WSK: foiling deflector?


 
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NickMV

TVWBB Fan
I've seen some brief mentions in a few threads about wrapping the deflector on the WSK and am a bit perplexed about how that would work. The thing has holes designed to let air through, so wouldn't that yield sub-optimal performance? And if I pushed through the foil on all the holes, then gunk would still get in and cake on.

How easy are these plates to clean? I just got my E6 on Monday and plan to give the smoke function a shot this weekend with a few pork butts. Yeah, I can put a drip pan underneath them but eventually I'm gonna cook something that goes outside the dimensions of the drip pan and the thing is inevitably gonna get s*** caked on it.

I'm honestly not too worried about it, but am curious others' experiences so far with the plate and upkeep/cleaning/maintenance. I'm coming from a WSM22 where I just foiled over the bowl every cook, but grease always made its way in. I'd always just clean it out with a spoon and a towel then re-foil.
 
I've never foiled my deflector plate (S6) completely over. For almost all cooks that use a deflector though, I usually try to place a drip tray (for cooks that drip a lot of grease) or just some foil with raised edges to catch the majority of the drips.

For pork butts, I always use a tray to catch the largest volume of dripping fat.
 
I didn't wrap my the first few times I used it. I used a drip tray but turkey juice and pork juice both found their way the deflector and burnt on pretty well. I do foil it now and still use a drip pan for the majority of the juices. I do like GrantT sometimes and just lay a sheet of foil under the tray. The last time I used it, I wrapped it well and used a utility knife to punch thru the holes. Didn't seem to have any impact on performance. I really just consider this a normal process to keep maintenance to a minimum. No different than wrapping my terra cotta diffuser pan in my WSM 18. I think it's just preference.
 
I imagine a plastic/nylon scraper tool would probably work pretty well to get stuff off of it if it gets too gunked up.

And yeah, I considered just tearing off some foil and covering the "indented" portion of the plate (the center circle). She's all purty right now, but that's about to change!

I'm excited to see how this cook goes, it's def gonna be different from the WSM cooks. I'd load that thing up with smoking wood and have to add more halfway through the cook, even using the "center minion method". I'm hearing that I probably won't even burn up all the smoking wood on this cook, so that should be interesting and I'll have to accomodate/plan the coal bed layout accordingly. I usually use Rockwood brand chunks I get from Memphis BBQ Supply, which are a bit on the small side but perfect for my other cookers. Should I consider getting the larger chunks like what you find at Lowe's / HD for the WSK?
 
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100% of the time wrap the diffuser plate with heavy duty aluminum foil. Usually it takes 2 pieces to do so. Then I gently push through the holes and the aluminum foil usually stops any cooking drips onto the diffuser.

Doing this makes cleanups a breeze, which I mostly do ribs with just this foil trick and no extra drip pan. Now on butts, I’d highly recommend drip pans too as the butts drop a lot of fluid when cooking. And keep water in those butt drip pans to avoid the smell that dripping hot butts produce.

I do the same with briskets, foil wrap and a catch tray.

All this just makes for easy cleanups. And avoids future grease fires. I use plastic pastry scrapers for most lower bowl scraping maintenance.

Amazon.com: Ateco 1303 Bowl Scraper, Set of 8: Home & Kitchen

Online Shopping for Kitchen Utensils & Gadgets from a great selection at everyday low prices. Free 2-day Shipping with Amazon Prime.
www.amazon.com

I’m about to do a deep clean on my E6 like @Mark Foreman just did on his.
 
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I started off wrapping the deflector, but I found it doesn‘t take any more time to just burn off anything that makes it past the drip tray. A plastic scrub brush and some bar keepers friend works well if you want to try an restore the “out of the box” shine it used to have.
 
When I got my Aura for my kettle, my local bbq shop owner tried to push me to get these or these to place between the ceramic diffuser and the grates. I though they were pricey. I know it is not the same thing, but I just scrap off the drippings of the ceramic diffuser plates and move on to the next cook. I believe the weber diffuser is 17 inch and they make the big green egg ones in 14 inches and 19 inches so I don't know if either of those option would even be usable.
 
Michael Richards said:
When I got my Aura for my kettle, my local bbq shop owner tried to push me to get these or these to place between the ceramic diffuser and the grates. I though they were pricey. I know it is not the same thing, but I just scrap off the drippings of the ceramic diffuser plates and move on to the next cook. I believe the weber diffuser is 17 inch and they make the big green egg ones in 14 inches and 19 inches so I don't know if either of those option would even be usable.
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Man that's actually a really good idea -- mainly because it's a drip tray that's circular and can cover more area. I might consider that at a later date once I get some long cooks on the WSK under my belt.
 
Out of curiosity, does anyone know if the deflector is made of aluminum? I'd like to store it on the wire grate tray underneath the cooker, but only if it's aluminum and won't rust.
 
NickMV said:
Man that's actually a really good idea -- mainly because it's a drip tray that's circular and can cover more area. I might consider that at a later date once I get some long cooks on the WSK under my belt.
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I bought this paella pan to catch drippings and be used as a water pan and it sits on top of the diffuser. I had to bend the handle slightly, but other than that it has worked great. Also, not hard to clean and use as a paella pan either.

 
My first long cook I used foil, but I've since gone to something more permanent (and useful). I place a 12" stainless pizza pan upside down in the center depression; on top of that I put a half-size, 2-1/2" deep stainless steam table pan. The pan holds a good amount of water (if needed), while the air space between the diffuser and the pizza pan serves as insulation to keep it from boiling away too quickly. Works like a charm.

(BTW, steam table pans are among the most useful things in my BBQ arsenal. The third-size pans are perfect for rotisserie on a kettle; they fit nicely between the charcoal baskets and are long enough to catch everything from a good-sized prime rib. They're cheap, too.)
 
Brett-EDH said:
very interesting. any pics of it installed? and what have you used it with on cooks?
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Here are some if you can see it under the grate. I also have one of a paella I did using the same pan. I like it because it can hold a lot of water and drippings, has handles for easy pickup and can also be used a paella pan. I cooked this paella after already using the pan for a number of cooks. I only rinse in between cooks and it was still easy enough to clean to cook something in it.
 

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NickMV said:
Man that's actually a really good idea -- mainly because it's a drip tray that's circular and can cover more area. I might consider that at a later date once I get some long cooks on the WSK under my belt.
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Ceramic grill store carries 14, 16 and 18 inch stainless drip pans.

I had a 14 inch last about 8 years in my BGE set on top of my deflector. I wrap it in HD foil for quick cleanups.

ceramicgrillstore.com

18 Inch Stainless Drip Pan for Kamado Grills

CGS' stainless drip pan perfect for XL Big Green EGG & Joe's Big Joe. Ideal match XL ConvEGGtor & Big Joe deflectors. Foil drip pan for easy clean up & reusable.
ceramicgrillstore.com ceramicgrillstore.com
 
Brilliant ideas! I literally just came on looking for an idea on how to prevent the drippings from the ribs about to go on my WSC & find this thread. Thanks to all the suggestions I ended up using one of my cheapie 18” pizza pans wrapped in foil, covers the Gen 1 deflector almost perfectly & rests on the raised metal so it doesn’t contact the deflector burning the bottom of the pan.
 

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Just tossed a ham on (Amazingribs double smoked ham recipe) using both my Fireboard2+fan and JD lump.

I totally botched the startup, the damn thing spiked from 175 to 215 in less than 2 mins, just nuts. After closing it all down and letting it die back down from peaking to 279, I'm cruising at 235 perfectly. Bottom vents closed except Pit Viper at 100% vent open and 20% max output, and top vent at about 1/4 open.

All in all not bad but man that top vent hinge feature takes some getting used to. Things can get sideways QUICK.
 
I think the diffuser plate is stainless steel it doesn't rust. It is kind of self cleaning, if you do a high heat burn off everything on it turns to ashes and a brush will clean off the ashes nicely.
 
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