Seasoned with canola oil - was a mistake, help reversing

[ben8jam]

So picked up a OK Joes Highland last week. Read that vegie oil was good for seasoning and assumed canola oil was close. Coated everything and got the smoker to like 250-275F (according to the temp gauge on the lid away from firebox) and ran it for 3 hours.

I noticed after everything was still sticky and oil had just pooled at the bottom.

So i did another fire burn and got it up to 325F on lid thermometer and about 400F according to thermacouple placed near opening of firebox. Ran for three hours.

Still wet oil. A few days later I noticed it really started to stink. Then read that poeple did NOT recommend using canola oil.

So I then cleaned the whole thing out with dish soap and water. Sprayed it down. And AGAIN ran 325F / 400F for three-fours hours.

It smells better , but the fire box still wrecks of rancid oil. And it's STILL sticky. Man alive...

Any suggestions of what I can do? I haven't even smoked anything yet, though I am having fun doing dry runs :)

The last time I through in some 'campfire' wood that I had burning from a fire pit and I think it left a thin layer of brown soot on everything which was strange...

Thanks in advance.

 

[daveomak]

Try and get the temp up to 400+ or higher.. 500 would be good.. Get it to burn off...

Canola oil (Rapeseed) Expeller press 190-232°C 375-450°F smoke point ....fire point 660F

Flax seed oil is a drying oil.. It hardens as it dries... Great for curing cast iron cookware...
It has a very low smoke point.. Not good for cooking.. Takes a long time to dry to a hard polymer finish...
Food grade is EXPENSIVE... It is refined linseed oil.... I'm of the opinion, you can use linseed oil to cure the inside of your smoker... run it on low temps until the oil hardens.. (350 ish) It hardens to a glass hard finish... Your food ain't coming in contact with it anyway....
Or use a different vegetable oil...

 

[chopsaw]

Ben , I don't have an answer for you , but someone will . I did look up the smoke point of canola oil , and it said 400 * . So maybe that's why it's not used . Somebody will be by to help ya .

 

[chopsaw]

There ya go ,, I type to slow .

 

[Jonok]

In the interim, the better part of valor may involve a pressure washer.

 

[Inscrutable]

Interesting ... my new Pit Boss electric also says to cure with vegetable oil or spray. I don’t recall doing that at all with my old Bradley, just burned off a while then started using.

Some oils have flash points as low as 230, and others 450+ ... well above the max temp an electric can achieve. Assume you’d want one with a low (achievable) flash/smoke point(?)

 

[SmokinAl]

Gosh I spray down the grates on my Lang with Canola oil every time I use it.
Never had a problem with rancid smelling oil.
I even use it on the outside of the smoker to keep rust at bay.
Al

 

[HalfSmoked]

Seems to be a different problem for some and not others. Really can't help here much other than I use mineral oil a lot.

Warren

 

[creek bottom]

I used canola oil on my new smoker without any problem. That is what the manufacturer (Custom Pits & Fab) recommended... It made the grates a bit tacky, but it seasoned it well and I've had no foul smell...

 

[ravenclan]

sounds like you used to much oil, if it is pooling on the bottom. I would wipe out as much as possible and then try a burn in the smoker as hot as it will go. If you still have oil inside as soon as you turn the unit off, take a rag and wipe down the inside. i use canola oil to season all of my smokers and my griddle grill but it is a very light coat.

 

[ben8jam]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I think I did use too much oil. I cleaned almost all of it out. But it all just smells bad still which is bugging me. Going to try and get more off and keep bringing it up to temp. I built the DIY expanded metal coals box which has made it incredibly easy to keep it at high temps (the lump was still warm the next morning!).

I'm really new to this whole smoking thing (got hooked doing a 24hr sous vide brisket and finishing on my propane grill which I sealed with tin foil and put some smoldering wood chunks in to smoke it) and have been hooked. Been cooking with wood logs in my backyard in a cheap fire pit with a grate held up with bricks haha... Super excited to get some meat in the smoker!



Hopefully a hotter burn will help clear the oil and smell. Just don't want to melt the paint.

 

[JckDanls 07]

Get it as hot as you can (for a couple of hrs) and then spray (light) the whole interior with the water hose and close the lid.. this will in turn steam clean the inside ...

 

[ben8jam]

Get it as hot as you can (for a couple of hrs) and then spray (light) the whole interior with the water hose and close the lid.. this will in turn steam clean the inside ...

Great idea. Will do that this weekend.

 

[JWFokker]

Nothing wrong with canola. You used too much oil and didn't get it hot enough.

 

[dls1]

In the interim, the better part of valor may involve a pressure washer.

I agree!

 

[ben8jam]

Wanted to post a follow up to the dank smelling oil.

I don't have a pressure washer so couldn't do that, but I did use some straight up Dawn solution and a couple strong sponges to clean the whole thing out. Then sprayed it all down with water. Following that I used lump to get the firebox heated up and ran the whole thing at around 400F for a couple hours (which caused more paint to smoke off the bottom of the firebox, can't be healthy breathing that in...) and then when hot, used the hose on mist to do the final 'steam treatment', letting it dry completely after.

After it cooled, I reasoned with some regular ole' vegetable oil (a very thin coat this time) and again let it run around 300F for a couple hours.

And it seems to have worked well! I have done a 12 hr pork butt and a rack of ribs, both times using only sticks and all the bad smells are gone.

So thanks all for your suggestions!

 

[Berettaclayshooter]

Get some aerosol cooking spray and use that. Spray to coat and wipe runs with a paper towel. That's all that's needed and is dirt cheap and less messy than veggie oil. Run the smoker on the hot side like 300-400F. for 2 hours and you'll be good.

 

[johnmeyer]

I'm glad you were able to get rid of the smell. I am not a fan of canola all, at all. In the 50s, when my parents would have the inside of the house painted, the painters mixed their own paint on site and used linseed oil as part of the recipe. Linseed oil = Canola oil. If you like the smell and taste of paint in your food, then go for it. Speaking for myself, I hate the smell and hate the taste of linseed oil / canola oil.

What's more, even though it is recommended on some sites as the best oil for seasoning CI, other sites have reported big problems with it flaking off all at once. Since I never tried it, I've never been able to figure out whether those reports are really the fault of the oil, or whether the person posting screwed up. However, there sure are a lot of such posts, so I do have my suspicions.

Next time, use something else.

 

[Jabiru]

Glad you get your issue sorted.

Definitely a strange thing tho. I use Canola inside and out of all my smokers, never an issue. I use it because of its high flash point.

I hold the can way back and just very light coat.

 

[JWFokker]

To season the smoker with oil you need to reach the smoke point of the oil. It will still protect the metal even if you don't get it hot enough, but hardened seasoning requires high heat depending on the oil used. Always apply a very thin coat. If you can see oil on the surface you're using too much. All of the rules for seasoning cast iron pans apply here.