How often do you clean your WSM?


 
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Howard B.

TVWBB Member
Just curious if you guys clean the smoker each time after you smoke? I see many of you use the WSM almost every weekend, do you go through the painstaking task of cleaning it? I usually clean everything the next day, after it's cooled down, spray everything with Dawn's Power Desolver, scrub with a brush and spray down with a hose and air dry. It's amazing how much grime gets on the sides after a cook of ribs.

Howard
 
I clean the grates each time I use it. The lid; as needed. It can get a build up of flaky stuff that will eventually fall onto your food. The sides I haven't touched in over a year. The bowl; when it starts to get full.

Paul
 
I usually clean the water pan after every cook. For the grate(s), just a wire brush before every cook. The Lid as needed due to build up. I usually wipe the outside down and towell dry (I know, I'm way anal) to keep a nice shine going. Besides, don't want a dirty smoker junking up the mojo in the garage.
 
I'm with Dave. Cleaning just increases the chance of rust.

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JimT
 
I wire brush the grates after every cook, wire brush the inside of the lid whenever it has accumulated enough stuff that it threatens to flake off, and dump the ashes when they need to be dumped (not too often, since I use only lump). The water pan only gets cleaned if grease somehow got past the foil (which happens if I run out of extra wide foil and try to put two pieces of regular together).
 
Minimalist here too. Clean out the charcoal bowl with a brush, clean the grates and keep the lid free from flakes. A couple times a year I hose it down just to get the outside dust off it. I've never used any chemical, soap or elbow grease on the inside of the middle section. Just not worth it.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Clay Cope:
I usually wipe the outside down and towell dry (I know, I'm way anal) to keep a nice shine going. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Try taking a wet rag (black works best
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) and wipe the wsm down while your cooking. It steam cleans and you dont have to dry, makes it nice and shiny.

Other then that minimal cleaning for me. Grates get stuck in the sink with dawn to soak then scrub with a scotch brite before cooks. My main cooking section remains uncleaned since I started in the fall of 07.
 
I wire brush the inside of the lid when the flakes threaten to season my ribs, about every 3-4 smokes. The bowl is emptied every 2nd cook even tho I use lump. I put a weber charcoal catcher from the kettle(?) in the bottom of the bowl to make it easy.
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The grates are cleaned after every smoke, first by my four-legged assistant (TobeeTheDog) to remover 90% of debris. Then an hour soak in Dawn water and then a few quick swipes with a scotchbrite pad.
FWIW, I store the charcoal grate by hanging on the garage wall to keep it away from corrosive ashes.
 
I have had my WSM for about 4 years and have only cleaned the inside once .If the lid has some flaking I just brush it off. The water pan I tin foil with HD foil for that easy clean up. I think my smoker works just fine that way but I always empty the ashes ever time it is used
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as long as i've been a member there's been a few threads like this. Im a wierdo and clean mine like every 3-5 months or so top to bottom. If my woman isn't home I use the bathtub! she doesn't like it to much but ussually I just "forget" to mention it to her. I do like the heat boost after shes all shiny, and it seems to smell cleaner burning too first cook after! As long as not to many briskets or butts go in after that it stays pretty clean, for some reason briskets seem to spew crap all over it! I visualize that stuff becoming pretty permenant if it sat a while, some of it around the pan and grate holders already is!
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. If i owned a 22 inch it may have to go into the basement walk in shower! I better not buy one
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I too am with Dave, brush, foil, and ashes.

I would recomend never leaving ashes in the bowl, if water some how gets in there it makes a very caustic soup!
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Howard B.:
Just curious if you guys clean the smoker each time after you smoke? I see many of you use the WSM almost every weekend, do you go through the painstaking task of cleaning it? I usually clean everything the next day, after it's cooled down, spray everything with Dawn's Power Desolver, scrub with a brush and spray down with a hose and air dry. It's amazing how much grime gets on the sides after a cook of ribs.

Howard </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
IMO, you are wasting time and effort cleaning the inside after every cook. The "grime" built up inside helps in the cooking process. The only part of the inside I clean is the tabs that the water pan sits on, and then only with a quick brushing. I clean the ashes out and wash the cooking grate after each use. I figure it's a smoker, it's supposed to show its use.
 
I heat the grates up the next day in my gas weber grill and brush them down. I clean the water pan to get rid of the grease. The rest....I leave for flavor.
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David
 
I guess that I'm a 'maximalist' (or very anal) as I clean my WSM or other grill completely after each use. I have a SS top grate which cleans up pretty easily. I use a lot of Easy Off oven cleaner on the insides to restore the original finish. Others believe that the gunk on the inside adds flavor and/or improves the performance and that may be true. I just like to know that I am placing food in a clean environment so I don't mind doing all the cleanup.
 
My protocol is:

(1) Clean grates very well via soak and scrub and store indoors.

(2) Clean water pan completely

(3) Empty charcoal bowl ash

(4) Clean the rim of the lid and the rim of the middle section where the lid sits

I do not clean the inner surfaces, although every so often if I see flaking on the inside of the lid I will run a dry paper towel over the inner surface to dislogde the flakes. But I won't attempt to wash or clean it.

If it rains during my cook or afterwards but before I get the cover on, I will wipe down the outer surface to get rid of water spotting. I have some smoke stains on the outside surface (e.g. to the left of the door where the door seal is not as complete) that I have been unsuccessful in attemptiong to remove, and would love to figure out how to get rid of.

Cheers,
Matt
 
Once or twice a year I bring mine to the self serve car wash and give it a good spraying with the high pressure water gun. I towel it off right away. I use only water on the smoker itself, but will use a bit of soap on the grates.
 
You know,when I first got my smoker about a year ago,I was pretty anal about scrubbing the grates and the water bowl. But after reading other posts about NOT cleaning regularly,I have fallen into that habit as well. I did a Phil-b-que about three weeks ago,and am gonna have to clean the grates sunday so I can do some ribs.
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