Ash a problem?

Cook some haamburgers on it. Put 8-10 on the bottom shelf and set it at 350 for about 45- minutes. We use foil on the drip tray to help with clean up. The fats in the hamburger will help coat everything in the cooker and the ash will stay under the drip pan the more it's used and cooked on. You'll love a burger with a smoke ring.

Do you have a problem with the ash getting on the food or are you just asking, thinking it might?

I think, as you use it more, it will stay in the bottom, per Eddy's post above.

I've done about a dozen cooks on mine, I'm a new user, and for me, the ash settles in the bottom area pretty simply. Since there isn't a large aircurrent to carry it up above the drip pan, it doesn't go there.

Now, when I open the door in the Oklahoma Winds, it can blow it around. That's why I empty the ash out before each smoke. I have the bottom lined with foil and it just take it out and pour out the ash.

Does that help?

Smokin'

Thanks for the hint, Ed. I kinda figured that the ash would subside with use, and especially if the racks were full of meat---also keeping the ash from flying around in an empty hall.

Can you do steaks in the FE as well? I wish the cooker came with a more complete user's guide. Basically it's 7 pages of how to turn it on and some hints on maintaining it. I'd like to see things like the best ways to load it for various meats, hints about cooking times and temps, troubleshooting such things as pellet jams---that sort of thing. Maybe such a user's guide is in the works at Cookshack.

Kerry

That does help, Okie. That might have been my problem. I opened the doors during curing a couple of times just to see what was going on inside (can't help peeking undr the hood). That might have blown some around. Most of it, in the end, was on the bottom. I didn't think to foil it, but I will now. I assume you're talking foiling the tray that is slanted into the grease trap?

Actually mine didn't even come with a manual. But I understand that most people foil the meat drip tray. I was talking about the bottom of the smoker. I don't know if everyone does, but it's how I did my CS's so I do it in my FE also.

Remembered I had a photo on the site, see here. Also, in this photo my drip pay isn't lined -- what WAS I thinking?

Thanks for the clarification, SmokinOkie.

This is what an FE USED to look like before all that lovin' you've been giving it.



oops. Looks like I don't know how to add a picture to a post.

One of the things we like to do on this forum is to post pictures as much as possible.

When you have them on other servers, like Yahoo, you typically have to sign in to see them and that's not good for forum people usually.

SO, to provide a service like I do in the other forums, send me a copy of the original photo (before editing) and I can place it on the CS server and solve the problem.

My email is in my profile (find my profile link just above the area where this text is.

You can also go back and edit your own post and delete the bad information.

Smokin'