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It is strongly recommended to pre-burn your smoker prior to your first use. By lighting a SMALL charcoal fire to simulate
the cooking process, you will burn off any residues or oils from the manufacturing process. This will also cure and
harden the high temperature paint finish. This is a once only process.
LIGHTING A FIRE
Open the hood of your smoker, as well as all of the vents and dampers.
Remove the cooking grills. Add charcoal or timber. Do not put more than 1.5kgs of charcoal briquettes or 1.0 kgs of
lump charcoal into the smoker, onto the charcoal grills. Do not let burning charcoal or wood come in contact with the
walls of the smoker (keep fuel approximately 50 mm away from the smoker sides). Use firelighters to start the fire,
following the directions on the packet. Set vent and damper each about half open.
Allow the charcoal enough time to completely ash over before beginning to cook, so that the firelighters have enough
time to burn off. Starting to cook too soon can leave your food tasting like firelighters. After ash over is complete, use
long-handled tongs to spread the charcoal into a single layer on the charcoal grills.
Chimney starters, electric starters, or other types of fire starters may be used instead of firelighter to light the fire – but
only according to those manufacturers’ instructions. Never use instant light charcoal or charcoal lighter fluid with any of
these other starting methods.
CONTROLLING A FIRE
Allow enough time for properly building the fire and getting the smoker up to desired temperature before attempting to
cook.
Rising heat and smoke will move up and out of the unit, pulling in cooler air behind it, which provides more oxygen for
the fire. Your smoker has a vent and a damper that control airflow, which lets you fine tune the temperature. NOTE:
Dampers and vents will become very hot after lighting the charcoal - be sure to wear insulated grill mitts during
adjustment
。
After the fire is established and the unit reaches the desired cooking temperature, the vents and dampers can be left
completely open, providing maximum airflow for a higher temperature or closed as needed to decrease airflow for a
lower temperature. Use the temperature indicator to monitor.
Half opening the damper on the stack and half opening the vent on the smoker side panel will create a convection
effect inside the grill when the hood is closed. This will allow for extended cooking times when Indirect Cooking. Too
much fuel with vents and damper fuly open will overheat and damage your smoker.
ADDING ADDITIONAL FUEL
To achieve the extended cooking times needed for Indirect Cooking or slow smoking, additional fuel can be added by