cold smoked belly smells like ashtray

[solman]

some background info... i did a cold smoke for the very first time yesterday on a pork belly i'm turning into bacon. it had cured for 14 days, rested overnight, then cold smoked for about 6.5 hours for the first time yesterday using CookinPellets Perfect Mix Smoking Pellets that i had ground up into coarse dust.

here's a pic of my set up. i'm using the bottom and top of my old vertical smoker to create a smoking chamber where i keep the smoking tube, then a 6" vent pipe to connect to the bottom half of my 40" propane smoker. the smoker temperature was never more than 8F higher than ambient temperature. highest smoker temp was 63F, i think.



at the end of the 6.5 hours cold smoke, i took the bellies out and all i could smell was ashtray. i put it in the fridge overnight, and this morning the odor is still there but not as strong. my plan is to let it rest 2-3 days in the fridge, then hot smoke it to 140F internal.

so, what caused the ashtray smell?

the only vent on the smoker is on the upper back and was wide open, and during the cold smoke i could clearly see smoke coming out the back so i feel like there was enough air flow. is it lack of proper air flow? or my choice of pellets?

 

[indaswamp]

so, what caused the ashtray smell?

If you did not pre-warm the smoker and the meat, this is likely the problem. Starting a cold smoke session with Cold meat and moisture will condense on the meat. Creosote will condense on the water on the meat and get on the meat.
Put the slabs to hang in the house at room temperature with a fan on them for 2~3 hours prior to cold smoking, and pre-warm the smoke house to about 20 degrees above ambient temp. to prevent creosote condensation in the smoke chamber and on the meat.

 

[indaswamp]

I just finished he first 9 hour cold smoke session on some Maple BBB tonight....did a fry test to check the smokiness and no creosote taste at all.
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/maple-and-cajun-bbb-inda-smokehouse.285008/

Pre warming the meat to above the cold smoke temp. is critical when cold smoking to avoid creosote condensation. You can get away without doing it when warm or hot smoking, but I don't recommend it.

 

[solman]

If you did not pre-warm the smoker and the meat, this is likely the problem. Starting a cold smoke session with Cold meat and moisture will condense on the meat. Creosote will condense on the water on the meat and get on the meat.
Put the slabs to hang in the house at room temperature with a fan on them for 2~3 hours prior to cold smoking, and pre-warm the smoke house to about 20 degrees above ambient temp. to prevent creosote condensation in the smoke chamber and on the meat.

i actually did those things, but not entirely in that order. prior to cold smoking, i put the slabs into the smoker for about 3 hours outside so that they'd get up to ambient temperature. initially, i put the smoking tube into the external smoker for the first hour, but then put the tube into the primary smoker box for about another hour so that the ambient temperature in the primary box would get higher to help air flow, then i moved the tube back to the external smoker to finish the smoke.

i guess my mistake was maintaining too low of a temperature differential (only 8F or so) and that prevented good air flow? i can either keep the smoking tube in the primary smoker for the next time, or put a fan on the upper back vent.

 

[solman]

i'm also wondering if i can salvage the bellies. the ashtray aroma seemed to have mellowed overnight. maybe it'll be gone in a few more days resting in the fridge? they're currently wrapped up.

 

[indaswamp]

If you put the slabs in the smokehouse, they were likely still too cold when you started applying smoke. When I smoked, ambient temp. was in the low to mid 50's. I put the slabs in the house near a passive heat source (80~85*) with a fan on low and gently warmed them from the 37* fridge temp. they were at. The slabs were around 72* on the surface when I hung them in the smokehouse....no water condensation because the surface of the slabs were warmer than the smoke chamber air temp.
Get the meat surface temp. above the temp. you will be cold smoking at.
As the slabs warm, condensate will form and you do not want smoke applied during this time at all....

 

[daveomak]

Run the slabs under hot kitchen tap water... Scrub the outside to rinse off any creosote... I've done that... Seems to work OK...
Open the vents on your "MB MOD" wide open for good air flow.. turn the heat on in your smoker to heat it up and the meat to 70-80F... turn the heat off... That should stop condensate.... I leave my bellies on the kitchen counter for a few hours to warm.... I can control the heat in my smoker to 20 deg. above ambient which helps....

 

[solman]

i ran them under cold tap water and that seemed to help a little. then did a second rinse under hot water and that helped even more. i'm letting them dry on the counter now and may do another cold smoke later today. thanks for the help, everyone.

 

[Bearcarver]

Sounds like purely a lack of Pellicle to me.
Moisture on the surface catches smoke on a cold and damp Belly & turns it into that Ash tray smell.
That's another good thing about using a little heat on your Bacon when smoking.
Not Hot-Smoke----Just warm Between 100° and 130°. It takes the cold damp surface away, so that never happens.

Bear

 

[daveomak]

There are ways to overcome the creosote...

... totally cold smoked bacon <70F.....


....totally hot smoked ham......

 

[indaswamp]

How long was that Bacon cold smoked Dave? And did you use your special wood dust mix of Alder, Apple, and Mesquite?

 

[zwiller]

I am with @Bearcarver no pellicle. I will have to check my notes but IIRC I gave my BBB 2 or 3 days of drying after patting dry and rinsing the cure off.

 

[solman]

Pellicle is the tacky feeling layer, right? If so I definitely had it.

 

[Bearcarver]

Pellicle is the tacky feeling layer, right? If so I definitely had it.

Dry, but tacky. No moisture at all.

You can get it sometimes in a fridge, but in the smoker for an hour or 2 without smoke works Great.
That's another reason for warm smoking---You use the same Temp as you use to get pellicle:
Bacon (Extra Smoky)

Setting it in front of a fan for awhile works too.

Bear

 

[solman]

day 2 on the cold smoke. i put a fan on the slabs and made sure they were completely dry and warmed to room temperature before putting them into the smoker. also put the smoking tube inside the primary smoker and cracked open the main compartment door to ensure full air flow. smoker temp is about 10F higher than ambient temp.

 

[daveomak]

Here's my bacon thread..... All the details...

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/cold-smoked-bacon.281110/

...

 

[indaswamp]

Thanks Dave for the link. I have read that thread, thought you might have done another batch of bacon and made another thread about it...

 

[daveomak]

I've 4 bellies in the refer now... A trip to Costco was just in time..

 

[solman]

Day 2 of cold smoking was a success thanks to the feedback here. I rested it overnight in my cold storage room (55F, 40%) and unlike the 1st day it doesn't smell like an ashtray anymore. will do day 3 today.

I had planned to hot smoke it after the 1st cold smoke but changed my mind. Will do 24 hour cold smoke then try to rest it for 3+ days to dry age it a bit before slicing, bagging, and freezing.

 

[indaswamp]

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