Seems I've been smoking incorrectly the last few months, or at least partially incorrectly on my Camp Chef DLX. I haven't cleaned it in a while and completely forgot about the clean "blue" good smoke that's the essence of BBQing/smoking. I've been smoking steak and chicken, and the grill would give off white smoke in the beginning (getting to temp, completely normal) and a lot of visible, but not billowing, smoke during the actually cook every few minutes (pellet grills work this way, I've been told, not constant smoke).
Yesterday, I decided to clean everything inside, and boy, there were piles of sawdust in the main chamber and around, like several cups all over, plus around the firebox. There was also a lot of blackened grease that I scrubbed from the drip tray.
After, I went to smoke some chicken tenders at 250-300, and there was no smoke at all! Neither during the start-up and getting to temp, nor during the cook. When the grill was dirty, all cooks involved lots of smoke, especially during start-up and when the lid was open and the temps dropping.
Was I getting the blue/clean smoke yesterday during the cook and just haven't noticed it? I couldn't see it at all during an hour of smoking and couldn't determine whether I smelled it or not (I attributed this to the rub on the chickens as too strong of a flavor). Not even a faint line. Inside the chamber, there was a sweet smell, but again, I couldn't tell whether it was smoke or the rub.
Did not notice the smoke flavor on the non-rubbed (just salt/pepper) pieces also while eating them.
Should some sawdust from the pellets remain in the chamber to "enhance" the smoke? or is regular, before every cook, cleaning the best practice, even if there is absolutely no visible smoke?
Yesterday, I decided to clean everything inside, and boy, there were piles of sawdust in the main chamber and around, like several cups all over, plus around the firebox. There was also a lot of blackened grease that I scrubbed from the drip tray.
After, I went to smoke some chicken tenders at 250-300, and there was no smoke at all! Neither during the start-up and getting to temp, nor during the cook. When the grill was dirty, all cooks involved lots of smoke, especially during start-up and when the lid was open and the temps dropping.
Was I getting the blue/clean smoke yesterday during the cook and just haven't noticed it? I couldn't see it at all during an hour of smoking and couldn't determine whether I smelled it or not (I attributed this to the rub on the chickens as too strong of a flavor). Not even a faint line. Inside the chamber, there was a sweet smell, but again, I couldn't tell whether it was smoke or the rub.
Did not notice the smoke flavor on the non-rubbed (just salt/pepper) pieces also while eating them.
Should some sawdust from the pellets remain in the chamber to "enhance" the smoke? or is regular, before every cook, cleaning the best practice, even if there is absolutely no visible smoke?