.
