I think I seasoned my smoker incorrectly

[DukeSilver22]

Hey everyone, I just bought an offset smoker and I'm watching videos reading up on what to do and I guess I got something wrong information with seasoning it. Mostly everything that I was watching was basically just saying spray it down put the wood you're going to use in there start the fire close everything off and just keep the heat up for 2 to 3 hours. My issue is nobody was mentioning having it burn clean smoke and I had a lot of dirty smoke since I'm new and don't know what I'm doing and then as I'm researching more and more I realized I shouldn't have done that now the inside of my smoker smells like you would after being close to a campfire. I'm not sure if this is the way it's supposed to be but I'm feeling like I definitely messed up and I don't know how to fix this issue now. Any suggestions?

 

[BGKYSmoker]

Seasoning is just heat and smoke.....Before you add any food to smoke.

 

[gmc2003]

Just open the lid and vents to get rid of the smell. The initial seasoning or burn-in is used to get rid of any of the manufactures oils from when it was built.

 

[seenred]

Hello DukeSilver!

First off, it looks like you're new around here, so welcome!

Here's what I'd do to season a new offset smoker:

First, assume there's some manufacturing scut left inside from the production process. I'd use hot soapy water to get all that out that I could. If you have a power washer, that's a good tool to help with this cleanout. Wipe it out as well as you can. After that's done, if you run your hand across inner surfaces, and still feel any oily or greasy residue, you should probably build a real hot fire in it an run it for an hour or 2 - to burn off all that junk. When you're sure the interior is free of oils, metal shavings, grinder dust, etc, then you can coat all interior surfaces with a light coat of vegetable cooking spray, and build another fire. Run it for another couple hours. During this burn-in is a good time to begin to get a feel for controlling your temps, how much wood it uses, where hot spots are, etc. Once that's complete, it's seasoned pretty well. The next step is to get some meat cookin! The more you cook in it, the better seasoned it'll become.

The odor you mentioned that smells like a dirty campfire is probably creosote. If you think you've made a mistake and seasoned improperly, no worries - just repeat the above steps...power wash it out, scrub with soapy water, burn out, apply cooking spray, and re-season.

Hope that all makes sense and helps.

Good luck and happy cooking!
Red

 

[Retired Spook]

Hello DukeSilver!

First off, it looks like you're new around here, so welcome!

Here's what I'd do to season a new offset smoker:

First, assume there's some manufacturing scut left inside from the production process. I'd use hot soapy water to get all that out that I could. If you have a power washer, that's a good tool to help with this cleanout. Wipe it out as well as you can. After that's done, if you run your hand across inner surfaces, and still feel any oily or greasy residue, you should probably build a real hot fire in it an run it for an hour or 2 - to burn off all that junk. When you're sure the interior is free of oils, metal shavings, grinder dust, etc, then you can coat all interior surfaces with a light coat of vegetable cooking spray, and build another fire. Run it for another couple hours. During this burn-in is a good time to begin to get a feel for controlling your temps, how much wood it uses, where hot spots are, etc. Once that's complete, it's seasoned pretty well. The next step is to get some meat cookin! The more you cook in it, the better seasoned it'll become.

The odor you mentioned that smells like a dirty campfire is probably creosote. If you think you've made a mistake and seasoned improperly, no worries - just repeat the above steps...power wash it out, scrub with soapy water, burn out, apply cooking spray, and re-season.

Hope that all makes sense and helps.

Good luck and happy cooking!
Red

Real good advice!

 

[seenred]

Oh and one other important thing:

In you post, you said you were advised to:

"basically just saying spray it down put the wood you're going to use in there start the fire close everything off and just keep the heat up for 2 to 3 hours."

The only part of that that's wrong is "closing everything off". I take that to mean closing all the exhaust and intake dampers. Don't Do This! That could have led to the bad odor you're smelling, as a fire that doesn't get enough oxygen is more likely to produce that nasty smoke that makes creosote.

Leave all the vents wide open for the hot burn out. Then, when you do the burn-in seasoning, leave exhaust vent wide open, and control your temperature by adjusting the intake vents/dampers...but it's important to remember - it's never a good idea to choke off all the oxygen to your fire.

Red

 

[JLeonard]

And what kind of offset do you have. We are like kids around.....We love show (pics) and tell.

Jim

 

[DukeSilver22]

Before I respond to anybody individual I just want to thank everybody for the quick responses and help. What a great community!

 

[DukeSilver22]

Seasoning is just heat and smoke.....Before you add any food to smoke.

So essentially it didn't really matter too much if the white smoke got in there is what you're saying?

 

[DukeSilver22]

Just open the lid and vents to get rid of the smell. The initial seasoning or burn-in is used to get rid of any of the manufactures oils from when it was built.

Another issue I'm having is I'm not familiar what the woods look like I'm just going based off of what I was told from where I bought it from. I live in Philadelphia I had to go out to Media PA to a place called Linvilla orchards because that was the best pricing that I could find for smokewood. I was told what I bought a good amount of was oakwood. Just reading around everybody seems to say that that's a really good wood that everybody tends to go to when smoking so I bought an abundance of that. I also grabbed two small pieces of mulberry, hickory, apple, cherry, chestnut and birch. I'm going to attach a picture so you guys can tell me if what I said I have is what I actually bought from this place.

 

[DukeSilver22]

Hello DukeSilver!

First off, it looks like you're new around here, so welcome!

Here's what I'd do to season a new offset smoker:

First, assume there's some manufacturing scut left inside from the production process. I'd use hot soapy water to get all that out that I could. If you have a power washer, that's a good tool to help with this cleanout. Wipe it out as well as you can. After that's done, if you run your hand across inner surfaces, and still feel any oily or greasy residue, you should probably build a real hot fire in it an run it for an hour or 2 - to burn off all that junk. When you're sure the interior is free of oils, metal shavings, grinder dust, etc, then you can coat all interior surfaces with a light coat of vegetable cooking spray, and build another fire. Run it for another couple hours. During this burn-in is a good time to begin to get a feel for controlling your temps, how much wood it uses, where hot spots are, etc. Once that's complete, it's seasoned pretty well. The next step is to get some meat cookin! The more you cook in it, the better seasoned it'll become.

The odor you mentioned that smells like a dirty campfire is probably creosote. If you think you've made a mistake and seasoned improperly, no worries - just repeat the above steps...power wash it out, scrub with soapy water, burn out, apply cooking spray, and re-season.

Hope that all makes sense and helps.

Good luck and happy cooking!
Red

Hello seenred,
Thank you so much for the detailed information that you provided me that's exactly what I was looking for because I feel like I definitely did it wrong and after reading what you just told me I definitely did it wrong so I'm going to have to try this process again unfortunately it's raining out today where I'm at so I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow I'll power wash it down I'll clean it down with the mild soap and water clean everything up and follow everything you said after that to get this cleaned and seasoned properly. I'm not too familiar with the way the wood should smell when burning so you notice the previous post that I respond to somebody else with the pictures of the wood that I bought I was using the oak wood cutting it down maybe to maybe about 8 in to 9 in little pieces possibly about an inch and a half to 2 in thick and that's how I was trying to build the fire and get that bed of Kohl's but I didn't even know that until after I seasoned it as I'm trying to figure everything out because a lot of videos were just saying pour that charcoal in there put the wood on top, obviously after you get the charcoal lit, And you'll be good to go then I'm watching other videos that say don't use the charcoal just build it using wood and get a bed of coal's from the wood so I was trying that after I "seasoned" it to try to get a feel for it And the point that I'm trying to get to is should these woods smell like a barbecue joint or are they going to smell like it would if you threw it in your fire pit? I actually did throw a piece of the apple wood in there too just to see how adding a different type of wood would burn while I was messing around with the oak and when I added that it smelled more peppery to me I don't know if that's the way it's supposed to smell everybody was saying add that for a sweet flavor but I don't see that giving off a sweet flavor if it's smelling like that I could be wrong though like I said I'm very new to this first time I've ever had a smoker so I'm definitely trying to learn all I can and get this process right.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

So essentially it didn't really matter too much if the white smoke got in there is what you're saying?

Like stated its more to burn off any residue in making the smoker.

You did wash the grates before you did your season?

 

[DukeSilver22]

And what kind of offset do you have. We are like kids around.....We love show (pics) and tell.

Jim

I bought a cheap one not about to go out and spend thousands of dollars when I don't even know the process and thank God I didn't because clearly I'm doing things wrong right off the bat lol. I just happen to be in Home Depot when I was doing remodel for my bathroom and came across the Char-Griller competition pro there were a few of them on a pallet on sale for $250 so I grabbed one of them while I was out thought it was a good deal, been wanting a smoker for a little while now. Did a couple of the upgrades that people were mentioning, putting the gasket around both of the doors adding those clamps as well which I just so happen to have them on hand so that wasn't a big deal figured I would just do that and then I added those two temperature gauges as well on the bottom left and right. I saw some people mentioning to add a hose from the smokestack going down close to the grates I don't know if anybody can recommend that that's something that's better to do to help with that smoke really saturating in the meat. I did try to seal up some places with that RVT high heat silicone and while I was initially trying to season it I noticed some areas on the top we're leaking it's like the caps that almost go around the end of the barrel the right hand side was a little worse than the left but I was thinking about getting some more and sealing that up as well. I'm just trying to learn as much as I possibly can about this I really want to get into this.

 

[JLeonard]

I bought a cheap one not about to go out and spend thousands of dollars when I don't even know the process and thank God I didn't because clearly I'm doing things wrong right off the bat lol. I just happen to be in Home Depot when I was doing remodel for my bathroom and came across the Char-Griller competition pro there were a few of them on a pallet on sale for $250 so I grabbed one of them while I was out thought it was a good deal, been wanting a smoker for a little while now. Did a couple of the upgrades that people were mentioning, putting the gasket around both of the doors adding those clamps as well which I just so happen to have them on hand so that wasn't a big deal figured I would just do that and then I added those two temperature gauges as well on the bottom left and right. I saw some people mentioning to add a hose from the smokestack going down close to the grates I don't know if anybody can recommend that that's something that's better to do to help with that smoke really saturating in the meat. I did try to seal up some places with that RVT high heat silicone and while I was initially trying to season it I noticed some areas on the top we're leaking it's like the caps that almost go around the end of the barrel the right hand side was a little worse than the left but I was thinking about getting some more and sealing that up as well. I'm just trying to learn as much as I possibly can about this I really want to get into this.

Looks like a great start. And once you learn to cook and manage a fire on that one I'm sure you'll have no problems moving up to a more expensive cooker if you choose to. Lots of great folks on here with a ton of info to share.
Jim

 

[DukeSilver22]

Looks like a great start. And once you learn to cook and manage a fire on that one I'm sure you'll have no problems moving up to a more expensive cooker if you choose to. Lots of great folks on here with a ton of info to share.
Jim

Thanks! I cannot wait to learn this process. As I mentioned it seems like there is a good deal of information out there and all over the place, for instance, I watched this video (it's time-stamped) and he was saying at the part I have it time-stamped at that he doesn't use the dampers because it'll choke off the oxygen and cause the wood to smolder and he was showing his technique. I feel like when I was messing with the fire if I started to cut down on the dampers I would run into the same issue but then my temp would go up.

 

[JLeonard]

I dont have a offset. I have a Masterbuilt propane cooker. Quite different. But I do a lot of smoking/cooking on my weber kettle. One thing I have learned is small changes and time. And not to get hung up on the storied 225 degrees. My smoker and kettle settle in at different temps with different cooks depending on the weather and maybe how the stars align. I am happy anywhere between 225-300 degrees depending on what I'm smoking. You will drive yourself crazy chasing temps. Most guys never mess with stack damper and adjust airflow with firebox. I do the same with my kettle. Make a small change with the damper and give it some time to settle. I dont know I may be telling you stuff you already know. Just some of what I've learned over the last 3 yrs and from reading posts on here. Any other questions dont hesitate to ask.

Jim

 

[DukeSilver22]

I dont have a offset. I have a Masterbuilt propane cooker. Quite different. But I do a lot of smoking/cooking on my weber kettle. One thing I have learned is small changes and time. And not to get hung up on the storied 225 degrees. My smoker and kettle settle in at different temps with different cooks depending on the weather and maybe how the stars align. I am happy anywhere between 225-300 degrees depending on what I'm smoking. You will drive yourself crazy chasing temps. Most guys never mess with stack damper and adjust airflow with firebox. I do the same with my kettle. Make a small change with the damper and give it some time to settle. I dont know I may be telling you stuff you already know. Just some of what I've learned over the last 3 yrs and from reading posts on here. Any other questions dont hesitate to ask.

Jim

Thanks for the info. It seems like for the most part it's all just trial and error learning your smoker and how to get the fire just right while keeping an eye on it. I just don't want to make so many errors that it's going to deter me away from wanting to do it at all.

I wish there was a better source that was closer by to get smoking wood from. The place I went to is about 40 minutes away and as I mentioned earlier when responding to another member I don't know anything about making sure the quality of what I'm getting is good or even identifying if the what I'm getting is what they're telling me it is. I'm still skeptical of that apple that I got because it just smells very peppery when it's burnt it.

 

[DonP]

I got a similar Char-Griller offset a few weeks ago as well, Grand Champ XD model. I did my first cook and was able to maintain temps pretty easily using charcoal, Apple and Almond wood.

I found that the wood splits need to be relatively small or be buried in a nice bed of coals. At one point I had 2 pieces of almond that were just too big, I pulled one piece out and was good to go.

I used both the intake and exhaust dampers. I didn't expect it but it operated very much like my weber kettle.

Our Home Depot offsets are not like bigger stick burners. We don't have the volume and the metal is just very thin in comparison.

I'm maintaining heat as described in this video.


As far as mods go, I could be wrong, but I think the biggest flaw with your cooker is that there is direct heat coming into the cooking chamber from the fire box . Mine has a deflector over it, but I think tuning plates would work better. You could just probably just flip an aluminum pan upside down and poke holes in it.

 

[DougE]

For the initial burn, just coat the inside canola or other high temp oil and run it with intake and exhaust wide open. build a big enough fire in the box to get it good and hot. 300°+

 

[DukeSilver22]

I got a similar Char-Griller offset a few weeks ago as well, Grand Champ XD model. I did my first cook and was able to maintain temps pretty easily using charcoal charcoal, Apple and Almond wood.

I found that the wood splits need to be relatively small or be buried in a nice bed of coals. At one point I had 2 pieces of almond that were just too big, I pulled one piece out and was good to go.

I used both the intake and exhaust dampers. I didn't expect it but it operated very much like my weber kettle.

Our Home Depot offsets are not like bigger stick burners. We don't have the volume and the metal is just very thin in comparison.

I'm maintaining heat as described in this video.


As far as mods go, I could be wrong, but I think the biggest flaw with your cooker is that there is direct heat coming into the cooking chamber from the fire box . Mine has a deflector over it, but I think tuning plates would work better. You could just probably just flip an aluminum pan upside down and poke holes in it.

Thanks for the video! I was seeing some people talking about getting a deflector shield I even seen one being sold or one of those websites for smoker modifications They want $90 maybe down the line I'll grab that but I've seen a couple videos where people were saying just put your aluminum pan with the water right there next to the fire box so I might give that a try and see if that works a little better.