Black oily residue on meat

[Tim P.]

I had a Masterbuilt smoker for years, great smoked food until it gave on me.
Now have a Camp Chef Woodwind pellet smoker, enjoying the new featured toy.
But it leaves a black oily residue. I have used their Camp Chef pellets plus tried Traeger pellets. Being a new grill, I don't have a creosote buildup. I have good airflow. You can see black smoke out of the chimney. Camp chef customer service has tried to help. Sent new controller. Made sure all areas around burn pot are tight. You don't see ash flying around. But my chicken looks like Blackened chicken. Tastes great, but your hands get black which doesn't come off easy. It is not burnt, meat temp probes help there. Stuffed peppers wrapped in bacon, same way. Never had that issue with my old Masterbuilt. I've cooked at various temps with same issue. Bacon wrapped peppers were at 275 degrees, level 2 smoke. Bad enough the bags say, could cause cancer. But now I'm eating a black residue? Lungs will look like I'm on cigarettes. Need help if others seen this. Ash pot looks like a clean burn, ash within pot, not all over bottom of grill. Thanks for the help.

 

[Johnny Ray]

Welcome from the Bluegrass State. I’ve used pellet grills for many years and can’t say that I’ve seen this particular condition.

When you say “you can see black smoke coming out of the smokestack” it makes me think the fire pot fan is not working properly. Black smoke could indicate a very dirty pellet burn. Which is not what you see in pellet cookers.

How are you temp swings?

Remove the drip tray and fire pot cover from the grill and start it up. Watch how it burns. Watch to see if the fan is keeping the pellets burning.

Just my thoughts on what maybe going on.

Johnny Ray

 

[daveomak]

I'm thinking the pellets you used had some pine mixed in... Pine pitch will do that... Maybe some home heating pellets got mixed in that batch... Maybe they have some bark mixed in that batch.... Some barks have a lot of pitch ....

 

[dirtsailor2003]

With a pellet grill you should never see black smoke. Initially you will see grayish white smoke until the pit comes up to temp then it should be thin with a blueish tint or non-existent.

Did you season the grill to burn off the oils that are left from the manufacturing process?
I ran my Traeger at its highest temp setting for 3-4 hours before ever putting meat on it.

Boy only a few things that would make sense is.
1. you aren't getting a complete burn. Fan isn't working properly
2. Your pellets aren't cooking pellets (which the brands you are using should be)
3. Grease fire. This will cause black oily film and black smoke.

Something

 

[BigW.]

^^^ above
Does adjusting the chimney cap have an effect? I would not cook anything if I saw black smoke coming off. I'm leaning towards a fan issue. Whenever I clean out my GMG, fire pot is empty and ashes are all over the bottom from being blown out by fan.

Did you install new controller yet?

 

[bregent]

>>3. Grease fire. This will cause black oily film and black smoke.

Sounds most likely to me.

1. you aren't getting a complete burn. Fan isn't working properly

Another good possibility. The fan might be weak, or airflow is weak due to leak or obstruction.
Is most of the ash cleared from the burnpot after a cook (before you dump the ash)? It should be.



The OP stated he tried Camp Chef and Traeger pellets so I doubt the problem is there.

 

[Tim P.]

Welcome from the Bluegrass State. I’ve used pellet grills for many years and can’t say that I’ve seen this particular condition.

When you say “you can see black smoke coming out of the smokestack” it makes me think the fire pot fan is not working properly. Black smoke could indicate a very dirty pellet burn. Which is not what you see in pellet cookers.

How are you temp swings?

Remove the drip tray and fire pot cover from the grill and start it up. Watch how it burns. Watch to see if the fan is keeping the pellets burning.

Just my thoughts on what maybe going on.

Johnny Ray

I had a Masterbuilt smoker for years, great smoked food until it gave on me.
Now have a Camp Chef Woodwind pellet smoker, enjoying the new featured toy.
But it leaves a black oily residue. I have used their Camp Chef pellets plus tried Traeger pellets. Being a new grill, I don't have a creosote buildup. I have good airflow. You can see black smoke out of the chimney. Camp chef customer service has tried to help. Sent new controller. Made sure all areas around burn pot are tight. You don't see ash flying around. But my chicken looks like Blackened chicken. Tastes great, but your hands get black which doesn't come off easy. It is not burnt, meat temp probes help there. Stuffed peppers wrapped in bacon, same way. Never had that issue with my old Masterbuilt. I've cooked at various temps with same issue. Bacon wrapped peppers were at 275 degrees, level 2 smoke. Bad enough the bags say, could cause cancer. But now I'm eating a black residue? Lungs will look like I'm on cigarettes. Need help if others seen this. Ash pot looks like a clean burn, ash within pot, not all over bottom of grill. Thanks for the help.

I want to thank everyone on this link that has replied, really appreciated your ideas. Thought I would reply here and add my pictures & videos.

First thing I did today after all your ideas mentioned below:
I did empty all the pellets from the cooking last night. I did the Feed option to clean out the Auger of all pellets. Before each use, I do use a vacuum to clean burn pot and any ash. I wipe down the Temp probe until it is shiny clean. I also always clean the drip pan of residue then a good soaking in Dawn soap to cut the grease along with the grates. Ready to fire it back up.

Many of you mentioned the Fan, good idea. I will attach a video of the Burn after startup. Being new to pellet grills, can you tell me if the flame shows a good burn with air from the fan?
Other was the pellets. I have used Camp Chef, Traeger and Cuisinart( I couldn't resist Maple Bourbon) Mmmmm Bourbon.

Maybe my eyes play tricks to be honest, is it black or blue smoke. I am sending a video so you can tell me. This also happened before. You can tell me on the one picture, the burn pot has many pellets from the feed completion. I wondered if too many, thus all the smoke at start. Last one as happened once before. I am doing chicken at 375 with a clean pot. Before one hour was up, it shutdown, the burn pot was full. I get smoke back into the hopper. My chicken was almost done luckily. Last picture shows burn pot after shutdown. When I do smoking at 225 degrees, no issue after hours with the burn pot, no outside ash.

Last, the chicken came out great, crispy skin too. Oily residue? seemed not this time.
Hope you have more ideas after reading my winded story and viewing the pictures.
Thanks again.

Ok, I just realized I can not use MP4 videos here. I tried to zip file them, but too large. So all my proof in showing you, I will have to make a picture out of them.
Can you send videos and what format and what is the max size?
Thanks one more time

 

[Tim P.]

I want to thank everyone on this link that has replied, really appreciated your ideas. Thought I would reply here and add my pictures & videos.

First thing I did today after all your ideas mentioned below:
I did empty all the pellets from the cooking last night. I did the Feed option to clean out the Auger of all pellets. Before each use, I do use a vacuum to clean burn pot and any ash. I wipe down the Temp probe until it is shiny clean. I also always clean the drip pan of residue then a good soaking in Dawn soap to cut the grease along with the grates. Ready to fire it back up.

Many of you mentioned the Fan, good idea. I will attach a video of the Burn after startup. Being new to pellet grills, can you tell me if the flame shows a good burn with air from the fan?
Other was the pellets. I have used Camp Chef, Traeger and Cuisinart( I couldn't resist Maple Bourbon) Mmmmm Bourbon.

Maybe my eyes play tricks to be honest, is it black or blue smoke. I am sending a video so you can tell me. This also happened before. You can tell me on the one picture, the burn pot has many pellets from the feed completion. I wondered if too many, thus all the smoke at start. Last one as happened once before. I am doing chicken at 375 with a clean pot. Before one hour was up, it shutdown, the burn pot was full. I get smoke back into the hopper. My chicken was almost done luckily. Last picture shows burn pot after shutdown. When I do smoking at 225 degrees, no issue after hours with the burn pot, no outside ash.

Last, the chicken came out great, crispy skin too. Oily residue? seemed not this time.
Hope you have more ideas after reading my winded story and viewing the pictures.
Thanks again.

Ok, I just realized I can not use MP4 videos here. I tried to zip file them, but too large. So all my proof in showing you, I will have to make a picture out of them.
Can you send videos and what format and what is the max size?
Thanks one more time

View attachment 442982View attachment 442983

I found two pictures, one was the oily chicken last week. Today's was better off indeed.

Also a picture of the flame once startup sequence was completed. I hope you can tell by the flutter of the flame, seemed to me the fan was working ok. I wish I could post a video though.

 

[Tim P.]

Welcome from the Bluegrass State. I’ve used pellet grills for many years and can’t say that I’ve seen this particular condition.

When you say “you can see black smoke coming out of the smokestack” it makes me think the fire pot fan is not working properly. Black smoke could indicate a very dirty pellet burn. Which is not what you see in pellet cookers.

How are you temp swings?

Remove the drip tray and fire pot cover from the grill and start it up. Watch how it burns. Watch to see if the fan is keeping the pellets burning.

Just my thoughts on what maybe going on.

Johnny Ray

Thanks Johnny Ray. I posted below for all the comments received.
Bluegrass, great area, loved the Bourbon tour and beautiful horse farms and friendly people.
I am in Maryland.

 

[Tim P.]

I'm thinking the pellets you used had some pine mixed in... Pine pitch will do that... Maybe some home heating pellets got mixed in that batch... Maybe they have some bark mixed in that batch.... Some barks have a lot of pitch ....

Thanks. I posted more below for all the comments. For pine mix, understand. But not happy these name brand companies would do this, can see a fly by night place, you know those Non American sites.

 

[Tim P.]

With a pellet grill you should never see black smoke. Initially you will see grayish white smoke until the pit comes up to temp then it should be thin with a blueish tint or non-existent.

Did you season the grill to burn off the oils that are left from the manufacturing process?
I ran my Traeger at its highest temp setting for 3-4 hours before ever putting meat on it.

Boy only a few things that would make sense is.
1. you aren't getting a complete burn. Fan isn't working properly
2. Your pellets aren't cooking pellets (which the brands you are using should be)
3. Grease fire. This will cause black oily film and black smoke.

Something

Thanks for the reply, I did most comments below for all the recommendations.
But I forgot one, your burn in. Yes I did the burn in, hitting 500 degrees. So hot in fact, it warped the drip pan. I commented to camp chef who I feel has excellent customer service. They sent me a new drip pan, no cost. Forgot also to mention, the whole pellet grill package it came in was a mess. Dropped kicked way too much. I called FedEx right away with pictures to file a claim if it did not work.
Thanks again.

 

[bregent]

It's hard to tell much about the combustion from the still picture. Here's a video of what it should look like:



There should be some blue in the flame, not all yellow. Not much audio in that one but it should sound like a jet engine.

Can you post a video of yours to youtube?

 

[Tim P.]

It's hard to tell much about the combustion from the still picture. Here's a video of what it should look like:



There should be some blue in the flame, not all yellow. Not much audio in that one but it should sound like a jet engine.

Can you post a video of yours to youtube?

Thanks Bregent for the video. For future use, is there a way to post my own video? I guess I need to shorten the time for smaller file, then zip it? For your video, my burn on the Camp Chef looks as good if not a larger more flickering flame. Meaning good airflow?

 

[BigW.]

GMG recommends adding a small handful of pellets to a clean pot to help with start up. When I clean out the bottom of smoker all I see is ash dust. Your picture seems to show lots of half burnt pellets. Not sure if that is difference between smokers or part of problem.

 

[bregent]

Your picture seems to show lots of half burnt pellets. Not sure if that is difference between smokers or part of problem.

That picture indicates a problem. Looks like a flameout causes excess pellets to feed before they were ignited again. Not sure if this is related to the cook that has the residue problem, or something else.

 

[Tim P.]

Thanks to bregent & BigW, you both saw that similar problem of half burnt pellets. I sent both pictures that you saw to Camp Chef this morning. Being email, I sent them the videos I wanted to show you also. They are quick to respond and said their engineers are looking at them now. Previous problem I had was Temperature differences. I set it for 250 degrees and it would be 300-325. They sent me a new PID controller, now the temps are rock solid. I mentioned I was on another website talking about this and stated you all felt a possible weak fan issue. They were going to try this in their lab, good idea if they see similar results.
I still wonder about the pellets purchase like some here were saying. I am buying the name brand ones though, Camp Chef & Traeger.
One thing I did notice yesterday, thought because I was at 375 degrees, you could hear the Auger quite often. It was pushing too many pellets in that one hour. Forgot to tell that to Camp Chef.

Thanks again for noticing the pellet burn, hope Camp Chef has an answer, will let you know.

 

[noboundaries]

Black smoke = soot. Don't eat that meat. Look it up. Soot can cause all kinds of health problems. If Camp Chef can't resolve the issue, return the smoker.

 

[bregent]

The auger is the only mechanism the controller can regulate. If the fan is weak, or air is leaking in the air channel, then the grill will have a hard time getting to temp with a given amount of fuel - so the controller will feed more pellets. This will cause poor combustion, soot, and overflowing pellets. That's one theory at least , but it could be something else.

Can you put the video up on youtube?

 

[Tim P.]

Black smoke = soot. Don't eat that meat. Look it up. Soot can cause all kinds of health problems. If Camp Chef can't resolve the issue, return the smoker.

Thanks for the reply. I agree and have not eaten the oily food. I said the same today when I sent them all the pictures and videos. This is unacceptable and want to return the grill if not fixed. They have been cooperative so far. Received the new drip pan, PID controller plus when I had temp probe problems received them also. I give their customer service high marks.

 

[Tim P.]

The auger is the only mechanism the controller can regulate. If the fan is weak, or air is leaking in the air channel, then the grill will have a hard time getting to temp with a given amount of fuel - so the controller will feed more pellets. This will cause poor combustion, soot, and overflowing pellets. That's one theory at least , but it could be something else.

Can you put the video up on youtube?

Thanks again. This sure sounds like the issue, you are spot on I believe. I will wait for their reply after all I sent them today. I never posted on You Tube, that should be interesting. Is there a reason they won't video post here? If they gave a limit on file size, that would fine. Either change your setting on your camera or a shorter film time. We all could work with this.