Advise on cleaning smoker

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Serviviente

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Hey guys! First post here...i am a newbie (take it easy on me) to offset smokers but ive been doing BBQ and grilling for years. I recently purchased a RF smoker, heavy duty but the person that built it DID not installed a drainer and to make matters worse the chamber grate was weldered to the frame so there was no way of cleaning the chamber!! I took a torch and installed a drainer and obviously I had to remove the expanded metal and built new removable grates. There was a lot of metal particles flying in that chamber that adhered to the "seasoned" walls of the chamber. How will you go about cleaning to walls to make certain its ready to cook.

I was thinking about heating it to about 300 degrees and spraying it with water, repeating the process a few times and finally oiling it up and curing it OR

doing the same thing but using a degreaser first, but i don't know how recommended that will be.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
Dawn dish soap works really well at degreasing and doing a general cleaning. I would get everything nice and wet, fill up the bottom of the cooker a bit, pour in some Dawn, and give everything a good scrub. Let it all drain out and then give it a couple of rinses to make sure you've gotten rid of all the gunk. Then start a fire, let it all dry out a bit, and then start the seasoning process.

Good luck and post pics of the cooker if you can...it's always easier to give good advice when there's a visual...picture is worth 1000 words and such.
 
I would hit it with a good amount of degreaser and then take it to a carwash and give it a good HOT spray, scrub if you have to. You're going to have to look at it like starting over from raw steel. I would imagine that depending on its age there is going to be alot of hardened grease in the bottom of that thing. You might find a good putty knife or drywall trowel will help as well.
Good Luck!
 
Maybe Simple Green or Purple Power then the car wash?


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Fire it up to 500+ and all the grease will smoke off. When the smoke stops, you will be left with dry carbon to brush off. The metal fragments won’t stick either.

You can also use a weed burner torch. The 500,000 BTU one with igniter from Harbor Freight works great for $30. As a bonus, the torch is perfect for lighting fires and future grill cleanings as well.
 
+1 on the weed burner. A lot less messy and you wont warp the doors.
 
thanks for the suggestions guys! I ended up spraying HEAVY with simple green a few times and power washed...came out great...then I re seasoned and its ready to go!!!
 
If I may piggyback on this thread...when cleaning an old/neglected smoker, have any of you guys had sheets of what felt like rust flake off on the bottom of the firebox? I can't tell if it's rust or just old carbon. It sure felt hard and heavy like it was metallic, but I'm leaning toward not because it was super thick and once it was removed, it didn't seem to compromise the thickness or integrity of the underlying steel itself.
 
TxQGuy said:
If I may piggyback on this thread...when cleaning an old/neglected smoker, have any of you guys had sheets of what felt like rust flake off on the bottom of the firebox? I can't tell if it's rust or just old carbon. It sure felt hard and heavy like it was metallic, but I'm leaning toward not because it was super thick and once it was removed, it didn't seem to compromise the thickness or integrity of the underlying steel itself.
Click to expand...

Yes, burned grease and drippings that build up will flake off.
 
Dawn is the most harsh cleaner that I will use inside a cooker,if you want to wash it.Otherwise,BURN IT OFF,like a self cleaning oven.Then,you are good to go.
 
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