Brand new to The Forum

[Hismokin]

Greetings everyone,
I'm Hismokin. I joined the forum yesterday and I have a question. I bought a Dyna-Glo wide-body vertical offset charcoal smoker and yes I'm very new to smoking meats. My question is, after I seal up my smoker how long should I wait before seasoning my smoker? Please Help.

 

[noboundaries]

Hismokin, welcome to SMF! Glad you're here and ready to put the DG to work.

The sealant should have given a recommendation on curing time. Usually 24 hours is recommended on most high-temp sealants. Give it 48 for insurance then fire it up!

 

[Hismokin]

Hey Noboundraries,
Thanks for your support. One other thing.
How can I really insulate the inside of this smoker? Some say to use heavy duty aluminum foil to line the walls and put ceramic tiles on one of the wire grates to retain the heat inside the smoker.
What do you think?

 

[noboundaries]

Hmm, never heard of the aluminum foil idea. You could seal an inexpensive welder's blanket to the outside of the smoker and achieve the same thing.

The ceramic tile idea is basically a heat sink to retain heat and help steady temps. Water, sand, bricks, clay all work too. Water keeps temps low until it all evaporates, but it can use up more fuel. Sand, bricks, clay, and tiles work, but make it harder to bring temps down if you miss your target.