cueball21
02-17-2017, 12:36 PM
Yesterday was the maiden run on my Brazos - with food being smoked. I had wiped it out then wiped it down inside and out with vegetable oil and burned a couple of seasoning runs before actually cooking anything. After getting a quarter cord of post oak earlier in the week, I lit a bed of charcoal with a weed burner then spread it a bit and put a couple sticks on it. I sat back and watched as temps came up. Temp stabilized at about 260° with the 2 sticks burning good. While Brazos Bob was heating up, I trimmed washed and rubbed a STL ribs cryo-pac.
Although I managed to let the heat drop below 200° because I had to go to a medical appointment that took longer than I thought, the fire did no go out and I was able to get it back up above 225° with another couple sticks. I made notes and will do better with fire control in the future, but I am not at all disappointed because the ribs came out great even though I cooked them longer than I usually would. I didn't foil or even open the CC door until I thought they would be done. While perfection is never achievable, these came far closer than a rookie on a stick burner had any right to expect.
This AM I went out and cleaned the smoker which leads to the reason for this post. There was a pile of wood ash maybe 5" deep in the bottom of the fire box, appropriate to the 8 or so sticks I burned. There was one piece of charcoaled stick and one 3" end of a stick that never burned, but everything else turned to a fine, powdery ash.
I swept all that out into my ash bin then did my best to scrape down to metal and get all the alkaline ash out. When I had gotten as much as I could with the brush, I switched to blue shop paper towels. When I could get no more, I poured about half a coup of vegetable oil down the back side and wiped the entire interior down in the oil using another shop paper towel being sure to get every inch of surface area including underneath the firebox lid.
After dealing with the firebox, I moved to the cooking chamber. I had cooked the ribs on the upper shelf; so it had the residue from my rub that includes brown sugar. I scraped that rack top and bottom with a grill scraper then brushed it with the steel bristles. It kept a good coat of oil so I didn't add any more. I'll check and maybe spread some the next time I cook. I went over the main rack in the same way but with less residue. It, too, needed no oiling.
I had used the firebox bottom for a tuning plate; so I had to clean it too. It had right much residue but scraping and brushing got it respectable again. It had dried out a bit; so I rubbed it good with veggie oil. I finished by scraping the sides and bottom then wiping out the residue. After getting as much as I could out, I poured veggie oil along the back of the CC and used the blue paper towels to spread it all over the interior including the underside of the baffle plate and the underside of the lid. When I put the tuning plate and racks back in place, it looked ready for the next food to be placed on the racks. I finished by wiping down the shelf then dropping it out of the way. I used a little veg oil but not as thickly as I did the firebox and CC.
I think I'll probably do this after the next few smokes just to be sure I get a good seasoning on the innards. My questions are 1) Do you have suggestions for improving the way I cleaned it? and 2) Do you think I went too far with the process? and 3) When can I relax the cleaning protocol a bit? and 4) Is there a time when I should stop doing more than just wiping the insides down?
Thanks for listening. Look for to your advice.
Although I managed to let the heat drop below 200° because I had to go to a medical appointment that took longer than I thought, the fire did no go out and I was able to get it back up above 225° with another couple sticks. I made notes and will do better with fire control in the future, but I am not at all disappointed because the ribs came out great even though I cooked them longer than I usually would. I didn't foil or even open the CC door until I thought they would be done. While perfection is never achievable, these came far closer than a rookie on a stick burner had any right to expect.
This AM I went out and cleaned the smoker which leads to the reason for this post. There was a pile of wood ash maybe 5" deep in the bottom of the fire box, appropriate to the 8 or so sticks I burned. There was one piece of charcoaled stick and one 3" end of a stick that never burned, but everything else turned to a fine, powdery ash.
I swept all that out into my ash bin then did my best to scrape down to metal and get all the alkaline ash out. When I had gotten as much as I could with the brush, I switched to blue shop paper towels. When I could get no more, I poured about half a coup of vegetable oil down the back side and wiped the entire interior down in the oil using another shop paper towel being sure to get every inch of surface area including underneath the firebox lid.
After dealing with the firebox, I moved to the cooking chamber. I had cooked the ribs on the upper shelf; so it had the residue from my rub that includes brown sugar. I scraped that rack top and bottom with a grill scraper then brushed it with the steel bristles. It kept a good coat of oil so I didn't add any more. I'll check and maybe spread some the next time I cook. I went over the main rack in the same way but with less residue. It, too, needed no oiling.
I had used the firebox bottom for a tuning plate; so I had to clean it too. It had right much residue but scraping and brushing got it respectable again. It had dried out a bit; so I rubbed it good with veggie oil. I finished by scraping the sides and bottom then wiping out the residue. After getting as much as I could out, I poured veggie oil along the back of the CC and used the blue paper towels to spread it all over the interior including the underside of the baffle plate and the underside of the lid. When I put the tuning plate and racks back in place, it looked ready for the next food to be placed on the racks. I finished by wiping down the shelf then dropping it out of the way. I used a little veg oil but not as thickly as I did the firebox and CC.
I think I'll probably do this after the next few smokes just to be sure I get a good seasoning on the innards. My questions are 1) Do you have suggestions for improving the way I cleaned it? and 2) Do you think I went too far with the process? and 3) When can I relax the cleaning protocol a bit? and 4) Is there a time when I should stop doing more than just wiping the insides down?
Thanks for listening. Look for to your advice.