cleaning pit questions

[texas roy]

Hey fellas
I have a custom offset smoker. Had it now for bout seven years. Inside seems to be flaking a little. Looks like a mix of sut, grease, (maybe some high heat paint too?). Was wondering best way to clean the pit out. Was gonna hit it with a pressure washer, try to towel dry it best I could then re-season it by burning some oak for a couple hrs. Good idea? Should I put high heat paint inside? Sounds weird to do so.

 

[texas trey]

Bout the only thing I clean on mine is the grates before each use. Hose out the bottom of my cooking chamber a few times a year. Oh and I do take a plastic bristle brush to the lid at times as well.

 

[texas trey]

I do give it a good cleaning and recoat inside with veggie oil reseason pit once a year. Don't know if reseasoning is necessary, but figure it can't hurt.
As far as painting the inside, I wouldnt

 

[texas roy]

Thanks Texas Trey
Not sure if it had paint to begin with but that's what the flakes kinda resemble. Think I'll give it a try this weekend.

 

[rogerwilco]

Those flakes are most probably a carbon buildup, and not paint.

 

[cats49er]

I use a 4 or 5 inch wide putty knife and scrape the inside of the cook chamber completely after removing the grates, that includes the reverse flow plate.Next I pressure wash the inside and grates real good,Let it dry,then spray the cook chamber and grates with cooking spray after it drys .Now is when I fire her up and bring her to around 350 degrees and keep it there for a couple of hours.Next I open the door and spray the inside with the water hose several times lightly.Then close her up and add 5 or 6 good size splits ,leave the fire box door open and get them burning good.Now close all your fire box vent accept 1 leave this open only about half way,then close the door .What you want is black smoke but still keep the wood smoldering but not go out. Leave it as is and let the wood burn up .This leaves a good coating on the cook chamber that adds a lot of protection to the metal.

 

[joe black]

1. I would leave it wide open to create a good hot fire. I would not like the black smoke. I would think that it would make too much soot and creosote.

2. Look at the responses from your other thread.

 

[bdskelly]

Knock the big chunks off off the ceiling of the smoker so they won't fall on your brisket and get on with the next smoke! b

 

[joe black]

Don't make it too easy, Brian. Now everybody will be knocking off big chunks and the site will be slammed with folks wanting to know why there is soot on their meat. Joe

 

[bdskelly]

Don't make it too easy, Brian. Now everybody will be knocking off big chunks and the site will be slammed with folks wanting to know why there is soot on their meat. Joe

Never had soot meat. Is that cut next to the foot? 

 

[joe black]

Naw, it's just behind the toot.

 

[cats49er]

1. I would leave it wide open to create a good hot fire. I would not like the black smoke. I would think that it would make too much soot and creosote.

2. Look at the responses from your other thread.

Just trying to pass on what Ben Lang suggest on seasoning a smoker. Here is a video he put out on his site.   http://www.langbbqsmokers.com/news_media/videos/howToVideos.html.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Hope this explains what I was try to pass on.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             And what do you mean by  "Look at responses from your other threads?

 

[joe black]

I may be wrong, but I thought I saw 1 or 2 other threads by Texas Roy on the same subject. Again, I may be wrong.

 

[texas roy]

I did post in two areas. Wasn't sure to which category the topic should belong.

 

[cats49er]

1. I would leave it wide open to create a good hot fire. I would not like the black smoke. I would think that it would make too much soot and creosote.

2. Look at the responses from your other thread.

This is what Ben Lang says do when your seasoning your smoker this was in one of his video on seasoning a smoker.No black smoke while cooking.I think I  phrased it wrong, should have stated heavy smoke, not black smoke.I 

I did post in two areas. Wasn't sure to which category the topic should belong.

I may be wrong, but I thought I saw 1 or 2 other threads by Texas Roy on the same subject. Again, I may be wrong.

Thank you for clearing that up for me.