Smoke from the edge

[Jimwaggy]

Hi, me again,
I have a problem I think, I have smoke coming from around the lid of my 57cm kettle, I am continuing the cook but there's obviously a leak around the edge,
Am I able to fix this, as I have only had this kettle for a year or so, and as far as I know the lid has never been dropped, so I am wondering what I can do, and how much will it affect the cook, sorry to be a pain but I'd really like to get this good !! Many thanks for reading this everyone
jim (London England)

[mhiszem]

Almost all kettles will do this when they are new. As you use it more it should seal up. Other members will have suggestions in the mean time.

[Jason]

If it's just a little smoke, and you are able to maintain your target temp, I wouldn't worry about it. If you are seeing a lot of smoke, and you are having trouble maintaining temps, your lid could be slightly out of round.

[Jimwaggy]

Thank you for your replies I held temp pretty well so I'll just keep an eye on it for the time being

[Jon]

The first concern is maintaining temps, so as long as the lid fits onto and off the bowl nicely you should be ok.

[JDann24]

I've used binder clips on my lid in the past when it was leaking. After much more use, the lid sealed much better.

[Golly]

Give your lid a hug

[vinced]

I tried the binder clip trick this weekend and it seemed to help minimize the smoke leaking from around the edge.

[Neil_VT00]

Might be different for your circumstances, but here is my $0.02...

My kettle (which has years of seasoning) will do this if I put the lid on too early and the coals aren't fully lit.  They need to get past the super smokey lighting stage and the the smoke will settle down and start flowing properly.
Additionally, if your top vent is choked down it doesn't allow the smoke to escape fast enough and therefore it gets pushed out the sides.  Try closing your bottom vents a bit and leaving the top fully opened.

[Filibuster]

   Go get some nomex gasket. Clean the lip of the bowl, peel and stick, wait 24 hrs, get to cooking. At the end of the year when the kettle is cleaned replace with fresh material.

[Darko]

If you can maintain temperature, don't worry. I get smoke leaking out of the vent, around the rim... Don't worry about it. I get smoke leaking out by the rim, I get smoke coming out of the vent. The food still tastes good.