Just Ordered FEC120 (First pellet also)

My answers are based on my FEC100 experience but will generally apply to the 120.

Your instruction manual will provide you seasoning tips. 3-4 hrs at 225 (or whatever the manual suggests) should provide a good initial seasoning. Follow up with a pork butt or two.

Fires - keep the bottom of the smoker clean of debris and grease. Keep meats centered over the lower drip deflector. Vacuum the firepot after each smoke. The one and only fire I've had in my 100 was a result of too many chickens (and high heat) overhanging the drip shelf.

Dry heat is your friend. You'll find the bark on butts and briskets more pronounced. Briskets are best cooked fat side down. If I'm smoking only 1 or 2 racks of ribs, I'll give them a spritz of apple juice every 30 minutes.

Pellets - I've tried quite a few brands. I lean a bit towards Fast Eddy's 100% Hickory but Cookshack's pellets are very acceptable. Your proximity to Ponca City negates the need to pay the hefty shipping charges. If you feel the need to go "off the reservation" and check other pellet options, check out Big Poppa's website. They're usually sold with free shipping.

Finally, pellet smokers provide less smoke profile vs your Smokette & 105. There are ways around this but I'll save that for another day. Season the smoker, cook a few meats and we'll go from there.

Thanks for info. Do you ever use a water pan?

Don't think there will be a need for the water pan.

While I have a 100 instead of the 120, my understanding of your smoker is that fires are not a concern. Your fire pot is not in the cooking area, where grease can catch on fire.

Also your smoker uses a convection fan to circulate the smoke in the cooking chamber, which results in more even cooking and even a tad faster cooking times.

I switched from an 020 to an FEC100. The FEC is a much drier environment, but that seems to produce a much nicer bark. I don't use a waterpan. haven't found a need to yet.

If I'm not mistaken, the firepot on the 120 is not in the cooking chamber, so I think fires wouldn't be much of a problem.

The FE120 doesn't have the fire issue because it's in the back. That and the convection fan are the # on reasons.

I'm not a believe in water pans, don't think they help unless the smoker design calls for it, the 120 does not.

Get a PB and some chickens and do a couple of cooks and you'll rapidly come up to speed.

This IS a different heat from the electrics and in some ways better. The design of the electrics is to keep the moisture in to help those smokers work better.

Just uncrated my new beauty. ( wife said we needed break I as was so excited). No instructions as to seasoning it. It is a beauty and I am in awe looking at it in the garage. I just bought wife new escalade and it is sitting next to it and it outshines the caddy. !!!!

So....what is best way to season so I can get smoking?

At a minimum just get everything ready and start a load of pellets say 300 for 3 to 4 hours.

Then cook something like a PB.

5 hours into first smoke and getting pretty major temp swings. I have the temp set at 225 and the temp is swinging from 208 to 250. It is cold outside and windy but is it suppose to swing this much. Using new redi-chek thermometer set. The 11 pound the thermometer is stuck in is showing 171 after only five hours in.

Sounds a little silly but you can expect a little temp differences with out any meat in it. If you just breaking it in I know it will help by adding a pan of water on a shelf to act as some meat. It really does help with this.

I didn't test the temp when I was seasoning it. After seasoning and to kill time before putting on briskets that night, I threw on some pork ribs. I didn't use my thermometer then either and the ribs were way overcooked and never drew back the bone tips. I noticed a few times it seemed to be running hot.

I used the dual thermometer for the briskets and that was when I noticed the huge swings. 207 through 250 when set on 225. I had two 11 pound briskets on and they were at 200 in 10.5 hours. Tasted great but seemed tougher than what I would get out of my CS 105 but it would take 12-14 hours to get to 200 at 225.

I also used 20 pounds of pellets in 20 hours which sounds about right.