Cleaning WSM


 
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DavidSF

TVWBB Member
Hi,
Can you please share your tips for cleaning the inside of a WSM? I haven't used mine for a year and it's filthy inside.

Thanks,
David
 
Originally posted by DavidSF:
Hi,
Can you please share your tips for cleaning the inside of a WSM? I haven't used mine for a year and it's filthy inside.

Thanks,
David
Click to expand...

Load it up and do a high heat burn. Leave all vents wide open.
 
Scrape with crumpled up aluminum foil. Doesn't need to be real clean. You have worked hard to build up that layer of insulation. Just get the bigger flakes off that might fall on your meat.
 
I tend to bring it out on the lawn in pieces and spray with Dawn Power Disolver. Let it sit then scrub with a soft brush. Hose down and air dry.

Howard
 
So I live in a warm, humid climate and my WSM gets moldy quickly - any suggestions for cleaning?

I usually just spray it down with water from the garden hose...then fire it up nice and hot.
 
So most of us have seen Bobby Flay put the WSM water pan directly on the charcoal ring right? I wonder if he is on to something as far as cleaning goes?
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Wouldn't he be producing a lot of steam to clean the inside? Maybe he's actually a WSM genious!
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i knock the chunks off the lid if it is looking like the grease is going to flake off. but this has pretty much stopped occuring when i stopped using water.

my 18 is going on its second year without cleaning grates are really the only thing that needs cleaning less the neighbors dog peed on it or some animal set up a nest in there.
 
Every now and then, I spray it down with a garden hose. Obviously, that doesn't get the inside too clean. I also give the center section a light scrubbing with a brush, but again, I don't try to get it really clean, just anything loose or flaking. Beyond that, I have no interest in making it any cleaner. I keep a better eye on the lid because that has the potential to flake off on my food (nasty). The grates and the lid are about the only thing I spend time on. I think if I wanted it cleaner, I would do the high heat burn and then a brush. If I wanted it really clean, I would use oven cleaner and get it back to the porcelain (I don't want it that clean).
 
David, I agree with Jerry. I haven't cleaned the inside since I got the unit. I would make sure ,as Jerry says,to inspect the inside of the lid . Don't want any of that stuff falling on your food. I DO clean my grates after every cook.
 
Never clean the inside ever. Just hose out ash, clean the grates and the water pan, but never the walls or lid. you need that seasoned grease on there. b/c that's not on there during the first few cooks, those cooks tend to run hotter.

Mike
 
Originally posted by Mike Durso:
Never clean the inside ever. Just hose out ash, clean the grates and the water pan, but never the walls or lid. you need that seasoned grease on there. b/c that's not on there during the first few cooks, those cooks tend to run hotter.

Mike
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agreed, i never scrub the inside. Just hose it out with cold water then let it dry in the sun. I do however clean the cooking grates pretty well.
 
I clean mine out every year. I spray Dawn power dissolver on the inside and let sit for 30 min in the hot sun. Then I take a green Scotch Brite pad, and scrub it till it's shiney and new looking again. Hose it off and it's ready to go for another year.
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EDIT: I don't buy into the WSM runs hotter when shiney and new theory. No 2 cookers run the same, fact. My 7 year old WSM has run cold from day one and continues too do so. Makes no difference wether it's clean, or all gunked up inside. I use lump, no water in the pan, and all vents wide open, I'm lucky to see 250 out of it, and that's on a good day.
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I usually clean the grates and water pan and empty charcoal for my cleaning regimen, but figured out a shortcut that helped....

After cooking some spares on Saturday, I still had plenty of charcoal going, so I put the cooking grate directly on the charcoal ring, and put the lid on top of that...all the junk burned right off.
 
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