I too drilled my mini's bottom and yeah, "stuff" does find it's way to the bottom and accumulates there. I just tip mine upside down and bang the bottom pretty good, knocking the "stuff" loose and call it good. I was tempted once to put it on my gasser (the big "Q") upside down, but it seemed a lot like work. I'm sure I've got at least 100 cooks on my mini (made May 2014) and most those cooks were messy stuff (sausages, etc) and I've had no issues. I will admit, I've moved from "low and slow" with my mini to almost always cooking in the 300's with it. If I was doing lots of "low & slow" I could see where the mess at the bottom could cause some concern.Since I didn't cut out the entire bottom of my pot, I find quite a bit of residue burnt in the bottom of it, not as much if I use a drip pan. Right now, I'm forgoing the drip pan in favor of a foil-wrapped firebrick. What process do you follow to clean your mini WSM? Joemap
I use a 9" pie pan wrapped in foil. I change the foil every several cooks. I also scrape the grates after each cook. Before each cook, I let them heat up and give them another scrape. That's it besides cleaning out the ashes.