What's wrong here - Weber Kettle Bad Cook


 
M

Marc L

New member
Got a new Weber Deluxe Performer last month. Used it just once about a week ago: I used a chimney full of coals and let the new grill burn for 30 min at 600 degrees for an initial burn and then put some burgers on and cooked them direct heat. They came out fine. Yesterday, I cooked 2 steaks and some boneless/skinless chicken breasts and they ended up with a "charcoal", almost burnt taste. I'm trying to find out where my problem is.

Background on yesterday's cook: I did not clean out any ash from the initial cook. I filled the 2 Weber baskets with lit coals, so I could do direct and indirect. I used 3/4 of a chimney with 80% of the coals from the original cook and 20% new coals. The coals, themselves, were Stubbs brand bought 5+ years back when I used to use a WSM quite often (I don't have that anymore so haven't been using charcoal). I used the gas ignitor on the grill to light the chimney. I did not use any wood for smoke. Towards the end of the cook, the grill was running over 600 so I used the top vent to dial it down to 500 but I'd say most of the cook was done between 450-500. Bottom vent open whole time.

Steaks: Seared them over direct - one side for 5/6 min and the other side for about 4. Then moved to indirect to finish. Pulled them at 135.
Chicken: Mostly cooked them indirect, then moved to direct for a few minutes. Pulled them at 170.

There's was nothing wrong with the meat textures/juiciness. Everything was good - it was the flavor. I did notice during the entire cook the grill's output smoke did not smell good - I could definitely smell a burnt smell. But, I can't remember if this was even before I put any meat on. I'm theorizing that I ended up burning the steak when I initially seared the first side and that burnt smell just stayed in the kettle the entire cook, which also affected the chicken. What do people think? Could old coals, re-used coals, or not cleaning the ash from the initial cook cause a burnt taste?

Thanks for any tips! I'm used to using a RecTec pellet and Weber gasser, but really want to get into grilling with charcoal.
 
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My first guess, and that's all it is, a guess, the old charcoal along with the lack of sweeping the ash out, did the number on your cook. When I cook on my Performer, I knock the ash off the coals from the previous cook. Then sweep the ash into the ash can. Fill the chimney with the previously used coals and top off with new. Light the chimney, and when the coals on top are white, dump them into the coal grate, spread them out according to need. Resweep the ash. Then place the cooking grate, set the lid, and give it a few minutes to heat everything before I place the food for cooking. I would definitely buy some new charcoal.
 
I believe it is something to do with your charcoal. What exactly I don’t know. But I reuse charcoal, lump, and Char-Logs all the time. Both in my chimney and in the grill itself with no problems. Also I am admittedly not the best at sweeping my kettle out between cooks. Try a different brand charcoal next time and see if the problem repeats itself.
 
Take this with a grain of salt because I'm far from expert but were your 20% new coals well-ashed before starting the cook? If not, maybe the high heat of the used coals lit them at the same time (during the cook), which perhaps could contribute to the unpleasant taste.
 
Thanks Dave. I pretty much did what you stated above - knocking old ash off - sweeping the ash into the ash can - put the new coals on top of the old coals in the chimney- then the rest. So I think my technique was ok.

Thanks for the reply - cant get B&B charcoal around here so I did pick up new bags of KF blue when I got the grill. If I smell the leftover coals from yesterday I smell the acrid smell so I’ll pitch those and break open the new charcoal.
 
Thanks BF and Chuck. The new coals were maybe 20% ashed. Next time I have a mix I’ll have to pay attention to the smell before placing food on the grill.
 
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The only thing I do differently from Dave Mazz is I put the fresh coals on the bottom, I seem to have better luck with air flow and speed of ignition. Fletch and Chuck might have the real answer which would lay the blame on the old charcoal.
At least that seems the most likely culprit.
 
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Spent grease usually does not “lay in wait” but dripping grease burns pretty darned quickly when it hits burning charcoal. I’m wondering if there might have been a bit of mold somewhere in the bag but, I would have suspected that would have burned off as well, I’m still laying blame on the age of the charcoal.
 
Next time you want to reduce your temps close the bottom vents,if you try to reduce your temps with the top vent you can get nasty smoke and taste due to the smoke being restricted exiting the kettle.
 
Thanks, all. No one seems to want to blame my possibly over-searing! I'll pitch all the old stuff. For the next few cooks, I may be a little gun shy in re-using charcoal (esp if used direct cooking) but it does seem like everyone does it.

I remember when using the Stubbs charcoal for smoking on the WSM, I used to add new coals to lit coals all the time during long cooks and never got bad smoke from new coals igniting. But, of course, that was a long time ago.

Ron - thanks for the tip on the venting.
 
I often wear your shoes; I add new coals during a low heat smoke. But I wonder if during this high heat cook those 20% coals may have ignited quickly and ferociously.
 
Does the Stubbs smell funny in the bag or when it is being lit?
I’m sure I tried it when it was available , but I recall nothing about it.

KBB really smokes and stinks when it is being lit so be sure to let that stuff ash over before you start cooking on it.
 
Marc L said:
I'll pitch all the old stuff.
Click to expand...
I'd burn another batch by itself in a clean bowl to see if the same problems exist. If they do the problem's most likely with the charcoal, and if they don't there's at least one other factor in play.

That being written, I re-burn charcoal all the time but I also de-ash.
 
The bag and charcoal smell fine. I used them when I did the initial burn in and cook and those went ok. But, there's not a lot left in the bag- maybe 1/5 of the bag. My hunch is any new ones will be ok - I think something about re-using them caused the issue.
 
Marc L;
We can only guess, but my opinion your problems are simply that you tried to lower the heat by closing the top vent. That is pretty much a no/no!

Clean out your grill, use a new batch of charcoal and adjust the heat level ONLY using the bottom vents. I genuinely believe your problem will go away.

I save all of my used charcoal from my WSM's, and use them up on my Performers. I put the new charcoal in the bottom of the chimney to keep from burning up the used charcoal before I dump it. Using charcoal over is not a problem, in general, but if it has been around for a long time, who knows what could have happened to it.

To repeat, I believe your problem was simply closing the top vent to control temperature. Leave the top open, and control heat with the bottom vents. You'll be a happy camper. I consider the Performer's to be some of the finest grills EVER, in spite of their reasonable cost...

FWIW
Keep on smokin', :wsm:
Dale53
 
Robert - appreciate the very clear direction on controlling temps. I guess I should have know that. When I used to cook on the WSM - the top was always opened and adjustments were always done with bottom vents. I'm gonna try another cook this week.
 
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