Door leaking black water?

[weekendsmoker]

Hi there, I have noticed over the past couple of smokes that my door is leaking black water out of the bottom corner of the non hindge side.  Is this just a normal build up of moisture?  There is usually a couple of tablespoons pooling on the table.  Thanks for any input.

I was doing jerky today and it's -10 outside (Canadian temp)  I have to have the smoker up to 220 in order to get 160 degrees in the smoker, and this is in the garage.  Do I have a leak maybe, are the two problems related?

[bigredsmoker]

I had the same problem on my first few smokes only on the hinge side. I then put a level on to and found I had about a 3/4 inch forward lean. I am thinking this may have caused juices to run forward and miss the drip catch. I have not done a long smoke since making the adjustment so I don't know if it corrected it. You may try and see if you are out of level.

Terry

[Mr Walleye]

Depending on how much jerky you have in there you want to make sure you have your vent open enough to let the moisture escape. When I start for the first hour I usually have mine around 3/4 open sometimes more. When you are doing jerky it can give off quit a bit of moisture which if not vented can hold your temps down and cause the build up of moisture on the inside of the tower. As the moisture leaves you will see your tower temps rise. BigRed's comment on making sure it's level is a good idea too.

Mike

[Habanero Smoker]

I raise my front end 1/4" higher then the rear. In case you do have too much moisture building up it will flow towards the back of the machine. You have the digital, so you only have to worry about staining your deck, table or floor. Members with to OBS have to be concerned with the moisture flowing into the circuit board that controls the temperature.

[brotheryyy]

The first time I tried to smoke a briskett I had a major moisture problem that built up back into the digital box, i almost freeked but cleaned it up as quick as possible. Ive since learned to manuever the vent to help let out the excess moisture and have never had the problem again. I hope that simple adjustment works for you as well.