Brown snowflakes??

[Osibisa]

Hi'
Read somwhere that you should not clean BS too much after using so I left it alone. Done a batch of chicken legs yesterday, opened the door and got showered with what looked like very very thin brown flakes. After investigation it looks like the brown coating that has remained on the BS up until this point, decided to "Let go".

Questions... Is this normal?
Is it harmful?
Should I worry?
Will it go away on it's own?
Should I clean out BS?

p.s. I did forget to open vent for first hour. Could this have caused it to happen?

pps. the chicken tasted brilliant!!

Peter

[Habanero Smoker]

It seems like you did a large amount of chicken with the skin still on. It is not harmful, but it sure doesn't look too appetizing. This had happened to me when I did 10 pounds of chicken wings, and had to reseason my BS.

This seems to be mainly a problem when smoking chicken with the skin still attached. The skin contains a lot of moisture, therefore will create a large amount of steam within the cabinet. Large amount of continuous steam will cause the seasoning on the walls to peel off in small flakes, and also large flakes.

When that much moisture builds up inside the cabinet, the temperature lowers, so your first tendency is to close the opening of the damper. Doing this creates more problems (believe me, I learned from my mistake[B)]). Closing the opening of the damper more causes more steam build up, and leaving the moisture only one other way to escape - through the door seal, in addition to creating a bigger problem with the seasoning peeling off. So with large amounts of chicken with the skin on, I would leave the damper at least 1/2 open or more until the chicken is almost done.

<font color="green">Questions... Is this normal? - No. Only under certain circumstances

Is it harmful? - No, but remove as much flakes from the food as possible. The flakes do have a bitter taste.

Should I worry? No. Not unless there was severe flaking, and you need to reseason.

Will it go away on it's own? No. If there is still some loose flaking in you cabinet, remove it with a damp rag.

Should I clean out BS? See the above answer.</font id="green">

[whitetailfan]

I agree with Hab.  I was tempted to clean out my cabinet one time, and the wise forum members discouraged it.  If you have concerns about the smoke build up flaking, what I do on occasion is take a wire brush to the door and sides.  It knocks off the large loose pieces, but will not cause you to re-season your cabinet.


<font color="green">whitetailfan</font id="green">
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

[Cold Smoke]

Ditto to what Habanero and Whitetail have said. I've had that flaky stuff happen before and it can mess up your presentation (if you're worried about that) but other than that relatively harmless. (I don't eat the skin anyways). I usually take a steel brush and lightly go over the top, sides and door of the smoker to get rid of the caked on stuff and have never had to reseason.

Cold Smoke