Cleaning Smokers

[Gordon]

I'm very new to all this and I have a question.

Do you clean the inside of a smoker or do you just clean the racks / drip tray and stuff leving the walls tarnished ( seasoned ? ) ?

G

[jenny_haddow]

A good point Gordon, I'd be interested to know that too.

Jen

[BBQer]

Just clean the racks and drip tray. The "seasoning" on the inside will only improve it.

One thing to be careful of, and of course it depends on the smoker you have, is the coating that forms on the lid or ceiling of the smoker. It can dry to a brown flaky material that can fall on your food as it smokes. If you see it building up and getting flaky just take some crumpled up aluminium foil and give it a light scrubbing (not while you have food underneath, of course. ) Just on the inside top, don't worry about the rest.

[jpj]

i would agree with that.
it's very annoying to get soot and/or oils dropping on your stuff

[JimH]

Hi all, new here but been BBQing for a while. I clean the grates before & after every cook, using a weed burner when things are really bad. I make a habit of seasoning new grates before using them, like you do with cast iron cookware or a new BBQ pit. When I started seasoning the grates I found I had fewer problems with rust and the food gets stuck less often. I completely clean and re-season my horizontal smoker once a year. My WSM only needs cleaning around the lid prompted by the lid becoming stuck fast.

Jim

[vinner]

Welcome, JimH. Always a good idea to clean our grills here frequently in the Houston area due to rats, roachesm and "slime in the Ice machine".

[JimH]

I don't have any rats, just one very large possum who likes my tomatoes & figs. I wonder if it will like limes from my new Persian Lime tree as well? My neighborhood has too many "free-range" cats for mice or rats to survive.

[vinner]

Off topic, I know, but my Mexican lime trees do fine. Its the birds that get after the lemons (mainly), oranges, tangerines and grapefruit, but only while they are green and its only cosmetic damage.

[JimH]

Interesting, the birds won't touch my tomatoes until they start to turn red. I hadn't thought about it, but it seems nothing bothers my kumquat tree.

[saucisson]

I clean my grids but not the smoker itself, it's a Brinkmann Vertical and has always seemed better for its internal coating of smoke. Of course first smoke I do after reading this thread my salmon is coated with small flakes of soot from the roof

Dave

[welsh wizard]

Yes Dave, soot can be a problem with not cleaning the inside. Not only that but if you hot smoke and there is residue on the roof it can melt and drip onto the food leaving dark spots on say your salmon.

I have a Bradley and mostly cold smoke and do not clean the sides but I do wipe the top section of the smoker after each use. Not clean the top, just wipe the top.

Cheers WW

[Epicurohn]

Just shot a Jr. Possum this morning with my .22. It was sitting high on the Rec. room's window. I was able to slide open the window and put the gun 6" from it and shoot. It definetly heard me and saw me and it never ran away. Seems like it was scared of something in the patio. Any of you Texas boys know of any predators possums might be scared of?


Thanks,


David


Sorry about taking your thread hostage here.