08 grease drainage question

My guess is that the grease flow as it cools sometimes adheres to the underside of the smoker and runs out beyond what your pan is covering. Is the bottom of your smoker greasy now or after a cook? You might want to go with a larger pan. This happened to me once and I just went with a larger sized foil pan (like a sheet cake pan). Just watch it carefully during your next smoke and that should tell you more. It might be a good idea to also clean the underside of your smoker if this is happening. I hope this helps.

If you are using a cheap aluminum pan, I've found that these eventually leak. I ended up replacing them about every 6-8 smokes. I have since purchased a more durable tin baking pan that hasn't leaked yet and is much easier to wipe clean.

Also,if the cooker is not level,grease can run along the cooker bottom-until it decides to drip.

My 08 sits on top of the black cookshack stand designed for the 08. It starts clean then after several hours, theres a fair amount of grease found under the foil pan (9.5" x 14"). Once enough grease accumulates under the foil pan it start dripping down the front of the cart. I washed the pan out thoroughly to check for holes and couldn't see any so I did the old water test. Filled the pan with water and let it sit. Sure enough, after a few minutes there was water everywhere. Does Cookshack offer a durable pan for the 08?

I've had the same problem with aluminum pans. Once I discovered the "acid rain" that drips out of the bottom of the CS eats aluminum I quit using it. Since that time I've been using a steel baking pan.. I think it's a 9x12 or something like that. Been using that for about 3 years and doesn't have any holes in it. AND, I've not been religious about cleaning it out as rapidly as I should. A glass baking dish should also work like a charm and clean up easily in the dishwasher.

If you don't want to purchase new.. go to Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.. and you'll find 'em cheap.. plus you'll be doing the folks that benefit from these services a good turn.

I have the same setup as exit174 and I use the broiler pan from the kitchen range. It never get used for it's intended purpose anyway. It is just wide and long enough and porcelain coated steel. Easy clean up.

Like Tom says, I learned the hard way about making sure the Smokette is level. I had grease all over the place for a while. The dogs loved it!

I have a stainless steel pan that I bought at sams. It cleans out real easy and will last forever.

It's either the pan or the smoker isn't level or both.

You can go to a restaurant supply, Sam's or lots of places and just find a good quality pan. Any pan will do, just make it heavy and thick. Some pans are also too light and will blow away (stories from the forum)

Along with a drip pan underneath I also set a sheet of foil under the entier smoker (secred by the front legs to keep the wind from blowing it away. This will catch anything that gets out of the drip pan and keep it from staining my patio. It worked great last night. I smoked some pork butts and when I looked underneath there was a ton of drainage on the foil.

There's an easy fix for this as I think it's the grease running under the unit.


When you lay out your tinfoil on the bottom of the cookshack and are ready to punch a hole where the drain is push slowly at first. This will push a bit of the foil down into the hole and when you break though some of the foil will extend past the bottom of your cookshack. All the grease leaving the unit will travel down the foil first and have no choice but to drop into the pan. You can do the same for your front drip hole as well if you like.


If this doesn't fix the problem.....get a new pan.

I had the same problem when I got my 008. Lantern's trick works well for me.

I also got a non-stick bakepan from the "kitchen gadgets" section of the grocery store for $5-- an easy cheap upgrade.

You can use a steam table serving pan. they are stainless steel. I think it is what they call a 1/3 or 1/2 pan. In other words it is that percentage of a full length steam table pan. It fits perfectly under the 008/009's. I made plastic rails on the under side of my smoker and I can slide the pan out when smoking or back under the smoker for storage.