Cleaning a WSM

Well, I finally broke down and did it. I failed to clean and cover up my WSM after my last use and was rewarded with a bottom section full of water and ash. Since this increased the amount of effort required to get it back into shape, I decided to give it a full blown "lazy" cleaning (it's first in 6 years).

I left all of the hard work to Simple Green Grill Cleaner and a hose. It removed the layer of grease that seemed to constantly be in my water pan, as well as removed some of the thicker "gunk" from the inside of the middle section. Guess I was tired of leaving a big black grease ring anywhere I set the lid/middle section down so this took care of that.

The good thing is it didn't remove the nice patina of a well used WSM, so I imagine it should still hold temps the way I'd expect. So, if you are looking to clean your WSM up a bit, a can of Simple Green grill cleaner is worth buying

Jamie

HI,

Or you can have my experience: my WSM cleaned itself when the accumulated grease and creosote caught fire and burned itself of a nice, flaky crust. Of course the circumstances were rather dramatic: Christmas day while cooking a $120 rib roast that I tossed to the ground to prevent it from turning to crispy carbon. The roast was no worse for wear and eventually was returned to the WSM to continue roasting.

Regards,

I clean my WSM after every use -- not that I probably need to, but I don't like putting food on surfaces or in cookers that are encrusted with old food, crud, etc. I admit, this may be unneccessary, but I doubt that such cleaning has much effect on the smoker's ability to "hold heat." I may be wrong, but it'd surprise me if the small layer of carbonized crust does much in the way of containing temperatures.

I normally just scrape the grill grates before I fire up my WSM, and that is about the extent of my usual care and cleaning.

I do foil my water pan and try to let it run dry at the end of a cook. If my cook time is short I often add more charcoal than I need and open all vents when done cooking to let it burn off for a couple hours.

I never cleaned the side of my middle section until this past weekend. I do run my grill brush around the inside of the lid quite a bit, to prevent that brown flaking issue.

Cathy2 wrote:a $120 rib roast that I tossed to the ground to prevent it from turning to crispy carbon. The roast was no worse for wear and eventually was returned to the WSM to continue roasting.

5-second rule?

Cathy2 wrote:
a $120 rib roast that I tossed to the ground to prevent it from turning to crispy carbon. The roast was no worse for wear and eventually was returned to the WSM to continue roasting.

Regards,

With a $ 120 rib roast, I would invoke the 20 minute rule!!