Icicles from chimney cap while burning....

[Warm_in_NH]

It appears that the steam from the wood, formed icicles on the chimney cap while burning last night, which in turned dripped little brown spots onto the roof and the ground, as well as some 2" long brownish icicles on the ground.
This is new to me. It was 12 below zero last night with howling winds, as far as I know, this has never happened to me before. Do you think my assumption of where this ring of brown drippings came from is correct? Can't think of anything else it could be. Burning low moisture content <20% beech, cherry, maple, silver birch.

 

[pen]

Yep, I get the same thing some times. It just happens.

 

[jeff_t]

Yep, it happens. Water vapor is a byproduct of combustion.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

huh. interesting. Makes sense, logical, I get them of my propane heater exhaust, seen the steam from the chimney, yep, logical.
Thanks for the input.
At first I thought it must've come out of the eve of my house (metal roof condensing, freezing, thawing) and was really bummed at the potential work that was going to be involved to fix the issues, so now I'm pretty relieved.