Water pan cleaning


 
M

M D Baldwin

TVWBB Super Fan
I am not sure where to post this, so Chris feel free to move it. I have been foiling the inside of the pan and inpsite of the there is a lot of burned on junk. I have tried grill goo, soap, and a lot of elbow grease. But what seems to work best is a standard screwdriver to chip this off.
Any suggestions on how to make this easier?
 
I don't foil my pan, and here's how I clean it:

Note: After the cook I usually have some good coals left (ala the Minion Method).

1) Remove the lid and both grates then top-off the pan with hot water.

2) Open all the bottom vents and let the water come to a boil.

3) Close all the vents and replace the lid and let it sit overnight.

4) The next day, dump the pan and scrub with dish liquid using a green scrub pad.

5) Coat with cooking spray and wipe the excess with paper towels.

This works well most of the time, but I intentionally let the pan go very nearly dry when I cook butts and that can make for more stubborn cleaning. In those cases I use oven cleaner.

I hope this helps,
John
 
If you are foiling the inside of the water pan, is what you're cleaning the outside of the pan? If not, help me understand what could be inside the pan (under the foil?). If it's the outside of the pan you are cleaning - why? If you want it clean, you could foil the outside too. Foil the outside and then the inside to prevent wicking. But I wouldn't bother cleaning the outside of the pan other than to brush off any loose stuff.
 
Even though the inside of the pan is foiled, if its not suspended, and it wouldn't be with water in it, you could get burned on grease.

I soak mine, but sounds like John has a good procedure. Don't know if I could be that diligent, but adding the extra water while its hot is a good idea, which I think I'll try.

After a soaking, a spray with Greased Lightning has done pretty well for me.

Paul
 
It's suppoesed to be cleaned?
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Brinkman charcoal pan is $4 at the local Bass Pro - if it gets too dirty, I'll buy a new one. For that kind of money, it's not worth my time to scrub that thing spotless after every cook.

Last couple of cooks, I washed it with water and a pine cone. Worked well enough for me!
 
I just add a little water to the pan when I'm done and let it sit in the wsm for a day or two.

When cleaning the pan, I remove the foil, scrape out the built up grease and hose it out.

I don't worry about it too much, don't see the point in a deep cleaning.
 
Okay, I don't mean to be stupid, but I just don't get how grease or anything is getting under the foil and causing something that needs to be cleaned up. If you're not using HD foil and are making a seam, I guess I can understand that, but I really don't understand why you wouldn't use HD foil and not have anything leaking under the foil to burn onto the pan.

Then, if you're using foil, and somehow something gets under it and causes some burned on mess, why would you worry about how clean you get it? After all, you will just be covering it with foil for the next cook. That seems like clean to me.
 
I tried the foiling thing a couple times and, no matter what I did, some grease got under the foil. I gave up and have been using the clean-n-oil method ever since.

John
 
I use that really wide roll of foil, no seam. I have never had any leakers either, but if I did, wouldn't really worry about it.
 
I will now unveil one of my most essential barbecue tools: The pressure washer. Behold its power and efficiency
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. Usable year round in our mild Tennessee climate. Makes quick work of barbecue grates and water pans. To know it is to love it. Don't walk, RUN to your favorite home store and purchase one today.
 
Just before I cook I coat the water pan with cooking oil or spray it with a cooking spray. I cook with lump charcoal and use water in the pan. After an all night butt cook cleaning the water pan just takes a couple of minutes.
 
I just bought my WSM last week, and had my first smoke on Saturday. Afterwards, I used the pressure washer to clean the water pan, and it came pretty clean.

Oh yeah, I used the competition rib recipe posted by Chris G, and they were fantastic. I've tried almost the exact same recipe on my VC 5005 gasser, but they have never came out even close to that tender. They were a little too tender actually, one of the racks came off without any bone, but oh well, they were great. Next time I'll take 30 minutes off of Stage 2.
 
I've used my weed burner to get off the petrified grease. It crazed the porcelain glaze a bit, but as Tom said, it's just a $4 Brinkmann pan.
 
The next day after a smoke, I take the cooking racks and the water pan (after I dumped out the gunk) and toss them in my laundry sink in the basement with hot water and liquid Dawn dishwashing detergent. After a 45 minute soak, I use a coarse scrubbing pad, and they all come out good and clean, like new. The Dawn does a good job of disolving the grease.
 
I have taken grills to one of those self service car washes before that have the power washing wands, put in a couple of quarters and blasted the grills with the hot water soapy spray. You may have to follow up with some detail scrubbing while the grills are wet. I am sure it would also work for a gunked up water pan. You could even give your car or truck a much needed bath while you are there. Two birds...
 
The only question I would have with using a car wash is what damage could that cause to the ones that recycle their water?
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