Cleaning the damn thing

[theoldman]

I smoked 3 chickens in this thing the other day, and not only did the grease can run over, but the inside of the smoking chamber is standing in grrease, and grease has come out around all the edges of the chamber cover.  (The whole thing stinks) Should the smoker be throughly cleaned after each use? If so, what't the best way to do it.  Is this supposed to have a gasket around the smoke chamber cover?  I get about as much smoke around the cover as i do out the stack.

 

[eman]

Ouch. need a pan to catch the drippings . Don't know what kind of smoker you have so can't be much help.

 

[theoldman]

Sorry about the lack of info, as you can probably tell, I'm a newbie, and still learning.  I have a Brinkman offset and I'm firing it with oak splits.  I may hae to go to charcoal, and use only the wood for smoking, but really prefer to use the wood only., Seems a lot more natural, and besides, I have a huge supply of native oak (N. Fl).  I've read somewhere that somebody made gaskets for the smoke chamber from hi temp silicone.  Is this necessary?

 

[mballi3011]

Yes I need alittle more onfo please. Now the grease drip pan over flowed and theres standing grease in the smoker. Was the chicken defrosted?? I'm gramping at straws here.  I really can't figure out what could have gone wrong without somemore info please. I did see that you mentioned North Fla and what part of north fla is that please. I'm in the jax area here and theres some in the talle area too.

 

[meateater]

Welcome to the SMF. Glad to have you here. Lots of good folks, great recipes and knowledge. Looking forward to your first qview.

 

[richoso1]

Yes I need alittle more onfo please. Now the grease drip pan over flowed and theres standing grease in the smoker. Was the chicken defrosted?? I'm gramping at straws here.  I really can't figure out what could have gone wrong without somemore info please. I did see that you mentioned North Fla and what part of north fla is that please. I'm in the jax area here and theres some in the talle area too.

Aside from some pics, you might have to power wash the smoker, and reseaon it. Good luck, it'll all work out in time.

 

[eman]

Sorry about the lack of info, as you can probably tell, I'm a newbie, and still learning.  I have a Brinkman offset and I'm firing it with oak splits.  I may hae to go to charcoal, and use only the wood for smoking, but really prefer to use the wood only., Seems a lot more natural, and besides, I have a huge supply of native oak (N. Fl).  I've read somewhere that somebody made gaskets for the smoke chamber from hi temp silicone.  Is this necessary?

That smoker is not designed to be a wood burner. it is designed for coals w/ wood for the smoke.  I would wash it out and use a foil pan under the meat to catch the drippings .
 

 

[pit 4 brains]

How big is your drip can?

I've abandoned the idea of collecting the grease. I usually toss my ash bucket under the hole to catch the ooze. Is your wood seasoned long enough? It almost sounds like you are burning unseasoned wood and leaving residue on the outside of the smoker along the edges. How did the chickens taste?

Post up some pics so we can see exactly what you are talking about..

 

[theoldman]

Jax area is close - I'm in Pomona Park, 20miles south of Palatka.  The chicken was defrosted, brined overnight, and tasted wonderful.  The wood I used was seasoned.  I'm wondering if what I think is grease around the smoker cover might be creosote.  I thought creosote would be hard and glossy.  This is just plain greasy.  I cleaned, pressure washed and seasoned the smoker just prior to this smoking session. I kept the temp in the bonnet at around 290, because I'm concerned with poultry not being cooked or kept sufficiently hot soon enough.  I since have added two thermometers at grill level, and am working on a heat shield over the smoke inlet, as I did notice thet the chicken immediately adjacent to the burner was "well browned" before the others were.  The skin on all three were absolutely swimming in grease

when the internal temp reached 170.  We intended to discard the skin anyway, so that didn't matter.  Gave one chicken to my neighbor, and he loved it, so must have done something right.  I'm going to try to find some hi-temp silicone and make a gasket.  Does anyone know if the Brinkman offset had a gasket when new? (I bought this one at a yard sale).  Thanx in advance.

 

[eman]

No gasket comes on that unit.

 The doors tend to warp fairly easy. Sometimes even the new ones need a gasket to seal well.

 

[adiochiro3]

As noted several times above: a nice big drip pan (those drippings make an awesome gravy BTW!!!!).  One of the easiest ways to clean your rig is to scrape out any standing grease, etc. on your tuning plates and bottom of your barrel with a 4" putty knife, then heat it up good and steam clean it with a of mist water from a squirt bottle all around the inside of the cook chamber.  I do this as I'm heating up and preparing for the next smoke.  I always get the rig good and hot (350*+) before a new smoke just to clean and kill anything that might be lurking.

After that, it's pretty easy to drop and stabilize the temp once you know your rig.

You should be able to burn your oak to run your unit; I do it all the time.  If you have the time, you might want to look up "burn barrel" here on SMF; I've used that method for generating awesome hardwood coals and a wonderfully easy-to-maintain TBS (Thin Blue Smoke).  It's more work, but worth it and easier to maintain temps too!

Cheers!