Santa came early!

Congratulations, welcome to the club. I still remember when they delivered mine. It was 7am and this huge Polish guy was at my front door. He refused my help to get the 240kg smoker out of his van.

Very nice. Congrats and enjoy

Pete, Congratulations on the new smoker!! She sure am Purty!!!!!
Looking forward to the cook pics and the pics of the Break In Fatty!!!!!

Enjoy, and make the neighbors hungry!!!

Etepete said:

I hope you dont mind if I ask a couple of newbie/set up questions too - my cooker has optional fire grates for the cooking chamber and a baffle/heat mangement plate. Do I leave these in? Or just the baffle and the fire grate when Im grilling in the cooking chamber?

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I use the heat management plate in mine, take the cooking chamber fire grates out, they are only useful if you intend on grilling inside the cooking chamber. You also might have cooking grates for the fire box, you can also take those out.

Good luck with firing it up, don´t forget to grease it up before and after. I use cooked linseed oil for the exterior every couple of months even though mine is sitting under a roof.

Etepete said:

Copy that! How well does the heat management work for you? Do you know your rough diff in temp between the firebox side and the far side?

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It depends on how hot I run it, when I´m targeting 225F (at the smokestack end), the difference is probably 25F. But when I run around 300F, the difference is easily 50F. But I use it to my advantage eg. cook potatoes in a CI skillet close to the firebox. I´ve actually never tried it without the heat management plate, maybe I should one day when I feel extra adventurous :-D

Etepete said:

I've given the cooking grates a bit of a rinse, and was planning to give the interior a once over with rapeseed (colza) oil just before I season. I dont need to do any other cleaning or prepping, right?

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Nope, rapeseed oil is fine and cleaning the grates is a good idea. Get it up to temp slowly, start with a small fire and build it from there. You need to set the paint with that 1st run.

Etepete said:

Thanks for the tip on the linseed/flax oil for the exterior - I'm keeping mine under a cloth cover but yeah its otherwise exposed to the element so keen to keep it looking pretty.

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I had a hard time finding cooked linseed oil but eventually did at Bio Home. They have a shop in Leuven. I´ve always been told to use cooked linseed oil because it´s far less sticky. I apply it a few times a year when I´m done smoking.

Etepete said:

Thank you, this is massively helpful - I'll keep an eye out for Bio Home next time I'm in Leuven.

P.s. do you apply it cold or still warm?

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It needs heat to set so either apply it when you are done smoking and the smoker is still warm. Or before you start. I prefer to do it when I´m done smoking because it´s easier to apply and it gives of an odor when it gets warm.

1 caveat: after using it, let the cloth you used dry in open air. DO NOT toss it in a garbage can because it might spontaneously combust.