Grates inside the smoker

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Paulie Walnuts 440

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Apr 17, 2020
169
66
Ive recently purchased a standard flow off set 250 gallon smoker and just got done seasoning the smoker. I cooked some food on it and noticed that on some of the plates we were eating on had some black residual left behind. Can anyone help me figure out what's going on because I did clean the grates.
 
If it is a used smoker, It may be flakes of creosote from the inside of the smoker. Just use a putty knife or similar tool and scrape the flaky stuff off of the inside and you will be good to go.
 
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If it is a used smoker, It may be flakes of creosote from the inside of the smoker. Just use a putty knife or similar tool and scrape the flaky stuff off of the inside and you will be good to go.
Thank you for the information and it's a brand new smoker that I just seasoned. So I'm not sure why it's like that
 
ok thank you both for replying and i followed the instructions to season the smoker. So i should try and scrape it off and reseason? I don't really see flakes just that the grate seems kind of dirty. I'm new to this whole smoker world and i feel so over my head. I seasoned it with vegetable oil and brought temps to around 300 almost 325 for a couple hours . I attached pictures of what inside looked like before.
 

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Hmm
Lots of maybe this maybe that.
I would season it a couple more times. The grates need to get a cross between a flat top and cast iron seasoning.
Search for cast iron seasoning. I've never used it, but some swear by it for the proper treatment.
 
If the meat was "wet" on the surface, did not have a pellicle formed, the moisture sucked up the creosote from a "not clean fire"... not enough air flow to consume the creosote... not hot enough fire...
Get a good bed of coals and use splits about 2-2.5" square and have them dry and preheated... make sure the wood is seasoned at least 6 months...
A good bed of coals should have the splits burst into flame within 30 seconds... add a split about every 20-30 minutes to maintain the temp....
upper air inlets will add oxygen to consume creosote without adding air to the fire and increasing the smoker temp....
FB air flow diagram 2.jpg Smoker Exh and Intakes 2.jpg

..... 5f0d0167_firebox-5.gif
 
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Not sure how you seasoned it. But for me when I seasoned my offset the first time when it was new I cleaned the inside first all the dust and rust as much as I could. Then fired it up with the grates inside and keep the temp between 300 to 375 for 2 hours . Then after 2 hours I sprayed it with olive oil inside I really used a lot soaked everything real good. Then ran it for another 3 hours at 300 to 375 again. Now my grates are like non stick and the inside looks so good no flakes any where. I used sugar maple wood for the seasoning because that's all I had at the time. The manufacturer recommended apple wood.
 
Thank you guys for all of the great info! I cleaned the.grates up real good prior to seasoning then I used vegetable oil and sprayed all inside and used oak wood burning around 300 to 350 at times and did that for hours. I actually did a second day of just burning oak wood in the smoker at around 300 degrees to 325 for.hours. maybe i should get another nice burn in there? I noticed the black stuff from the hot dogs and the bacon but not really the beef or chicken
 
I just took out one of the grates and found them looking like this..i cleaned them up good before seasoning them..maybe needs more time to.season?
 

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I would clean up the rust spots with a wire brush and season again for a couple of hours.
 
Ok thanks it's weird because while I ran the smoker and seasoning I cleaned the grates and let air dry. The next day I added the grates and then sprayed them with oil and continued to season. I just noticed them when I took a picture and saw that
 
Any ideas how that may have happened? When I smoked meat yesterday non of it had any on it so I doubt it was dripping from the top
 
Maybe the rust formed when they air dried. When I washed my grates I had the smoker burning to start to burn off any crap before the seasoning so as soon as I finished washing them I put them in the hot smoker to dry.
 
Good idea and I'll clean them up with a wire brush and redo using your method. Since they have been "seasoned" what method of cleaning would you suggest? Thanks for all your help by the way
 
I would just use wire brush to take off any rust and then wash with soap and water and put on hot smoker right away so no rust forms on metal. After they have been on smoker for a hour or more go ahead with the seasoning. Use lots of oil get it everywhere in the smoker also on both sides of the grates then let it run 300 to 375 for a couple of hours.
 
Ok sounds good thank you for the tip. I have a friend repairing some issues i discovered with a newly shipped smoker. Had to tow it out to welder to repair and paint.
 

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You only need to paint exterior of smoker. I would not paint inside just clean rust as much as possible and go ahead and season.
 
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