Old Country Smokehouse - brand new - cleaning and seasoning, has thick greasy feel on inside

njcfrisco said:

 
I got my old country smokehouse today.  its a vertical type with the firebox below the cooking area.  While I will have some questions on cooking and maintaining fires in the future, my first question is about the greasy grime that covers the inside.  I also noticed that there is a little green paint on a small section of one or two of the grates.

I need to know some tips on cleaning an preparation.

I read somewhere to just fire the grill to max heat and it all just burns off, but I feel like I want to manually remove some of it before heating it.  I realize using soap is not the best.  Anyone got some tips for getting this new unit up to shape and all me to start putting it to some good use?

Click to expand...

Search "seasoning a new smoker" and you'll get a bevy of ideas and examples.  You're right about the empty burn--that will take care of the vast majority of cutting/production oils and goo.  Once you do that, grates in hot soapy water for a good cleaning.  While the exterior is still warm, I'd recommend a good wipe with canola (or other cooking oil) so that it can "absorb" into the metal.  That's really all you should need to do.  If you want to try and get the green off the grates beforehand, see if it will come off with soap & water.  Congrats on the new addition, and welcome aboard.

That is the manufacturing oil on the raw steel. Also the green paint is probably from the manufacturer of the raw steel rods to denote diameter of rod.  I would hit the inside of the smoker and grates with a good de-greaser and dry with paper towels.  Then lightly coat all the interior and grates with vegetable oil, Pam spray, or other cooking oil to prevent rusting after de-greasing and for seasoning (basically the process for seasoning any new smoker with raw metal inside).  The start a seasoning fire and like gr0uch0 said, follow general directions for seasoning a new smoker.

njcfrisco said:

I got my old country smokehouse today. its a vertical type with the firebox below the cooking area. While I will have some questions on cooking and maintaining fires in the future, my first question is about the greasy grime that covers the inside. I also noticed that there is a little green paint on a small section of one or two of the grates.

I need to know some tips on cleaning an preparation.

I read somewhere to just fire the grill to max heat and it all just burns off, but I feel like I want to manually remove some of it before heating it. I realize using soap is not the best. Anyone got some tips for getting this new unit up to shape and all me to start putting it to some good use?

Click to expand...

Any pics yet? How does it work?
It's been a year.. do you like it?

I think this is one of those people that join to ask a question then never come back.

I just bought one and am seasoning it right now. This thing seems to hold heat well and is easy to adjust temps with the vents. I’ll smoke some sausage this weekend hopefully.

A few pics from seasoning and then smoking a brisket

This Smokehouse is actually a great smoker build. The indirect heat from th bottom based firebox is a neat design. Almost no chanc for char from imcorrect placement of tuning plates used in offsets.
The water pan on this thing is huge. It holds 3-4 gallons of water and helps with the heat/smoke flow to the outer edges of cooking chamber.
The cooking racks are large and the anti tip tabs are great. I think i can fit 12-18 pork roasts if i needed to. I know i can do 12 decent sized Boston butts after putting this brisket on.
The smoking chamber has a decent seal. I did see some leakage along the bottom of the door, but, nothing significant. And it was only during low heat heavy smoke applications. Otherwise the only smoke was out of stacks.
The fire box is large and holds a ton of ash. I’ll clean the ash out over the weekend but it shouldn’t be difficult. The actual heat tray is just as large as the cooking greats with 5 rows of 3 slits cut in it. I didn’t have any problem producing heat but would’ve preferred a heavier expanded metal grate. It would be impossible to run charcoal on a long smoke. Too much area in that box. I used one split every 45 minutes or so at lower temps <190. For temps >190 more than one split will be required. It eats up wood but is easy regulate temp with dampener.
The two stacks are hige. I left both of them open the entire time. Not sure how effective they are when closed.
When heat gets cranked up the firebox door can be difficult to turn the lock due to metal shrinkage due to high heat but a quarter turn is just as good as a full turn.

Nice looking rig I can see some real good food in your future.

Warren