Firesmiths Hero Smoker & Grill Usage & Care

After seasoning your Hero Smoker & Grill before your first cook, it is not necessary to deep wash or scrub the inside of  your smoker again as this will remove the protective coating you applied while seasoning your drum smoker.

Once you finished cooking, simply remove the charcoal basket and ash pan that contains all the ashes and throw-away accordingly. For any ashes that might have fallen to the bottom of the smoker, simply brush or scrape together and then remove from the smoker chamber – as always please make sure that the ashes are burnt-through and cold before throwing them away.

If you notice any flakiness due to natural grease and food build-up, don’t worry. This is simply build-up that has started to peel depending on how regularly you use your smoker. It is perfectly safe however and does not mean there is anything wrong with your drum smoker.  Should you want to, you can use a relevant braai utensil such as a braai brush or scouring pad to scrape it down. Again, it’s important that you don’t use water or any soap inside your drum cooker as this will remove the protective coating when you seasoned your smoker.

Should you wish to give it a deep clean and scrub on the inside, we recommend to do it only once a year – taking into account that you will need to re-season it  properly as you did the first time prior to cooking.

For the outside surfaces we recommend simply to use a damp wet cloth (adding mild soap is fine) and gently rubbing off any dirt build-up.

For all other Firesmiths Hero Smoker & Grill accessories such as the braai grids, steel hooks, food hanger rods etc. you can wash normally (mild soap is fine) and use a relevant utensil like a braai brush or scouring pad to scrape of those tough bits of food build-up and grease prior to washing.

Over time rust or peeling may appear on the interior / exterior of your unit. It’s the result of being subjected to some pretty harsh conditions between cooking and the elements. Properly seasoning (and re-seasoning when you did a deep clean) will aid in the protection of your unit’s interior. For the exterior an occasional paint touch up will work

 NOTE: Never paint the interior of your unit. It will not be food safe.

If rust appears, clean with a heavy brush or steel wool. To protect the bare steel surface we recommend using the following methods:

• Use commercially available black high temperature spray paint to recoat the area – EXTERIOR ONLY
• Coat the area with natural cooking oil and burn in the unit, similarly to the initial seasoning process. This is a suitable method for the interior as well as exterior area of the unit. Recoat occasionally

As added protection against the elements, we recommend you buy one of our custom fitted covers to keep your smoker looking good!