Not lining box/bottom with foil

You'll get to a point where the bottom is covered with drippings, grease, chunks, etc.

Foil makes cleanup easier, and it's cheap.

It's okay to skip it, it's not required, but cleanup will be harder.

Plus,if there would ever be a fire,it could be a grease fire there.

I just smoked my first Q on my new CS 020. I lined the bottom with heavy duty foil. But, I used light duty 12" foil for the heat shield above the smoke box. The 12" was the exact width of the shield so I thought it would work good. Anyhow, I wrapped the foil under the front edge but it wasn't wide enough to wrap on the sides. Even though it was laying flat on the shield and went to the sides, grease still managed to get under the foil and bake onto the shield pretty good. In fact, by the time I went to pull the cooled foil off, the grease bonded the foil to the heat shield and ripped apart when being removed. I ended up scraping off grease / foil.

WT, some folks don't bother with the foil at all. I find that it does make clean up easier. I've always used the heavy duty foil on the bottom pf the smoker and top of wood box and haven't had problems with the foil. Even after multiple smokes the heavy duty foil will come off easily. Yes, the grease will find its way under the foil and the stainless will discoler a bit, but that is to be expected.

quote:

Originally posted by West Tex:
In fact, by the time I went to pull the cooled foil off, the grease bonded the foil to the heat shield and ripped apart when being removed. I ended up scraping off grease / foil.

WT,
From your description I can't determine if the grease was cooked hard or just solidified to the point of being firmly attached to the foil (and smoker).
On occasion I've had to delay cleanup of my smoker until the next day. While not fully baked on, I do have grease that sneaks underneath the bottom foil. My solution was to turn on the smoker again but only for a few minutes. While still warm, but not hot, I can usually remove the foil. The grease warms up and for a short period is workable.
This may not apply at all to your situation but I thought I'd throw it out there for others with a similar situation.
-Grub

When I first started using my SM025 the foil worked great and kept the grease from getting on the smoker parts. Now that I have used the smmoker 20 times or so, the grease always finds a way under the foil. How the heck does that happen?

I use heavy duty foil.

SmokinMAINEiac

basically, the grease gets vaporized along with the moisture from the meats and get in all the nooks and crannies, and therefore under the foil since it's not sealed. You notice that all surfaces inside the smoker are greasy including the top due to this.