Smoker and water bowl cleanup


 

Werner

TVWBB Member
Hi...

I do a lot of cooking sessions with no water in the water pan. Has anyone ever dumped a chimney full of charcoal in the bowl to burn all the stuff in the bowl off and also get the inside of the cooker nice and hot burn off some of the excess inside the cooker...I have tried soaking it and it there is still some stuff that wont clean up.

Also thinking of tossing the 18" grates on some coals in my kettle to burn it off.

Thoughts?

Thanks
 
Once in awhile ( after a cook) I'll remove the mid section and place the grate or grates and upside down bowl on the lower section then put the lid on and let it burn-off for the nite.

Tim
 
Aluminum foil is your friend. You can use it to line your empty water bowl. You can use it to 'scrub' the cooking grates.
 
Yes, you can burn-off the cooking grates over hot charcoal in the WSM charcoal bowl or in any Weber kettle or gas grill.

I don't think hot charcoal in the water pan will do anything besides produce fine cracks in the porcelain finish. If you've not been wrapping it in foil up until this point, I'd spray it with oven cleaner, scrape with single-sided razor blades, progress to 0000 super-fine steel wool + Simple Green, to get it as clean as possible. Then start foiling it moving forward, or buy one of these water pan covers and foil it:

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01DE6NC0Q/tvwb-20

Or just live with a grungy water pan. Some people don't care about keeping it clean.
 
+1 on the oven cleaner. 18"grates will fit in a 13 gallon trash bag. Put em in a bag and spray with oven cleaner. After that brush,and garden hose. then i put mine in the dishwasher.
Oven cleaner will also work on the water pan without ruining the finish. But it won't get everything off. I wouldn't worry about what it doesn't get off,it will get 90%
I am going to order the pan that Chris put the link to. I have a terracotta (clay) plate,but it's developing cracks. And I know if it doesn't completely crack,i will drop it sooner or later.
 
I use water in my pan and here is how I clean it up.

After I am done smoking I use grill gloves and remove / dump the water and grease out. Throw a fresh couple of chunks of wood right in the middle of fire. Replace bowl and throw a couple unlit chunks in side. Put both grates on the bottom so they are resting on top of the bowl. Let it sit with the lid and door off. The wood will catch fire and burn off what gunk is left. You can get a pretty good fire going if you have a little breeze and set the door opening off to the side so the incoming breeze swirls around. The wood only burns for a few minutes, but a few minutes of fire tornado is all you really need. Make sure to keep an eye on the flames if you have the silicone grommet as its not fire proof. Once its all burned off and cooled down use a wire brush to knock the dry loose carbon off.
 
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