PeterD
TVWBB Super Fan
I've been bothered by how cruddy the exterior of my WSM has become over the last few years and this afternoon I tried to clean it up a little. I applied copious quantities of Formula 409 with a ScotchBrite pad, rinsed off then scoured with an SOS pad to remove as much of the baked on brown creosote/junk as I could, followed by another round of 409 and a final rinse. It looked almost brand new....until it dried and it's back to a dull finish and dried-on stains. Not as bad as before I started but not showroom-like new either.
I'm not so much interested in cleaning off the innards of the beast as I am in getting it like-new on the outside. What forms of chemical warfare should I be engaging in here?
On a side note, as a testament on how well the WSM holds its heat, I did a 14 hour brisket yesterday and shut the smoker down around noon on Saturday. After removing and cleaning the dome and middle section this afternoon (Sunday), I went to empty the ashes and recover the mostly-spent charcoal only to discover that the fire had re-ignited itself some 28 hours after I shut the vents down. Granted it's hotter than blazes outside (93 degrees, 104 heat index) so the smoker wasn't cold, but the grates were easy to handle, the dome and middle section weren't too hot, etc. I'm really shocked at how long this machine held its heat.
One unrelated question, other than the thermometer and ash pan, what are1 the differences between my 2008 model (lid code DZ) and the 2009-2013 models?
I'm not so much interested in cleaning off the innards of the beast as I am in getting it like-new on the outside. What forms of chemical warfare should I be engaging in here?
On a side note, as a testament on how well the WSM holds its heat, I did a 14 hour brisket yesterday and shut the smoker down around noon on Saturday. After removing and cleaning the dome and middle section this afternoon (Sunday), I went to empty the ashes and recover the mostly-spent charcoal only to discover that the fire had re-ignited itself some 28 hours after I shut the vents down. Granted it's hotter than blazes outside (93 degrees, 104 heat index) so the smoker wasn't cold, but the grates were easy to handle, the dome and middle section weren't too hot, etc. I'm really shocked at how long this machine held its heat.
One unrelated question, other than the thermometer and ash pan, what are1 the differences between my 2008 model (lid code DZ) and the 2009-2013 models?
