Use aluminum foil to keep the WSM racks clean?


 
Thanks for the input all. I must confess, once the meat comes off, it goes into our tummies and the clean up has to wait. The grill stays in place till the next day after we've had our fill :D

I think removing and cleaning it asap is the way to go although the parchment paper idea seems good too.

AND I do have the weber hooks/ring but never really believed in the hanging route. Until now ;)

Time to experiment :D
 
Len. I always try to brush,scrape off the heavy stuff immediately after removing the meat.
Putting the grate over the charcoal after shutting down burns off any leftover residue.

Tim
 
On my smokes, the meat has a resting period. During that time is when I brush the grates. If I do a quick grill such as steaks or burgers I brush immediately after eating :)
 
I tried foil years ago on the R2D2 with bad results, poor smoke uneven heat ect, decided I would rather clean the racks ,a small pressure washer works well but a big pan and dawn works well also
 
I have the hot water heater pan too, I’ve been happy with those results, an inch or so of water a shot of Dawn and patience! I’ve been considering putting the pan on top of the smoker with grates in it then add water, using the declining fire heat to warm the pan and then drain off the water when it cools.
 
The water heater pan works good with PBW, I only soak em once or twice a season though.

I'm in the they don't have to be perfectly clean camp. I don't use water in the pan and always use a full ring of charcoal with the minion method even for shorter cooks. When the food comes off I open the vents all the way to burn off as much as I can, then the following morning I hit them with a wire brush and call it good.
 
I only spray that BEFORE IT GETS NEAR the grill! Only fools play the blowtorch game.
I’m pretty well in the “if it can live through the heat, it can go ahead and kill me!” camp most of the time.
 
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An additional trick that I stumbled upon is to leave the grates the smoker, with water in the pan and the vents closed, for a couple of days. I leave my smoker so the sun hits it. It seems that the sun causes some water in the pan to evaporate and cause a moist environment within the smoker. This softens the 'crud' on the grates and it seems to come off fairly easy.
 
I let my grates of all sizes soak in a water heated pan. Saw this when I first got on this or the Kettle site works great no need for fancy storage mine is a thick gauge metal will only bend if you drive over it.
 
Yeah mine is 10 years old or more the new stuff is of lighter material, but a person I know has used the bottom of a 55 gallon drum , which is truly stout. Might worth looking into, as mine sits outside and one day will be rusted and gone.
 
As far as cleaning, it's a pita what I have to use--one of those square plastic boxes used for putting clothes in storage. Our laundry room tub was big enough to angle it in but it was removed for renovations and replaced with "modern" tub.

New stuff always smaller than older-more useful- stuff. :(

Hence this thread for better methods.
 
This is part of the reason I'm selling my 22 WSM. The cooking grates are hard to deal with. My old faithful tub I'd used for years on my 18 WSM grates, was too small. I found a larger tub at Tractor Supply, IIRC, it was sold as a water trough for livestock. Its real heavy. And I tried the " hot water heater " tray, the 22 grates fit , but it was hard to drain.
 
yup, hard to drain. I have to wash it outside :(

Best idea so far is just to clean it while fresh (and the dinner is waiting ) .
 
Yesterday I cooked a nearly 6 lb. chicken on my kamado.
This morning I knocked the big pieces off the grates, a quick brushing and it's good to go again.
I'm just not understanding all this need for soaking and scrubbing. :confused:
But I can be pretty dense at times. ;)

 
Lynn Dollar said:
This is part of the reason I'm selling my 22 WSM. The cooking grates are hard to deal with. My old faithful tub I'd used for years on my 18 WSM grates, was too small. I found a larger tub at Tractor Supply, IIRC, it was sold as a water trough for livestock. Its real heavy. And I tried the " hot water heater " tray, the 22 grates fit , but it was hard to drain.
Click to expand...

Lynn I would install a drain plug in it say out of PVC and elevate one end a bit. something of say 1.5 inches or bigger so it drains fast and lets the junk flow out also.
 
I know myself well enough to know I'd quit smoking if I had to exert energy and time to soak my grates, lol.
 
I didn't realize that anyone actually truly cleaned their grates. I don't clean the grates on my gasser either so it never really even occurred to me. I use a wad of aluminum foil to knock of any residue on the grates and set them directly over the coals to burn off anything else. There has never been any sort of soap or chemical touch my grates over the 80 or so cooks on it.
 
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