black goo inside of the pit

[jarrinjack]

I've been thrilled with my Landmann 38 and have been using it hard for about 6 months.   I've built up a good bit of black gooey, glue-like sticky stuff on the inside and what concerns me most is the goo on the inside top deck.   Sometimes, it drips on my food, and recently I reached in and started peeling off a rubbery sheet of black goo.   Any suggestions from more seasoned professionals?  Thanks in advance,   JarrinJack

 

[hamrhead1971]

Is your wood properly seasoned? Do you use water in the pan? How thick is your smoke normally?
A thick buildup is creosote. Building up that fast is most likely from either to much smoke or bad smoke as in wet wood. Moisture inside the cook chamber will cause it to be gooey.

 

[crankybuzzard]

To add to hamrhead... Is your exhaust port wide open?

 

[crankybuzzard]

I just looked that smoker up, it looks like the exhaust port may be too restricted with the cap they have on it. Just my thought.

 

[jarrinjack]

Thank you for the input.   I'm starting to think I am creating too much smoke.  I normally fill up the wood pan with a combination of chunks and chips & rarely end up with the bucolic light blue smoke......I end up with billows of white smoke.   Will cut back a bit and try it that way.    Many thanks.

 

[hamrhead1971]

Too much smoke sounds like the problem.

Screenshot_2015-01-06-16-11-21~2.jpg

• hamrhead1971
• Dec 16, 2015

Smoker on the left=bad.
Smoker on the right=perfect.

Smoke it up
William