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sooty covered meats

by Mike
(Florida)

I have a gas box smoker (Great Outdoors) and I am getting a grayish/black soot on my meats. Not the beautiful golden brown I would like. I use a water tray and apple wood, cooking at 225, adding wet chips to keep low smoke. This is my first gas smoker and it is a used unit. Any help?

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sooty covered meats

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starstarstarstarstar 		check your flame
by: Brad K.

I assume it is a propane unit. Look at your flame to make sure the flame is blue with yellow or white tips. If it is mostly yellow you may need to change the burner. (easy and cheap) Or look for an adjustment on the burner. It is a round metal piece between the burner and the gas tank that has vents you can adjust.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		check your flame
by: Brad K.

I assume it is a propane unit. Look at your flame to make sure the flame is blue with yellow or white tips. If it is mostly yellow you may need to change the burner. (easy and cheap) Or look for an adjustment on the burner. It is a round metal piece between the burner and the gas tank that has vents you can adjust.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		too much water
by: Anonymous

Those are good points but this problem can also be caused by too much water/steam. It saturates the sides and top of the smoker and drips back down. Don't turn your smoker into a steam bath.

And, although I like to keep a nice layer of "flavor" on the inside of my smoker, doing some selective cleaning (especially to the inside top portion of the smoking chamber) will keep any drippings clear so they don't taint the meat.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Open top vent...
by: Anonymous

Make certain your top vent is open so smoke can escape. If it hangs around in the smoker to long, you can get soot. And also, you don't need much smoke, just TBS (thin blue smoke).

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