Use aluminum foil to keep the WSM racks clean?


 

Len Dennis

TVWBB Diamond Member
Way too many hits on a search so:

It's a PITA to have to scrub the racks after a smoke. Food gets cemented on there and I have to soak 'em for hours to try to loosen it. I was wondering if any have put down a sheet of foil THEN put your rolled rack's o' ribs on ??

As an alternative, spray the racks with something like Pam? I've found though that with the hours long smokes that any coating really ends up being ineffective.

Just tired of the excessive clean up that is needed.
 
If you throw the grates in the gas grill and run it on high for about 5-10 min, most of the residue gets burned off, then you can just give them a quick scrape with a wire brush and they are clean.
 
Rich Dahl told me to use Pam when I got started visiting this site. Sage advice! Also, he made the simple point of telling me to take out the secondary rack if I wasn’t using it, saves needing to clean it, I had not even thought about that, Duh!!
 
Len has a point, spraying with pam or any other oil doesn't totally prevent the hard build up of a long cook but does still make the clean up a lot easier than not using it. One thing I do is immediately after removing whatever I smoked I clean the grate or at least hit it with a brush to get as much off as you can. If you leave it on with the smoker still chugging away and clean it the next day be prepared to get quite a bit of exercise.
Doing it right after removing the meat it's soooo much easier to clean. The grease and fat that's on the grate hasn't had a chance to turn into cement and for the most part it's not any harder than cleaning a grate after grilling something.
 
Are you cooking really high heat? I find the stuff is nowhere near as cooked on with my WSM as my kettles. I see people who completely cover their grates on gas grill with foil. At that point are you even grilling anymore? You are pretty much writing off the bottom of whatever you are cooking. I know competitors seem to do this when they throw stuff in an aluminum pan. The bottom is guaranteed to be a soggy mess. I think you are also going to affect airflow, depending on who much foil you lay down.
 
I've always used Pam. After the cook I brush the grate while hits hot then put in a tub of water. Use a scouring pad to finish off. Have used Easy Off inside a trash bag before, that works well too.

But its still somewhat of a PITA, but worth it. Its one of the reasons I do baby backs in-direct on the Kettle at about 325*. Easier to clean up.

I think wrapping in foil would alter the convection inside the WSM. I want that heat and smoke circulating around the meat.
 
I feel ashamed. I usually hit the grate with Pam but beyond that I simply hit it with a brush right after the smoke and consider it a done deal. My grates have never seen a tub of water that I can recall :(
 
I clean the grate in a tub because of the temps the WSM cooks at, on the Kettle where I can get temps up to 350, I just brush them off.

Its really not hard to drop them in the tub, then after I've hit em with scouring pad, they go in the dishwasher.

Although, my Kettle grate is getting pretty gunky around the edges. Its about time to put it in the trash bag with the Easy Off. Let it set in the bag for a while and all the gunk wipes right off.
 
I wish I could take credit for this but I can't I saw this idea years ago but I can't remember where. This is the slickest thing for soaking and cleaning grates I've used it for years.
It's a catch tray for a water heater 24" inside diameter has a hole in the side for a drain fitting which I installed and I use use a plug to hold the water in. I fill it up with hot water and dawn dish soap. Let it soak overnight then scrub it right in the tray. When you're done just pull the plug and let it drain into the sink.
Makes cleaning grates a whole lot easier.
47016313774_5d9a87752c_z.jpg
[/url]100_4729 by Richard Dahl, on Flickr[/IMG]
 
Last edited:
I wish I could take credit for this but I can't I saw this idea years ago but I can't remember where. This is the slickest thing for soaking and cleaning grates I've used it for years.
It's a catch tray for a water heater 24" inside diameter has a hole in the side for a drain fitting which I installed and I use use a plug to hold the water in. I fill it up with hot water and dawn dish soap. Let it soak overnight then scrub it right in the tray. When you're done just pull the plug and let it drain into the sink.
Makes cleaning grates a whole lot easier.
47016313774_5d9a87752c_z.jpg
[/url]100_4729 by Richard Dahl, on Flickr[/IMG]

I tried that. Emptying the water turned into a mess. The tray is not very solid, it bends easily and greasy water spills. For me, it was a whole lot easier just to get my tub out.
 
I tried that. Emptying the water turned into a mess. The tray is not very solid, it bends easily and greasy water spills. For me, it was a whole lot easier just to get my tub out.

Don't know what type of tray you had but this one I can lift up at the back when its full of water and it doesn't bend at all. To each his own.
 
My grates have never seen a tub of water that I can recall :(
Nor have mine, grill or WSM. I figure the heat will kill anything that might kill me. ;)
I've seen many bbq shows where the joint's pit grates are black with crud, mine look super clean by comparison.
 
Way too many hits on a search so:

It's a PITA to have to scrub the racks after a smoke. Food gets cemented on there and I have to soak 'em for hours to try to loosen it. I was wondering if any have put down a sheet of foil THEN put your rolled rack's o' ribs on ??

As an alternative, spray the racks with something like Pam? I've found though that with the hours long smokes that any coating really ends up being ineffective.

Just tired of the excessive clean up that is needed.

I have used Parchment paper on butts, ribs, brisket, chuck roasts and also meatloaf.
Cut it slightly larger than the meat and add a > for grease to drain. You could also punch a few holes but I rarely do.
Nice thing is easy cleanup and the smoke still gets thru.

Tim
 

 

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