Bottom of a WSM full of sludge and crud


 
PeterD

PeterD

TVWBB Super Fan
I had a slight accident doing a brisket yesterday that I didn't notice until today when it came time to clean up.

I was using a foiled water pan (no water) on my 15 hour smoke and at some point the water pan came off its little ledge and brisket drippings fell onto the hot charcoal, through the grate, and into the ash at the bottom of the smoker. I discovered it after it had sat there all night long, and by now it's a combination of sludge and cement-like crud that's stuck to the enameled curved side of the smoker.

I used Dawn dishwashing liquid and that didn't make a dent, along with 3 doses of Zep 505 grill de-greaser and that, too didn't help. 20 or so minutes of scraping with a wire grill brush helped a tiny bit but I'm not about to spend hours going at it if there's an easier way.

IS there an easier way?
 
Lol...I've had something similar happen.
I used pretty much all the advice others have shared. Used several rounds of boiling water and let it steam the insides. Putty knife on the stuff that didn't come off during the steaming.
But when I got all the big stuff off, I ended up using Barkeeper's Friend to get the last of the residue. Worked magic.
 
Simple Green. Simple as a pimple and you remember those strange things in the wee hours of the morning.
 
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Wouldn't a putty knife destroy the finish? Especially with a flat blade against a curved surface. I'm not really interested in spending hours scraping this down if I can avoid it. Any industrial strength chemicals that will dissolve that crap on contact and not damage the smoker? Oh, and I forgot to mention the smell. After I left it out in the sun the stank coming off it is pretty vile.

I'm seriously counting down the days until I can afford a pellet smoker...cleaning the WSM and those round grates is such an insane PITA that it makes me not want to barbecue any more. I love the food it turns out but hours (and in this case, days) of cleanup is just not worth the bother to be honest.
 
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Remember... you’ll need to clean the pellet grill. Having WSMs, a kettle, and a Genesis II, I find the kettle by far the easiest to clean. I admit to going to some lengths to not get drips etc. into place it should not be.
What happened to you was an accident. Please make sure that a pellet grill is easier to clean than a WSM without the ooppps.....
 
At least with pellet poopers drips just hit the drip plates (which will be covered in aluminum foil before each smoke) I vastly prefer a smoker I can clean with a vacuum cleaner and a gentle wipedown rather than coating my upper body in grease. I can only imagine the cleanup nightmares in a conventional offset stick burner, but at least their grates are rectangular, and I imagine you just cover the bottom with foil.

A typical smoke for me is usually 3 racks of ribs (I'd like to do 4 or 5 at a time to have ribs to freeze for the winter), 2 or 3 butts, or 1 or 2 briskets. The ability to do 3 briskets for our big annual blowout party would be a very nice thing to have. My WSM is a pre-revision 2008 model and I try to scour it, clean and clay bar it every 2 or 3 years, but it's getting increasingly difficult. I love the food that comes off it, though.
 
Mark Foreman said:
I clean grates spraying with oven cleaner, then into a closed garbage bag. 24 hours later, quick cleaning with dawn, grates look new.
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I wonder if that would work on the smoker itself? For grates I just put them on the E330 Gasser, crank it on high for 10 minutes and the crud just brushes off in a few seconds.
 
Mark Foreman said:
Perhaps it’s time for a replacement.
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See my reply earlier. I'm probably going to a pellet smoker. I'm looking at a 36" Camp Chef Woodwind at the moment. Wish I could afford a Yoder or Rec Tec but that's just too far out of my price range for the dozen or so times I year I smoke.
 
PeterD said:
Wouldn't a putty knife destroy the finish?
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Not really. It's a porcelain enameled finish, baked on, and its pretty bullet proof.
I would have no problem using a metal putty knife or a 5 in 1 tool...
They make all kinds of plastic tools that you can use if you are worried.
 
Peter, you sound like a man after my own heart, we both like a clean WSM! But even I don't scour, clean, and clay bar it! :D

Regardless of type of cooker, cleaning grates in a gas grill is a good approach. Most people don't wash cooking grates after each use (I do), they just get the cooker going and brush them off before throwing on the meat.

Foiling an empty water pan vs. foiling drip plates sounds about the same to me.

Sounds to me like you made concrete in the bowl. I agree that I wouldn't take a putty knife to it. You might try banging the crud with a rubber mallet, or banging the outside of the bowl with a rubber mallet in the spot corresponding with the location of the crud. Or god forbid, if the crud doesn't interfere with the vent dampers...just leave it. Perhaps with a few heating and cooling cycles, it will break loose.

Good luck!
 
Chris Allingham said:
Peter, you sound like a man after my own heart, we both like a clean WSM! But even I don't scour, clean, and clay bar it! :D

Regardless of type of cooker, cleaning grates in a gas grill is a good approach. Most people don't wash cooking grates after each use (I do), they just get the cooker going and brush them off before throwing on the meat.

Foiling an empty water pan vs. foiling drip plates sounds about the same to me.

Sounds to me like you made concrete in the bowl. I agree that I wouldn't take a putty knife to it. You might try banging the crud with a rubber mallet, or banging the outside of the bowl with a rubber mallet in the spot corresponding with the location of the crud. Or god forbid, if the crud doesn't interfere with the vent dampers...just leave it. Perhaps with a few heating and cooling cycles, it will break loose.

Good luck!
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I like my deck looking neat and clean so I give the outside a good cleaning. I don't bother with the inside since it's nicely seasoned by now, after 13 years of pork, beef, and whatnot.

And yes, concrete is about the size of it. I've had water ingress through rain get into the ash in the bottom of the bowl before, but I usually cleaned that out as soon as the fire went out. This went unnoticed for over a day so it started to bake on in spots. I'll try the rubber mallet trick tomorrow and also some oven cleaner. The smell is pretty horrendous, too, so lighting a nice hot fire will surely help.
 
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