RichardWhitmill
TVWBB Member
Hello there I'm a new member from Manchester in the UK.
Been doing meat curing stuff for many years now but only recently properly got into BBQ. Got myself a Weber compact kettle and that's been great to do a few things and master some fire management basics. But been wanting an upgrade for a bit.
Anyway this week I picked up a Weber smokey mountain 18 inch off eBay for a bargain £60 (about $75). Pretty pleased with that as there aren't as many in circulation in the UK, especially secondhand.
Gave it a good scrub yesterday and from what I can tell it's had minimal use as there wasn't too much ash and grease buildup. It has been left out in the garden over winter so a bit worse for wear and some rust on the grates. Having consulted this site and forum posts on cleaning I kept it light touch with just a scourer and some elbow grease. I've attempted to save the grates with some nasty oven cleaner. Bottom one pretty rusty. Cooking grate may be salvageable but not too fussed as the grate from my compact kettle will fit for now and I can get a new one when I plan to do a bigger cook with both grills in use.
Some before and after pictures below. Only question I had if anyone can help us this - appears to be some rust in the lip of the lid. A very fiddly place to scrub! Any ideas what's best to do here?
Other than that I'm planning to do a burnout today and gradually upgrade it as I go (spent too much on BBQ recently!). Starting with some screws to replace the rusty ones (if I can find an equivalent), then grates and of course a better door (however the Cajun bandit doors are more expensive than what I paid for the WSM itself!). Oh and there was something else I was gonna do. What was that? Oh yeah smoke some ribs!
Glad to be part of this forum, already been super useful.
Been doing meat curing stuff for many years now but only recently properly got into BBQ. Got myself a Weber compact kettle and that's been great to do a few things and master some fire management basics. But been wanting an upgrade for a bit.
Anyway this week I picked up a Weber smokey mountain 18 inch off eBay for a bargain £60 (about $75). Pretty pleased with that as there aren't as many in circulation in the UK, especially secondhand.
Gave it a good scrub yesterday and from what I can tell it's had minimal use as there wasn't too much ash and grease buildup. It has been left out in the garden over winter so a bit worse for wear and some rust on the grates. Having consulted this site and forum posts on cleaning I kept it light touch with just a scourer and some elbow grease. I've attempted to save the grates with some nasty oven cleaner. Bottom one pretty rusty. Cooking grate may be salvageable but not too fussed as the grate from my compact kettle will fit for now and I can get a new one when I plan to do a bigger cook with both grills in use.
Some before and after pictures below. Only question I had if anyone can help us this - appears to be some rust in the lip of the lid. A very fiddly place to scrub! Any ideas what's best to do here?
Other than that I'm planning to do a burnout today and gradually upgrade it as I go (spent too much on BBQ recently!). Starting with some screws to replace the rusty ones (if I can find an equivalent), then grates and of course a better door (however the Cajun bandit doors are more expensive than what I paid for the WSM itself!). Oh and there was something else I was gonna do. What was that? Oh yeah smoke some ribs!
Glad to be part of this forum, already been super useful.
