Why is my new Old Country BBQ Pits Wrangler smoker so Sticky inside

[Sunlovers2]

I just bought a new Old Country BBQ Pits Wrangler model this past weekend. While at Academy Sports, I noticed that all of the OCB Pits' smokers had a Sticky coating covering the entire inside surface of Both the cook chamber and the fire box doors & walls. I assume it is some type of oil or rust preventative used during manufacturing.

After cleaning the smoker several times with a scrub brush, using Dawn dish washing detergent and water, the Sticky coating was Still there. I am concerned that leaving this coating would be unsafe and would actually prevent a good bond between the smoker's metal interior and the cooking oil I will use during the Seasoning process. I also do not want this coating affecting the meats I will be cooking. But, I am hesitant to use any Harsh stripping chemicals to try and remove it from inside the cook chamber.

Does anyone know what this coating is, and how to Safely get rid of it, before I apply cooking oil and begin the Seasoning process?

Your wisdom and guidance would be Greatly Appreciated! Thank You.

 

[tallbm]

I just bought a new Old Country BBQ Pits Wrangler model this past weekend. While at Academy Sports, I noticed that all of the OCB Pits' smokers had a Sticky coating covering the entire inside surface of Both the cook chamber and the fire box doors & walls. I assume it is some type of oil or rust preventative used during manufacturing.

After cleaning the smoker several times with a scrub brush, using Dawn dish washing detergent and water, the Sticky coating was Still there. I am concerned that leaving this coating would be unsafe and would prevent a good bond between the smoker's metal interior and the cooking oil used during Seasoning. I also do not want it affecting the meats I will be cooking. But, I am hesitant to use any Harsh stripping chemicals to try and remove it.

Does anyone know what this coating is, and how to safely get rid of it, before I apply cooking oil and begin the Seasoning process?

Your wisdom and guidance would be Greatly Appreciated! Thank You.

Hi there and welcome!

It is likely a rust preventative oil.
With smokers you must do an initial "seasoning" of the smoker, meaning you run it with no wood smoke with no food in it but with all racks, etc. at about a temp of 300F degrees or hotter for 3hrs or so to burn off all the oils. Just burning charcoal or providing as much straight heat as you can without the smoke.

Then you run it for an hour generating wood smoke so the smoke coats everything.
At this point your smoker should be good to go with smoking some food :)

 

[forktender]

It's either veg or canola oil, you should have read the directions or called the manufacturer for advice.

 

[mcokevin]

Read the initial startup instructions in the user manual and follow that. That will give you the seasoning steps to do before you cook with it for the first time.

You are probably ok but could have damaged it with the dawn and scrubbing. Might not be a bad idea to call the manufacturer and confirm though.

 

[JLeonard]

Welcome to the forums. Let us know how you like the OC. Everytime I go to Academy I eyeball 'em pretty hard. I just dont have the patio space for one yet.
Jim

 

[Sunlovers2]

Thank you all for your replies.

Unfortunately, Academy Sports nor OCB Pits, provided an owner's manual. Also, repeated attempts to call the manufacturer resulted in only recorded messages.

Google searches gave me the recommendation of washing the smoker with grease cutting dish soap, and then applying cooking oil before firing it up to season it.

Should I just try burning it out, without applying the cooking oil first? Just to see if I can burn off whatever was applied during manufacturing?

Then after burning it out, try rubbing it down with the cooking oil, and Seasoning it as typically done?

 

[mcokevin]

Thank you all for your replies.

Unfortunately, Achademy Sports nor OCB Pits, provided an owner's manual. Also, repeated attempts to call the manufacturer resulted in only recorded messages.

Google searches gave me the recommendation of washing the smoker with grease removing dish soap, and then applying cooking oil before firing it up to season it.

Should I just try burning it out, without applying the cooking oil first? Just to see if I can burn off whatever was applied during manufacturing?

Then try rubbing it down with the cooking oil, and Season it after the burn-in?

Boy, that is a tough one. Just did some quick checks online and there is virtually no information about this smoker anywhere. You won't hurt it by doing some sort of burn in. For my charcoal gravity-fed offset the burn-in process was:

1. Start smoker, run at 250 for 60 minutes.
2. Increase temp to 400 and run for another 30 minutes.
3. Shut down smoker, let everything cool.
4. Rub a light coating of cooking oil on all cooking grates (it doesn't mention the other interior parts like sides, lid, or manifold, so I assume that isn't necessary).
5. Repeat steps 2-4 at 350.

The above burns off any residue left from manufacturing and seasons the cooking grates. Your mileage may vary with this approach as it's a different smoker, but same concept. Hopefully some other owners of your smoker will chime in.

 

[Sunlovers2]

Thanks mcokevin, more great advice.

I love this forum!

By the way, I now see that there is a SMF thread for OCB Pits' Wrangler Owners. Maybe someone there has already dealt with this same issue.

Is there a 'best-practices' method of moving this discussion over to that thread? Or, should I just jump on that existing thread with my question about this sticky residue?

Please advise.

 

[mcokevin]

Mods can move it over. In the meantime you can change the subject to something with Old Country BBQ in it to maybe attract some attention from a current owner.

 

[Sunlovers2]

Much appreciated mcokevin.

I guess the real question now is, has anyone else had this Sticky residue on their new OCB Pits' smoker.

If so, then how did you get rid of it before you oiled up your rig and Seasoned it?

 

[Newglide]

I bought the same smoker and had the same issues. I couldn't find much info on what to do with the sticky oil.
I did a burn in to try to get rid of as much as I could, then I cleaned the rest off. after it cooled Then I seasoned with some canola oil pretty much using similar procedure as mcokevin

 

[JckDanls 07]

Yup.. I would do as hot of a burn in as I could... for a couple of 3 hours... let cool... clean.. and then do the proper seasoning ...

 

[Captain H]

Those Old Country pits come pre-seasoned from the manufacturer. That sticky film is the factory applied season. Just burn the pit in and your ready to cook. Do not remove that sticky film.

 

[Sunlovers2]

Thank you Everyone.

I took your recommendations, and Burned-Out the smoker at 350-400 for a few hours . Then I cleaned our the interior again with Dawn & hot water, rubbed the entire smoker down with a thin coat of Canola Oil, and ran the smoker at 300-350 for another few hours.

Seems Ok now. Looking forward to my first cook. Maybe this weekend. :)

Much Appreciated!