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Cleaning out the inside of your barrel

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cmwr

is Blowin Smoke!
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Even after vacuming I have "crust" on the bottom of my UDS. Should I just leave it alone or do you guys scrape this stuff out after every cook and re oil?

I think I am going to build an ash catcher cause my shop vac is getting too much use and I want to protect the bottom of my barrel somewhat so it doesn't rust out. I didn't use to mind vacuming out my ashes but to be honest I am getting tired of it. The piles of ash clog my filter almost immediately and it loses suction. Then I got to pull it apart and clean it and it happens again almost immediately. That ash is thick stuff.
 
Maintenence/cleaning is my second biggest concern with drums. The first is what the neighbors will think with a drum park 3 ft from the front door.
 
smoke ninja said:
Maintenence/cleaning is my second biggest concern with drums. The first is what the neighbors will think with a drum park 3 ft from the front door.
Click to expand...

I figure if I get a good ash catcher then I won't have any more crusty build up on the bottom.
 
I just lay foil on the bottom. When it gets nasty, fold it up and throw away.
 
I use a hoe similar to this one. Try to find one with rounded corners

70183.jpg
 
I use a shop vac to suck up the ash. I use it to clean my coal stove too so no worries about it.
 
c farmer said:
I use a shop vac to suck up the ash. I use it to clean my coal stove too so no worries about it.
Click to expand...


When I use a paper filter in my shop vac the ash plugs it up in seconds. If I use the foam sleeve, the exhaust blows the ash everywhere as it sucks it up. You want to make sure the shop vac is downwind when you do it lol.
 
I use foil roasting pans , flatten them out a little , they hold lots of ash , for clean out , i use a dog pooper scooper , not the same one used for my dogs lol
 
I just dump the ash out by turning drum upside down -the following weekend- and water the ashes into yard with water hose . Mine has a crust on bottom - I don't care - drums are easy to get around here........:wink:
 
Ash and grease go into this...covers the whole bottom. Pull it out every few cooks and empty...couldn't be much easier for me.



 
cmwr said:
I posted another post about this. I need an 18" pan to cover my basket and they are hard to find.
Click to expand...

Check your local pizzaria for worn out pans and see if they will sell you one. I have one mounted to the bottom of my basket (three inches below actually) and it catches about 90 percent of the ashes on a normal cook. Longer cooks result in spilled over ashes. Use a normal garden hoe and a fireplace broom to remove the excess that spills out of the pizza pan. Before the pizza pan, just used the hoe and brush. Any crust was removed with the hoe. Took about 10 minutes to clean out this way.

Blessings,
Omar
 
I have a 16" $5.00 pizza pan from Walmart bolted 3" below the bottom of the coal basket it catches 99% he 1% getrs pressure washed out few times a year.
 
cmwr said:
When I use a paper filter in my shop vac the ash plugs it up in seconds. If I use the foam sleeve, the exhaust blows the ash everywhere as it sucks it up. You want to make sure the shop vac is downwind when you do it lol.
Click to expand...

Get a good shop vac.
 
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