How Do YOU Clean Your WSM?


 
Yeah, I don't really clean it much. Lol.

The cook process goes like this....

Pull coal chamber (ring) and coal grate. Dump all ash into my ash bucket. Replace grate and chamber, fill with coals, add about half a chimney of lit coals. Put WSM back together and let it heat up. Then I hit the top grate with a wire brush while it's hot. I keep my water bowl foil wrapped (no water) and since I don't use my lower grate much I add a disposable pan on that lower grate. And, I don't replace either until they get really dirty.

That's pretty much it.
 
Seems no matter how often I clean where the top meets the middle sections it's gummed up before a single cook is done. Put a screw driver with the smoker, my go to stuck lid breaker.
 
I probably sound disgusting, but after almost three years of ownership (wow! As of June 1st, I will have had my WSM for three years!) -- asides from the grates and exterior of the cooker -- I've never cleaned it. Never had any issues with anything flaking onto my food nor any mold problems, and I use it in 90+ degree weather as much as I do in 15 degree weather.
 
Take the door off and open all the vents. Let it burn out with the door off. When it cools down knock the chunks and flakes off.
 
I rinse the cooker with really hot water after every cook, occasionally clean the vents with 409 cleaner and rinse to keep them from getting stuck . One time I built a fire in it and let it burn empty to get some of the gunk out...if you use the smoker on a regular basis it should be ok but leave grease splatters on the walls and let it set for weeks mold can start growing in there .
 
I never clean the entire WSM. I will wipe down the exterior so my hands don't get greasy whilst handling. I also scrape out the bottom section from time to time so the grease and ash don't impede airflow. Water bowl is foiled. About once a year I'll run the cooking grates through the self-clean function of my oven.
 
I guess I am the outlier. I break down the WSM and scrub each interior surface with a plastic brush and a bucket of soapy water. Since I don't foil the water pan unless I am running it dry, this also gets a good scrub. Grates get scraped with a wire brush, and if that isn't sufficient I put them directly over the hot coals at the beginning of the next cook. I don'tknow, maybe I am wasting my time but my Que comes out pretty tasty so I have never considered changing this routine.
 
I use a Brinkman pan with balls of foil in the bottom under three layers of foil on top. After the cook, I remove and discard one or two of the top layers and replace them before every cook. I clean the grates pretty thoroughly and store them in a cabinet between cooks. Once a year I might break down and scrub it out, depending on whether there is flaking inside or not.

I am still trying to find the right way to clean probes though.
 
I have gasketed my lid and door, so all I do is clean the grates after the cook and the water bowl. I remove the fallen ash collected in the bottom with a modified gallon plastic container and nylon bristle brush.
 
Dustin Dorsey said:
I've got the gasket so I don't worry about the lid sticking. I knock off anything trying to flake off on the under side of the lid. I refoil the water pan and get any gunk that somehow always manages to seep under the foil off. I brush off the grates. I find at the temperatures I cook out that stuff doesn't get stuck to the grates as much as on a regular grill. I empty the ash.
Click to expand...

^^^^^ This ^^^^^

I clean the outside after every cook... I keep a wet chef's towel handy during every cook, and give the outside a wipe down while its' hot. I need to find a new cover that fits over the hood hinge and from lid handle I've added.

Grates get cleaned often.. sometimes I put them on the gasser to burn them clean, but they aren't too much of a mess to begin with.

The charcoal bowl.. haven't given that a good cleaning yet.
 
I do very little cleaning. Scrape the grates really well. Dump the ashes. I foil both the top and bottom of the pan. I remove the top foil with drippings and grease after every cook. I'll leave the foil on the underside for several cooks. Occasionally I take some sandpaper or emery cloth to the inside part of the lid thermometer. My lid vent is so gummed up that most of the time I open and close it with a hammer (gently).
 
I don't do much cleaning of my WSM 14. Scrape the hot grates, rinse out water pan, dump coals, hit whole area and WSM with the blower afterwards. Ready to go.

But, now that I've moved down to the 14 from the 22, I have the nagging, NAGGING urge to figure out a way to put every part of the smoker in the dishwasher and run a cycle with just every part of the smoker in it. Lol. I work from home currently so I could do it during the day while she's gone. Ha. Not entirely sure if the midsection will fit in the lower rack without interfering with the spray spinner thing at the bottom of the top rack. Tool scared to measure because once I enter that rabbit hole.....

The entire Smokey Joe will fit in the dishwasher.... I can break down the Q1200 and put almost all of the parts in the dishwasher..... see...... rabbit hole.
 
Honestly i just use 3 piece of heavy duty foil for the pan to catch drippings and scrape the grates and call it a day. The thing is re-heating up to 250 before i'm ever putting meat back on it, and if i ever have a stickly lid (happened once) then i've just taken a wire brush to clear off the excess gunk.
 
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