Newbie question

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

smokeyj121

Fire Starter
Original poster
Feb 13, 2016
66
35
Hello everyone,

 I am very new to all of this, so I'm glad to be a member of this community. Please teach me anything!

 Me and my friend we together built a stainless steel offset smoker. We didnt have any woods in hand at time so we went ahead and "season" the smoker with only charcoal (and we brushed the inside with canola oil). Tried to keep the heat around 225-250, sometimes a little lower, sometimes a little higher, for around 4 hours. However, after that, the inside of the smoker didn't look very clean. The whole area is sticky, and the grate area closest to the firebox had ash from the charcoal. Now it smells kinda weird (it must be the smell of the oil), and it's sticky. It just looks not very good. 

 Should I go ahead and wash the smoker off with soapy water, let it air dry and then season it again with charcoal and woods (we'll make sure we have woods this time)? 

 Anything that relates to using a stainless steel smoker, if you feel that it's necessary, please tell me. I am willing to learn anything.

 Thank you and Im looking forward to hearing from you guys.

 Jake
 
Welcome from SC, Jake. From your narrative it sounds like you did everything right. The SS is a finer grained steel than carbon. Therefore the Canola will not actually soak in as rapidly as on Carbon Steel. The sticky situation is a result of this and will continue to bake on as you use your smoker. The smell that you're getting is simply the Canola being cooked. It will also go away with time.

Did you wash or burn out your cooker prior to the seasoning process? If not there could be some oils from the SS material. If this is the case, I would go ahead and wash it down with Dawn and water, preferably rinsed with a hose for the high pressure. Then re-season the smoker just like you did before. Sorry about this.

Good luck with it. Let us know how it turns out. Joe. :grilling_smilie:
 
 Hey Joe,

 I did not wash or burn out my cooker before my seasoning process. I will see how it responses next time after washing it off as you said. I am new to all this so please teach me anything, anything that you can think of.

 Jake
 
Wash the cooker with Dawn and water. Dry it out. Skip the oil, stainless doesn't need it nor will it penetrate the metal (hence the smelly gunk you currently have). Fire it up with your wood of choice and run the temp up to about 300+ for 3-4 hours. Avoid that thick white billowy smoke, just the thin blue stuff for the whole time. Your cooker is now seasoned. Happy Smoking!
 
Thanks for that, Willie. I didn't know that it wouldn't absorb at all. I figured that a little oil was better than pickled and pacivated.
 
 What I love about this forum is I learn a lot of new things from experienced but very out-going people on here. 

 And thank you Willie, that's great to know.
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky