Just got my new FEC 100. The manual that came with it says nothing about seasoning it. I know it needs to be done, but not sure about how long and what temp.
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I don't own an FEC 100. I wish I did. I have seasoned my other smokers. 2-3 hours at 300 degrees would do the trick. I am sure some others will chime in. Congrats. I am envious.
My manual said 300° for one hour. After that load with something fatty like pork butts.
You may notice big temp swings starting out. The more you smoke on it, the smaller the heat swings become. I almost worried myself to death the first six months.
You may notice big temp swings starting out. The more you smoke on it, the smaller the heat swings become. I almost worried myself to death the first six months.
Yep,you will get some swings off the bright shining walls for the first hour,or two and then it will settle some.After a couple cooks you'll get closer to a couple degrees,once it is warmed up and has some load in it.
If you got the new IQ5 controller... you won't notice "temp swings" to to the degree everyone is warning you about. There will be a bit, but all in all the IQ5 is a very tight controller.
My experience is it takes a little bit longer to get to temp and to recover after the door is opened etc, but the overshoot is generally less than with the IQ4
You'll love it... Run it at 300 for about an hour then cook something... or two somethings, or three somethings... Pork butts are a good start... 180 x 8 hours then 250 until done...
Nordy
My experience is it takes a little bit longer to get to temp and to recover after the door is opened etc, but the overshoot is generally less than with the IQ4
You'll love it... Run it at 300 for about an hour then cook something... or two somethings, or three somethings... Pork butts are a good start... 180 x 8 hours then 250 until done...
Nordy
You are right about the temp swings. It takes about 25 min to get to 300, and held very steady. My only worry right now is that after I got to cooking, I noticed things weren't cooking as fast as I thought that they should. I put a probe in the smoker that I know was accurate, and my temps were about 30 to 40 degrees low. I was thinking about calling CS about it.
It was sort of strange. As it was heating up, the temp on the controller and on the remote thermometer were about the same, but after about an hour, the temp on the smoker was about 40 degrees hotter than the remote.
It was sort of strange. As it was heating up, the temp on the controller and on the remote thermometer were about the same, but after about an hour, the temp on the smoker was about 40 degrees hotter than the remote.
(I know you probably know all of this... but...)
Be sure you put the probe in the same location in the pit as the FECs probe. Also make sure there is no meat touching or dripping on either probe.
If you put the remote probe next to cold meat it will read differently. And there are temp fluctuations across different racks etc. (probably not 40 degrees).
I'd test it a little more and if you are noticing some significant differences then I would give them a call. You might check another remote thermo as well.
Be sure you put the probe in the same location in the pit as the FECs probe. Also make sure there is no meat touching or dripping on either probe.
If you put the remote probe next to cold meat it will read differently. And there are temp fluctuations across different racks etc. (probably not 40 degrees).
I'd test it a little more and if you are noticing some significant differences then I would give them a call. You might check another remote thermo as well.
Good info. It was not touching meat, but I had not thought about drippings. I think I will run another test with nothing in the smoker, just to see how it reads.
Been away for a while... I have a 2005 model in my Business and one of my cooks said she wanted to clean it real good on a slow night. I told her as long as she cleaned the racks it's fine. It needs a BlackWall finish for it to work right. That's not from me, it's what Eddie has said all along and it's true. Good Smokin to Ya!!!