Seasoning my new #2

[mike.bryant]

This is happening so fast!  I ordered my #2 Sunday night and Tuesday at 8:30am it was delivered.  Amazing service! 

I'm thinking of taking a half day at work so I can get home, season it and still have time to do a quick smoke.  I've read the seasoning instructions in this forum and it sounds like after it cools down I'm good to go for the first try, right?

The seasoning instructions say to pay attention to how the dowels burned but not what to do with that information.  I thought that most smoking is done on the top shelves so hot spots wouldn't affect it as much.  How do you use that hot spot information?

I don't have a thermometer yet so I'm going to keep my first smoke simple. With some brats I got from Costco.  I'm thinking that 225 for 2 hours would do it.  Use 2 oz of hickory.  I think I'll butterfly a few of them to see what difference it makes.  Any other suggestions?

And the adventure begins... 

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[old sarge]

I you get complete burning and end up with ash wood placement was good. If after several hours you have wood left over you may need to place the wood elsewhere in the box.

[mike.bryant]

Put the wood we are burned completely, got it.

I'm only 30 minutes into the season and I've already seen the smoke surging where it makes a noise and wooshes out of the top.

[mike.bryant]

Attached are some pictures of my new rig.  I put in three blocks of hickory as instructed.  I weighed the blocks and they are 1.5, 2 and 2.5 oz.  I saw smoke within the first half hour along with some interesting noises of smoke whooshing out of the blow hole at times.  After 2.5 hours there were no signs of smoke so I opened it up.  The wood looks to be evenly burnt with only a few embers left.  Is the 3-4 hours to wait for the season supposed to be smoking the whole time?

In the first smoke photo you can see some of the blemishes on the stainless steel I mentioned in my "first impressions" post.

[DivotMaker]

Hey Mike, looks like you had a little combustion during seasoning (re: the black marks on the door, and the smoke belch).  This can happen when you crank the temp all the way up to start, especially in the #2 and 3 (due to the high-power heating elements).  When you do your first smoke, either wrap the wood in foil, with some holes poked in it, or ramp-up the temp for the first half-hour.  I go about 80-degrees above ambient temp for a 1/2 hour, then increase to smoking temp....no combustion.

Since you burned your wood, you might want to throw a few chunks in and re-season by ramping the temp.  Don't put foil anywhere inside when seasoning; the stainless needs a coating to prevent rust over time.

[mike.bryant]

I did smoke some brats and chicken for dinner.  Now I'll take off all the foil and do a second seasoning with temperature intervals.

Does the stainless steel used in the SI#2 rust?

[DivotMaker]

Mike, all stainless steel can get a little surface rust on it, over time, given the right conditions.  The 201 stainless, used in these smokers, is very high-strength stainless, and is highly corrosion-resistant.  Stainless steel is not stainproof steel.  The smoke box is subjected to high temperature fluctuations, that can breakdown the anti-corrosion properties of any stainless, over time.  I believe the seasoning coating, on the entire interior, will help prevent this.  I have a good collection of cast iron pans, and am well-versed in the seasoning process to keep them rust-free, and in great condition.  While you certainly don't have to go to the extremes that you do with cast iron, I feel a little prevention is important - even with stainless steel.

[mike.bryant]

The second seasoning is complete.  There is a much thicker layer of creosote on everything now.  It looks like there are still combustion issues in the firebox.  I ran the unit at 150 for about 45 minutes and then turned it up to 225.  Most of the wood turned to ash except for a small piece towards the front.

[swthorpe]

Try setting the initial temp for 100 rather than 150, give it 45 minutes and then ramp up to 225.    I have found that the combustion temp is around 170-180, so by setting initially to 150 you probably ran into the combustion zone.   By setting lower to 100 or so, the SI should stop heating well before the 170ish temp.

[mike.bryant]

Given the look of the inside, do I need to season it a third time?   

[swthorpe]

Nope...you are good to go!