After The Smoke????

D

dan09554

Guest
Now that my session is over, how should I prepare the smoker for the next smoke? Is scraping the bits of flavor of the cooking grates enough, or do I need a more thorough cleaning? I don't think I want to remove the flavor that is starting to accumulate. Thanks for any help. So far, you folks have been nothing short of amazing with the info
 
Just clean the grates. I don't clean and reseason the inside walls of mine but once a year or so. Unless they get really nasty or some thing extrememe.
 
I like to clean my cookers after each use. I just spent the last hour cleaning mine. I scraped and brushed the grates, sprayed them down with degreaser, let them sit for a few minutes, then rinsed them well with the water hose. Dried them and gave them a light spray of Pam.

I also put foil in the bottom of my cooker. I used paper towels to soak up most of the grease in the bottom, removed the foil, wiped the inside down well, gave it a light spray of pam, and put in new foil. I then wiped the rest of the inside down and gave it a light spray of pam.

I use a pan to catch ash in the firebox. I removed it and dumped the ash, used a shovel to remove the remaining ash in the firebox. Then, used my shop vac to remove the residue. I then wiped down and gave the inside of the firebox a light spray of pam.

Then, I went to work on the outside. I wiped the outside of the firebox down and gave it a coat of high heat paint and waited for it to dry. I then cleaned the outside of the rest of the smoker with degreaser and also gave the outside a light coat of Pam. I also made sure that the hinges and other moving parts were well lubricated with Pam.

A clean pit cooks better BBQ than a rancid one.
 
dan09554 said:
Now that my session is over, how should I prepare the smoker for the next smoke? Is scraping the bits of flavor of the cooking grates enough, or do I need a more thorough cleaning? I don't think I want to remove the flavor that is starting to accumulate. Thanks for any help. So far, you folks have been nothing short of amazing with the info
Click to expand...

I appreciate you being here, dan.
 
Ok Bo... Is it because its a new Jambo or because the Mrs told you to?

Seriously... while its still hot... brush down the grates and scrape the baffle on the Lang.
 
The most important step, IMO, is to get the cooking grates indoors. I pull mine, and hang them in the garage. I leave them as-is, so they are coated with fat. No rust that way. I do my cleaning right before the next cook.

I hang my grates on this 12-inch spike in my garage, and just leave them covered with whatever was on them when I pulled them off the grill/smoker. That way, there is no rust accumulating while they are in storage. Then, when I am ready to use them again, they are really easy to clean.

CD
 
Boshizzle said:
I like to clean my cookers after each use. I just spent the last hour cleaning mine. I scraped and brushed the grates, sprayed them down with degreaser, let them sit for a few minutes, then rinsed them well with the water hose. Dried them and gave them a light spray of Pam.

I also put foil in the bottom of my cooker. I used paper towels to soak up most of the grease in the bottom, removed the foil, wiped the inside down well, gave it a light spray of pam, and put in new foil. I then wiped the rest of the inside down and gave it a light spray of pam.

I use a pan to catch ash in the firebox. I removed it and dumped the ash, used a shovel to remove the remaining ash in the firebox. Then, used my shop vac to remove the residue. I then wiped down and gave the inside of the firebox a light spray of pam.

Then, I went to work on the outside. I wiped the outside of the firebox down and gave it a coat of high heat paint and waited for it to dry. I then cleaned the outside of the rest of the smoker with degreaser and also gave the outside a light coat of Pam. I also made sure that the hinges and other moving parts were well lubricated with Pam.

A clean pit cooks better BBQ than a rancid one.
Click to expand...

Damn, I'm exhausted just reading this.
 
I have a gasser specifically for the purpose of cleaning grates. With the WSM grids, I have to rotate them. Makes for easy cleanup. I char the stuck on stuff, get it off with a grill brush, and then make sure to oil the grates before each use to help prevent sticking as much as possible. Very easy this way IMHO.
 
I clean my grates before and after each cook with a wire brush then rub them down with a little bit of cooking oil. Firebox gets a coat of paint about twice year. Had my pit for 6 years now and its holding up pretty good.
 
I deep clean them after a few months, but usually just wire brush the grates then wipe an onion half to degrease, then lightly oil.
 
I usually just let it cool and cover it after use. Before the next use i get it hot, give the grates a quick rub down with a wad of aluminum foil, then a light coat of vegetable oil spray and put my food on.

If crud starts to build up i scrape the easy to get stuff and leave it at that. Half the reason i started grilling in the first place was the easy cleanup.
 
Every few months, I get mine up to about 400F and hit the smoker box with a pressure washer.. Then because the way my kids are growing, I can wipe the think out with a few old clothed and put the grease and ask in the bin... works real gooood!
 
Boshizzle said:
I like to clean my cookers after each use. I just spent the last hour cleaning mine. I scraped and brushed the grates, sprayed them down with degreaser, let them sit for a few minutes, then rinsed them well with the water hose. Dried them and gave them a light spray of Pam.

I also put foil in the bottom of my cooker. I used paper towels to soak up most of the grease in the bottom, removed the foil, wiped the inside down well, gave it a light spray of pam, and put in new foil. I then wiped the rest of the inside down and gave it a light spray of pam.

I use a pan to catch ash in the firebox. I removed it and dumped the ash, used a shovel to remove the remaining ash in the firebox. Then, used my shop vac to remove the residue. I then wiped down and gave the inside of the firebox a light spray of pam.

Then, I went to work on the outside. I wiped the outside of the firebox down and gave it a coat of high heat paint and waited for it to dry. I then cleaned the outside of the rest of the smoker with degreaser and also gave the outside a light coat of Pam. I also made sure that the hinges and other moving parts were well lubricated with Pam.

A clean pit cooks better BBQ than a rancid one.
Click to expand...


dan09554,

I see you didn't really appreciate my post. So, let me followup with this. Built up old, stale grease and meat fragments isn't flavor. It's a health hazard. It is also a fire hazard if you are using a vertical smoker. The more you use your pit the less frequently you have to thoroughly clean it as the frequent heat helps prevent build up of rotting and stale grease and meat fragments. It's kind of like some restaurants that only change the deep fryer oil once a week. By the same token, if the smoker is a vertical one the more you use it the more often you should remove the fat from the bottom of the smoker at least because of the possibility of a grease fire.

However, if you are only using the smoker once a week or less, I am convinced it has to be cleaned well after each use. In those cases the build up does not enhance flavor. Flavor comes from the meat, the smoke and the rub. Some of the great old time BBQ cooks got flavor just cooking in a pitch or ditch they dug in the ground. No "seasoning" there.

The "seasoning" in a pit does way less than a lot of people would like you to believe.
 
Wait.....hold on a sec.....


You're saying that unless you use your pit MORE OFTEN than once a week, then you should thoroughly clean the pit after each use? So, if you're only a weekend backyard smoker OR a competition team, you should clean the pit every time you use it?

Seems like that's what you said....:confused:



I can understand preventing a pit fire, but that would really only require cleaning the big stuff off, or giving it a good scrape down only if it's been building up. I, however, do not at all think that NOT cleaning a pit after each use is asking for bad BBQ.
 
Wampus said:
Wait.....hold on a sec.....


You're saying that unless you use your pit MORE OFTEN than once a week, then you should thoroughly clean the pit after each use? So, if you're only a weekend backyard smoker OR a competition team, you should clean the pit every time you use it?

Seems like that's what you said....:confused:



I can understand preventing a pit fire, but that would really only require cleaning the big stuff off, or giving it a good scrape down only if it's been building up. I, however, do not at all think that NOT cleaning a pit after each use is asking for bad BBQ.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's pretty much what I said. I have a UDS that I haven't used for a couple of months. If I didn't clean it after the last time I used it, I'd hate to see the disgusting mess that would be in it right now sitting in the hot sun on my patio. It's easier for me to clean up when done rather clean up the greasy stinky mess after it's been sitting for weeks.
 
I pull my grates, hit with a wire brush, spray them (and the cooker) down with a hose, wipe with one of those sponge/scour thingees (the yellow ones), spray again, wipe with a rag, let dry and then hit with Vegalene (kinda like Pam but used in restaurants). Sometimes I'll spray a little water in the cooker when it's hot, let it steam a little & hit with a rag. Seems to be working so far.
 
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