# New smoker. Need to clean/season and prep for weekend smoke



## mstphrchrstphr (Oct 12, 2017)

I've been using a COS for a few months now and saw a smoker for sale I needed to jump on.  It comes from a guy who was a welding student and made a smoker for a project, but never used it after it was done.

I seasoned my COS when it arrived and everything seemed to work well.  My question is: do I need to do anything differently now that I'm using a smoker that's coming from a person in a shop as opposed to a company that sends the grill out clean?  Do I need to wash it/vacuum the inside before putting on the oil and lighting it up?  I've never had a customer made smoker, and it seems a bit dirty inside compared to the one I got out of the box.

Here's the smoker, plus the pork belly I bought to smoke this weekend.  Any help is greatly appreciated, very excited to try a smoker that is properly made and should keep temp a lot more than my COS


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## troutman (Oct 12, 2017)

I suggest vacuuming out any loose stuff, spray down the grates with Pam, build a big fire and let it burn out. Throw some cheap chicken or pork parts that impart some grease and you should be good to go.

Oh yea, don’t get caught smoking that banana !!!! ;)


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## mstphrchrstphr (Oct 12, 2017)

LOL that banana will not get smoked, thanks for the heads up!  

Thanks for the info, I'll vacuum it and smoke it out with some oil.  I have a couple chicken thighs I can throw in for the grease.  

Thanks!


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## bluewhisper (Oct 13, 2017)

That's nice looking work. I would love to take part in making something like that.


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## SmokinAl (Oct 13, 2017)

Very nicely done!
Al


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## tropics (Oct 13, 2017)

That looks pretty well made to me
Show some pics when you fire it up
Good Luck
Richie


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## hardcookin (Oct 13, 2017)

Nice looking smoker! Looking forward to hearing how your first smoke goes.


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## mstphrchrstphr (Oct 13, 2017)

Thanks everyone!
It's lit up right now and burning between 350-400, I'll let it go for a couple hours.

I'm looking up some tricks for getting the rust off the grills and will try something tomorrow morning before smoking.  While cleaning there was tons of rust coming off the inside of the smoker and grates, so it has me a bit worried about putting food on them tomorrow.


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## troutman (Oct 13, 2017)

Try a good stiff wire brush (like a welder uses) and some elbow grease. I’ve also just wadded up some aluminum foil and hit it with that.


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## hardcookin (Oct 13, 2017)

Wire brush and spray them with Pam.


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## mstphrchrstphr (Oct 13, 2017)

Great! Thank you so much!


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## mstphrchrstphr (Oct 14, 2017)

Had a ton of fun smoking on this new guy today!


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## hardcookin (Oct 15, 2017)

Looks great!


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## mstphrchrstphr (Oct 15, 2017)

hardcookin said:


> Looks great!


Thanks! It was definitely delicious!


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