Matt's BBQ Pits, LLC

Seasoning your pit:

 We use professional grade 1200 degree barbecue pit paint.  Its important to heat cure it in properly and not make too hot of a fire on your first burn or two. Do Not Spray your Paint or wipe your paint down with oil or grease because it will cause adhesion issues and void any warranty claim on the paint.  On your first burn in remove the meat racks and build a small fire in most chambers with charcoal running no more than 250 degrees. If you are careful and, if the pit is a smoker with a firebox, put a wet log on top one at a time to make cool smoky burning fire after you ran it with charcoal.  Keep a good head clearance between the flame and top of the firebox. Do not burn hot logs or chunks directly under your meat racks because its too much heat. You can re-install your meat racks at this time. Depending on your own personal preference, you may choose to season the meat racks with onion and canola oil.  We recommend spraying your meat racks with canola oil. We recommend mesquite, oak, or pecan for your wood.  Other woods like hickory are ok too as long as its cured wood and not green. Also do not use woods that could be harmful or poisonous. Burn the pit for an hour and cut the whole onion in half to grate it on the meat racks.  Continue to add wet logs here and there for a few hours.



We use professional grade barbecue pit paint 1200 degree formula.  Using a cover is a good idea if your smoker is positioned open to the rain and other elements.  Winter rain and ice is particularly hard on steel because it doesn't evaporate so quickly in the cold weather. Even with a cover or under a pation covering extended use will fade the paint.  We suggest applying a new coat of Rustoleum 1200 degree barbecue pit paint every couple or years to keep it renewed and fresh. If you can buy the can meant for a paint gun and spray it with a paint gun that is optimal and Rustoleum is capatible with the original paint on your unit.  Even though we use professional grade high heat paint its not bullet proof.  There is potential for damage by not understanding the limitations of the paint and we want to help you avoid any errors to preserve the life of your paint.

It is the explicit position and clearly stated here that Matt’s BBQ Pits, LLC. does not in any way advise wiping any type of oil or grease on the OUTSIDE of the bbq pit. This can serve as a fire hazard and can also damage the PAINT on the bbq pit. The high quality paint we use is intended for high heat. Applying any of type of oil/grease onto the OUTSIDE of the pit in any manner is strongly discouraged and Matt’s BBQ Pits, LLC. is not responsible for damage to the paint or pit caused by a customer performing such a practice of oil/grease application to the outside of the pit. Matt’s BBQ Pits, LLC.  and any member of Matt’s BBQ Pits, LLC. reserves the right to determine that oil or grease has been deliberately applied to the outside of a pit after customer purchase of the pit and rubbed onto the outside of the bbq pit, by visual verification  and inspection alone.

You also need to know that a flame from a wood fire does burn at or above 2,600 degrees or above and if you don't give enough head space between the flame and roof of the firebox you may heat the paing beyond its limitations. There are not many options out there for paint to handle that. Its one of the reasons we don't build 16 inch or 18 inch diameter smokers.  And we recommend the deep square firebox upgrades if you can. If you do ever burn off the paint in a spot there are some easy quick options for you to solve the problem and prevent rust.  You should sand the chipped paint with a wire wheel and put a fresh coat on it.

Wet Weather:

It is advised that the smoke stack cover be closed during rain.

This notice serves as verification that you have received full understanding of the general care instructions advised by Matt’s BBQ Pits, LLC.   - Enjoy your new bbq pit!



If you want your Matt's Fine Tune Reverse Flow smoker to run like in the videos its a farily simple process.  After building a fire I load the firebox up with more than one thickness of log.  Its good to use some medium and skinny logs too.  I would give enough head space between the fire and top of the firebox and keep hot burning kindling toward the bottom.  Also do not forget to remove your firebox meat rack while buring wood in the firebox.  It can handle heat from coals but was never intened to handle direct heat from log fire.  Even a cnc cut 1/4 inch plate meat rack would warp up from that heat.  Keep the stack lid wide open.  You can tune the last tuning plate so your temps even out on both sides. After the main chamber is heated to proper desired temp we close all air intake vents on the firebox but one.  Too much air intake will munch through the wood too fast and you want a good vacuum seal on those lids as your tall smoke stack draws the air and smoke out efficiently.

If your last plate is slid over enough your reverse flow smoker will actually heat up quickly within 15 minutes if you follow these directions. I would also note that reverse flow smokers are not designed to run the main chamber much over 300 degrees.  They don't run like the short 30 inch traditional smokers where you could run it at 500 degrees for steaks.  If you attemp this you will way over heat the paint beyond its limitations on the firebox top. That would void the paint warranty.  Tuning plates are designed to keep your temp in the main chamber from going over smoking temps.

I have used the same meat racks in my smoker for 10 years without ever replacing them.  They still have many years to go.  You can do the same by having the right expectations on how to use yor pit.  First I would make sure carcoals are properly lit and spread out before sliding in the meat rack.  If the charcoals are concentrated in a pile the heat would be too much and you risk warpage.  Not even stainless steel would hold up.  Also avoid wood chunks directly under your meat racks.  I would use a few chips for smoke flavoring.  Remember to remove the meat rack in your firebox brfore building wood fire in there.  We scrub the racks with a wire brush for cleaning.