Cleaning a caked-up water pan


 
C

ChadVKealey

TVWBB Pro
OK, I should have avoided this by refilling the water pan or lining it with foil, but I didn't and now the bottom of it is caked up with residue from 20 lbs of pork drippings. I let it soak overnight with some normal dish soap, hoping that would help break down the grease, but no such luck. I also didn't get the bottom cooking grate cleaned up while it was still warm, so that's kind of gunked up as well. My idea was to put some (maybe a quart or two) water in the pan and get a good hot batch of charcoal under it to boil the stuff out of it's solid state and steam the gunk off the lower rack at the same time. This method has worked when I've gotten chili burned or caked into the bottom of my favorite enameled steel stockpot, so I'd imagine it would work on the enameled steel water pan, but I wanted to see what you all have done when/if this happened to your WSM's water pan.

On a related note, I plan to line the pan in the future, and, in fact, tried to line it this time, but found that even the wide, heavy-duty foil that I have isn't wide enough to cover the entire inside of the pan. This is a 2014 model with the larger (2 gallon?) pan. In reading up on the foiling process, I saw somewhere that you shouldn't have overlapping foil because water could get under it through the seam and end up condensing around the lip of the pan and dripping onto the coals. Now, in hindsight, I guess I could have folded the seam and just kept the foil from going over the lip of the pan (things are always clearer *after* you screw up). Or, maybe just reshape one of the dozens of foil 1/2 steam table pans to match the shape of the pan.

On the upside, the pulled pork was fantastic:
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U could use auto engine block (spray on) degreaser. Just follow directions on can and rinse well. Will also remove oil stains from your concrete paving stone(s)/driveway ;)
 
My grandmother passed down the boiling water in the pan trick to me years ago. That's exactly what I'd try before moving on to #2 which would be the razor blade scraper. It's amazing how well the razor blade works on porcelain, even curved surfaces, without leaving any marks behind.
 
I use oven cleaner on my smoker, but a tip I found on here helps it work much better. After you spray whatever you are cleaning with the oven cleaner, put it in a plastic garbage bag and let it soak, how long depends on how gunked up it is. From what I can tell the plastic bag keeps the oven cleaner from drying up thus making it soak in much better. Then you can use a plastic spatula to remove heavy spots or razor blades as mentioned if you still need to. Then just wash with soap and water.

This is now how I clean all my grill / smoke stuff when necessary
 
+1 That will clean anything. Pork looks great!

Rick Body said:
I use oven cleaner on my smoker, but a tip I found on here helps it work much better. After you spray whatever you are cleaning with the oven cleaner, put it in a plastic garbage bag and let it soak, how long depends on how gunked up it is. From what I can tell the plastic bag keeps the oven cleaner from drying up thus making it soak in much better. Then you can use a plastic spatula to remove heavy spots or razor blades as mentioned if you still need to. Then just wash with soap and water.

This is now how I clean all my grill / smoke stuff when necessary
Click to expand...
 
I've got it on my gasser right now with a few quarts of water to see how far that gets me. Initial impressions are that it'll help, but I may need to get some oven cleaner to finish the job. Assuming I get this cleaned up, I'll find a way to foil that bad boy in the future. I've been searching online for appropriately-sized foil pans, but the only thing that's close to the size of the water pan are Brinkman's water pan liners, which are about $2.50 a piece ($15 for a 10-pack and almost $10 shipping). I can get 1/2 steam table pans dirt cheap (30 for about $8), which might be big enough if I reshape them a bit.
 
You never did say, is this an 18" model? A number of us bought a replacement Brinkmann charcoal bowl and use that in place of the Weber bowl. For the simple reason the Brinkmann has a flat bottom on it and leaves more room for charcoal and wood chunks. Plus, I'm able to wrap the bowl with 18" foil.

http://www.brinkmann.net/products/details.aspx?item=114-0002-0

114-0002-0-l.jpg
 
Yes, 18.5" WSM. The hot water trick got some out, but there's still quite a bit there, and it's rock hard. I've got it soaking now with some baking soda and vinegar and am planning to pick up some oven cleaner after work tomorrow. The only problem with the Brinkmann pan is the shipping is outrageous ($9.21 for one item? That can't weigh more than a couple pounds? Really?). If I could find one in stock locally, that'd be another story, but I don't know if there are any Brinkmann dealers nearby.
 
At first, I used to soak/scrub my grate but now I use oven cleaner to clean them. I spray each one and put it inside a plastice garbage bag and let it sit all day/over night then thoroughly rinse the grate in the morning. Not scrubbing needed. I even used OC to get burnt out crud from inside the water bowl that accidentally dripped there when I didn't foil it properly. Tried soaking the bowl in hot water/soap but didn't loosen it up. Using OC and a couple hour wait, was able to carefully spray the gunk out with no scrubbing needed.

Dave
 
Chad Bman said:
Academy Sports had them in stock and that's who I ordered mine from. 5 bucks plus shipping unless you order other stuff to get free shipping

http://www.academy.com/shop/browse/_/N-0?Ntt=brinkmann+charcoal&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial
Click to expand...

Thanks! Just ordered one, just in case I can't salvage the original pan. But, back to that, any thoughts on using a propane torch (like a soldering torch) to burn the crap out? I've seen that folks use propane weed burners in rehabbing old kettle grills, so I'm guessing the enamel finish can take it?
 
For some reason if you decide not to go the oven cleaner route. Simple green makes a purple hd degreaser/cleaner that I found at home depot. Works great on my grates and water bowl.
 
A couple-day soak with baking soda & vinegar loosened up most of it. There are a few chunks still stuck on there, which I'd bet will come off with the next cook. I also got the Brinkmann pan today from Academy. The thing looks like it's been bounced around a bit, some small dents and scrapes, but it's not like I'm going to eat off it. If the rest of the gunk does come off, I may try doubling them up, Piedmont Pan-style. Or, at least I'll have a backup water pan.
 
Maybe I'm just lazy, but I just get the fat out put it back in the smoker ,put about a gallon of water in it and cook on! I get a bunch of black caked on junk too, but I don’t spend much time on it. Whats the point of getting it all out? One thing I'll never do is put oven cleaner in it. I just don't want that chemical nastyness in it.
 
I often see people advising baking soda and vinegar together. Vinegar is acidic and baking soda is basic so if you mix the 2 together I'd think they'd simply neutralize each other.

The next time you're in the laundry section of the store, look for washing soda. It's essentially cooked baking soda and will get the grease spots out of your plastic work table as well.
 
What's the point of being so thorough in cleaning it? Agree with S. Six .... Just scrape the loose stuff out and cook on. Isn't a properly seasoned WSM desirable? Why should the water bowl (which is really just a heat deflector) be any different?
 
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