WSM Flaking?

[willkat98]

I had an odd occurance today on my Weber Smokey Mountain.

Now let me preface this post with the fact that I have used my WSM maybe 6 times, 8 at most, in 5 months.

This happened on a small scale before, but this time it was big.

At the top of the smoke chamber, there were large flakes of brown flaking off and exposing the original black enamel interior.

What appears to be happening is, is that smoke from the wood is leaving a thin layer of brown soot. I got some of the liquid on my fingers today, and it smelled like resin, or liquid smoke actually.

Well at the top, this dried out, and was flaking off and blowing on the meat.

Under the dome this was happening too. Tiny little specks of this brown, dried, smoke resin, was releasing from the dome.

The brisket had bacon covered in specks. I ripped off the bacon at 165 when I wrapped it. The chicken had it on its skin, but we don't eat the skin on smoked boobs.

Do I need to wash the inside of the WSM each time I use it? That seems farked up. Do I need to clean it, then brush with peanut oil?

Anyone else have this happen?

[slat]

I had it happen in my Bandera. I don't know what causes it, but I just knocked whatever was loose off and gave it a good coating of oil again the next time I smoked and I haven't had the problem again. I know that doesn't answer your question, but may give you a solution.

[BBQchef33]

checked mine.. it has the coating, but its intact. I had to scrape it off to go down to the enamel.

[Saiko]

Same thing happened to my WSM. I could clang it against something and it was like one of those shake-up snow bubble things, except it was black flakes. I ended up just using a grill brush now and then to scrape all that **** off.

[chad]

It's creosote! It's a natural result of wood fires. You get creosote build up in the chimney and flues of your fireplaces. This is what you have removed when the chimney sweeps come each year :D

[Saiko]

Creosote, black flakey ****, it's all the same :D

[willkat98]

Creosote, black flakey ****, it's all the same :D

Thanks Saiko.
This, and moreso your previous post, helped me.

I clang it, and the little chips come off.

I would offer this:
The Weber Enamal is too good at repelling stuff. At some point, it flakes off.

My ECB, that resin just becomes part of the interior. It does not flake, but adds to the sides.

I wonder is spraying the sides down with Veg oil will help. If not, I gotta clean that thiing each time out.

[Solidkick]

The stainless Meco electric I have does the same thing. I have to clean the dome about every three uses. It doesn't have any top vents at all, only one side vent. But then again, you one use one or two small to medium pieces of soaked wood up against the element for a 6-8 hour cook.

[BBQchef33]

i use mine ALOT ... alot more than 5 times, and dont have any flaky stuff... only thing i can think of is I seasoned mine likie a steel cooker. normally you dont with an enamel one, byut i did. think tht made a difference? the stuff on mine is attached like paint. I had to scrape it for some to come off.

[tommykendall]

ChiBill - I think you got the cheap Silver model. Never would have happened with the Gold. Where the hell did you get it from anyway? :mrgreen:

[smokeemifyougotem]

Happens on the Kettles too - clean off with a bit of warm water, dish soap, hose and cleaning brush - no problem. Wet it and let it soak a bit. Directions for cleaning are in the manual as well.

Later,


OB

[willkat98]

Well
its been almost a year, and I still get the flaky stuff on each and every cook.

pre-cook, grill brush to the unit as Seiko suggests. most of flakes off.

clean off the rest with sponge and water.

At the end of the cook, there is all this brown and black flaking **** going on.

I reseasoned once scraped clean, and it still flakes each time.

What gives?

Flaky **** on every cook.

Rinse the meat mod is bull****

[tommykendall]

Pretty timely to reintroduce this thread. I was cleaning my cookers today and found the same **** with my WSM. Opened the lid and there were flakes everywhere - in the waterpan and flaking under the lid. Mary said I shouldn't season the WSM cuz the porcelain doesn't need it. MAybe we gotta check the virtual weber bullet site for info.

[BBQchef33]

no need to season porclein.. actually, sesoniong proclein does noting at all. I dont have the flaking anymore.. I stopped brushing it and its been fine since....

[kcquer]

it still flakes each time.

What gives?

Flakes were invented in Illinois! :mrgreen:

[tommykendall]

I stopped brushing it and its been fine since....


You sure about that? - Hasn't your Q had an awesome bark lately - tasting like tires? :shock:

[BBQchef33]

nope.. thats was crock pot chile.

[jminion]

I have seen a sheet of that same stuff that flakes come off at one time, not good at a competition.
Cleaning the lid once or twice year eliminates the problem,

[willkat98]

I have seen a sheet of that same stuff that flakes come off at one time, not good at a competition.
Cleaning the lid once or twice year eliminates the problem,

thats the thing

I clean the lid 8 times a year, and it still flakes.

I don't get it.

[jminion]

How much wood are you using?

[BBQchef33]

It varies, but sometimes we use about 40% wood. Sometimes a little more.

[jminion]

I use much less wood than that personely, but the more wood you use the more the build I have found.