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Is This Normal??

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louballs

louballs

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Jan 8, 2013
112
13
Harrisburg, PA
Hey Everyone!

My brand new Smokin-It Model 1 arrived today and its great looking. The quality seems top notch and it was ready to go right out of the box (aside from attaching the wheels). The instructions said to season the smoker by placing 3 to 4 of the hickory blocks that came with it in the smoker box and turn it to 250 for about 4 hours. Im a little over an hour in and I went to check how accurate the temperature is by lowering an electric thermometer into the smoke vent. To my surprised it was within 1 degree of 250! However, when I pulled out the thermometer it was covered in a black "liquid". It was rather sticky and was a pain to get off of the thermometer and has now stained my hands!  Is this normal for smoking or just part of the "seasoning" process??? I can't imagine this stuff all over food?

Thanks for any advice!!

Lou
 
How long was the therm in the smoker?  I have a heavy coat of dark resin on my therms at the end of every smoke, but it isn't terribly difficult to scrub off by pulling it through a kitchen scrub pad.  But nothing I would describe as a liquid, and that's after hours of exposure to smoke.
 
It was in there for about 2 minutes. I guess resin is the word I was looking for, not liquid per se. So it is normal? Wouldn't this coating be all over the food?
 
That is smoke residue or  more accurately called creosote. In breaking in the smoker, you use far more wood than you will for smoking.  And you are right, you do not want that on your food (believe me - experience).  If you have a digital scale, you might want to weigh the wood and size them in 1/2 or 1 ounce pieces and start light. You can add more wood if you want more flavor on another smoke.  Keep in mind that the smoke really has no where to go except thru the little hole in the top so it is in the chamber for quite while, settling on whatever is inside:  walls, racks, meat, ceiling.  My smoker is sized to do 50 lbs of meat so the chamber is larger and I find 2 ounces to be plenty. Your chamber is smaller so you may want to use less. Hopefully someone with a model 1 will read your post and give you some more help.
 
Who knows what they coated the metal with for shipping. I would let it go and burn that crap out. Then we can worry about and work on getting the thin blue smoke that is so treasured. 
 
Looks fairly typical to me. How is the humidity in your area? Damp air inside the smoker can and will contribute to runs.  As for cleaning, I would only touchup what is visible from the outside with the door closed and latched.
 
As to the black liquid that many people see seeping from their smokers, this could be your answer: 

Go directly to the 9:00 minute mark.
 
The Smokin-It, Cook Shack and the Smokin Tex are all very similar designs. They work great with the only issue, that requires you to adjust to, is the Vent is small and they hold Moisture. Add too many hunks of Wood or the little lengths of Dowels some provide and you will get Creosote. Add a Cold day to the mix and you get Puddles of Creosote. This is different then the golden brown coating that will be all over the Probe, Racks and any Pans you use. Creosote is Bitter Tasting and what most guys refer to as tasting like a Camp Fire. As Sarge suggested, you will use small amounts of smoke wood at a time with just wisps of Thin Blue Smoke exiting the tiny vent. It is not even a bad thing if you simply smell some great smoke but not actually see any. Get some Cheapo Chicken Thighs and Play around with various amounts of wood to see what works best and give the Flavor Profile you are seeking...Write Everything Down...It is unlikely you will Nail your first smoke and if it takes a few tries with or without meat, to dial in this smoker you want documentation as to what works best for you...Enjoy that new toy and don't get discouraged, you have all of us to ask. When I got started there was no SMF or even Computers to go to for help...Lots of trial and a Hell of a lot of Error in them days...JJ
 
Thanks everyone for your input. I just got concerned as i really wasnt expecting to see that! But as it seems its fairly normal, I'm not worried. I can't wait to try out some food this weekend!
 
 
Sorry, I don't know anything about this smoker?  Is it electric or gas?  

If it's gas and it's cold outside, you're going to get a lot of liquid build up when you first fire it up.  The reason is because water vapor is a by product of combustion (same reason you'll see water dripping out of an exhaust pipe of a cold car in the winter), and if the smoker is cold the vapor will condense on the cold metal.  This problem goes away as soon as the metal is too worm for the vapor to condense on it.  A couple of those pictures looked like you could be having condensation issues.

I've fired mine up in the winter before and had as much as nearly a quarter cup of black water and leftover fat drip out the drip hole on the bottom before the smoker warms up.  It's pretty nasty stuff.  Once the smoker gets up to temp that issue goes away because the vapor won't condense on a hot surface, so the vapor just goes out the stack.  Mine burns charcoal, but I'm sure you'd get the same issue from a gas smoker in cold conditions.
 
Its electric, sounds like it was just a combo of a lot of wood, plus cold temps leading to condensation. I think its ok. Thanks for the reply though.
 
 
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