Burning out a new SS Smoketube


 
Jonas-Switzerland

Jonas-Switzerland

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Hi guys

Quick question.

Today came my new stainless steel smoke tube from a china. The website has been in the news lately for sketchy products and I read up on zinc poisoning from stainless products on this very forum. I want to burn it out thoroughly. But I hesitate to fill it up with charcoal briketts.

What do you think? I can fill it with briketts, buy some lump charcoal, or maybe sacrifice some wood chips?
 
It's not often you see galvanised SS. But it is out there, I've seen it. Usually it's used to coat sub-standard SS. So it doesn't surprise me to learn that some cheap Chinesium SS is galvanised.
If it worries you Jonas, do a sacrificial burn. 30 lit briqs or lump in a basket, fill the tube with chips and let it ride on the briqs.
I've had galvie poisoning a long time ago and it isn't nice. Nausea, headache & mild flu-like symptoms. My own fault for gas-axing some galvanised steel grating. A pint of milk sorted it out quite quickly though.
 
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Just paranoia from being a parent.

Most of the shops that deliver to me send me the chinese stuff anyways, they just take a hefty markup for it.

It came with two hooks. Maybe I can suspend them off my grate and burn it above my gas grill directly. Either that or I burn it in a coal bed.

No idea why I was hesitant about throwing it into coals. Maybe I was scared I'd melt the thing befor l get to taste some smoked raclette cheese
 
Jonas-Switzerland said:
Maybe I was scared I'd melt the thing
Click to expand...
I don't think you'll melt it. I've put mine directly on charcoal and its doing OK.

and some temps from wikipedia:

Charcoal burns at temperatures exceeding 1,100 degrees Celsius (2,010 degrees Fahrenheit).
By comparison, the melting point of is approximately 1,200 to 1,550 °C (2,190 to 2,820 °F).

Melting point of stainless steel is near that of ordinary steel, and much higher than the melting points of aluminium or copper. As with most alloys, the melting point of stainless steel is expressed in the form of a range of temperatures, and not a single temperature. This temperature range goes from 1,400 to 1,530 °C (2,550 to 2,790 °F; 1,670 to 1,800 K; 3,010 to 3,250 °R) depending on the specific consistency of the alloy in question.
 
Agree with DanHoo, you probably won't melt it, but a burn without food should oxidize the zinc off of the surface if the tube is galvanized. It does sound like substandard "stainless steel" though, as any decent stainless steel wouldn't need to be galvanized. Just remember the words of the guy on the Blendtec's Will It Blend? YouTube channel - "...don't breathe this...". I.e., if you do burn off the zinc, don't breathe the fumes. As TonyUK pointed out, "metal fever" isn't a fun time.
 
I used to weld stainless steel piping.
The pic to the left is me making a stainless weld looking down on the San Francisco Bay Bridge.

I’ve never heard of galvanized coated stainless steel.
If you think about it wouldn’t it cost a lot more to galvanize dip stainless and what would it do?
I have seen people put paint on stainless to cover up the oxidation areas near welds on stainless steel piping because they were to cheap to properly clean off the oxidized areas with stainless steel bushes and scottsbrite.

Jonas there might be manufacturing oils and or solvents on the new tubes that can easily be cleaned or burned off but I doubt there would be zinc from galvanization.
You could easily test for zinc with a torch by looking at the color of the flame.
A green flame with white powdery fluffy stuff is what zinc would look like.
Good luck.
Andy.
 
If your gonna cold smoke then I wouldnt worry about it.
Lighting off one end with pellets is not going to get hot enough for temps to worry about any off gassing IMO.
 
Could there possibly be a little confusion here between zinc and chromium?
Both are nasty in the gas form.
Both turn into gas form at approximately 1650f.
Lots of people have heard that the chromium from stainless is harmful the thing is temps of 1650f isn’t easily obtained while cooking.

Here is a link that talks about it a bit.
www.quora.com

At what temperature when heated does stainless steel begin to release toxic fumes?

Answer (1 of 6): The Old Metallurgical Engineer and Steelmaker says: The most common stainless steel is Grade 304, which contains (in wt% of alloying element): 18 – 20 Cr 8 – 10.5 Ni ≤ 0.08 C ≤ 2.0 Mn ≤ 0.75 Si Grade 304 is the standard "18/8" stainless; it is the most versatile and most w...
www.quora.com www.quora.com
 
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