Stainless steel chimney discoloration - chimney fire?

So last week the stove got up to 750F, it happened last year once or twice so I didn't think anything about it. Today I noticed that the top of the chimney has some blueing - similar to what you'd see if you overheat a piece of metal. It's only on the east side of the chimney at the top. Does this look like we've had a chimney fire? My wife was the only one home when the stove got that hot and she didn't noticed anything weird other than it getting really warm in the living room. View attachment 83513

I've never seen that before. When was the last time the chimney was cleaned. Can you get up there to check it?

Matt

i've got some of that too, haven't worried about too much.

You should be okay, should wash off when it rains a few times.

Normal around these parts. Mine looked like that last year.

Next time you load the stove, go outside and notice which way the smoke is blowing. The smoke gets "hung" up and swirls down before being taken away.

After about a month or 2 of no use this Spring, it went away.

Its on the East side of my chimney because the prevailing wind comes from the West.

There is the other end of the spectrum also. There are some chimneys around me that are not just dark at the top. They are Black for the top 3 feet.

Click to enlarge

Looks just like mine

Almost verbatim what Dex said.

Question comes up at least semi-annually.

At least he didn't complain it wasn't still pretty.

Get the same here every year, washes off in summer.

shop flue looks the same here

Glad to hear it guys. I'm not concerned about how it looks, just that it's safe. Also, the wind does come from the west for us too, so this all makes sense.

Thanks again, makes me and the little lady feel a lot better.

Btw, cleaned the chimney 2 months ago.