Cleaning a super messy Smoke Hollow

I have cleaned hundreds of pits with a PAINT SCRAPER! works good get the pit hot, grab some gloves and scrape away sometimes you may have to take a butane toch or propane torch to the inside to  loosen it up more if it has been caked for a long time,

hope this helps

Scrape it with a putty knife becareful of all probes and cables and sensors!

When done with top and sides scrape out bottom!

would not use any soap or water or any chemicals at all!

Backwoods BBQ said:

I have cleaned hundreds of pits with a PAINT SCRAPER! works good get the pit hot, grab some gloves and scrape away sometimes you may have to take a butane toch or propane torch to the inside to  loosen it up more if it has been caked for a long time,

hope this helps

Click to expand...

doctord1955 said:

Scrape it with a putty knife becareful of all probes and cables and sensors!

When done with top and sides scrape out bottom!

would not use any soap or water or any chemicals at all!

Click to expand...

Would this work the same for a brick smoker?   

How often should a smoker be cleaned?

I'd rather not run water down through my smoker.  It wouldn't hurt it.  It just seems like the wrong thing to do.

Thanks in advance

When they're WARM, wipe them down with rags or paper towels. DON'T use soap or chemicals on them. If you have chunks of something, by all means scrape them off, but generally I reat my smoker like a cast iron skillet. Once it's seasoned it NEVER gets scrubbed with soap. The gets boiling hot water and a wipe. I don't cook on any of the surfaces of the smoker (except the grills) so a good wipe down is all it gets. 

The grills come out and get washed in the sink, dried, and then lightly oiled with olive oil before going back in the smoker. They still look great.

If a cast iron skillet gets really bad, or if I find a nice one at a flea market, I stick in my grill and run it up to about 500 or so for half an hour (or more) or I've been known to toss them in the coals of a campfire and just let them sit in there over night. Anything on them turns to ash and you are basically starting over. Oil it and warm it several times. It BECOMES a non-stick cooking surface when seasoned. The inside of your smoker will do pretty close to the same.

For the brick smoker, crank the heat up and burn off any residue like the self clean cycle of an oven. Don't get it wet. Don't use chemicals. You can scrape off the big pieces before hand but be careful not to scratch up the brick. 

These things get better with age. They do have to be clean enough to be healthy, but don't get crazy on them. I mean... why would you take the time to carefully season it and then UNseason it?

Thanks  yardbird.

I take a wire brush to the racks when I finish a smoke while its still warm.   Before each smoke I  run the wire brush over them again and burn them off with a weed burner.   I just don't want stuff falling off the walls into the food.  

Thanks for taking the time to reply.     In the spring when it warms up,  I'll  take the racks out and  and lightly wipe the walls for any lose stuff and call it good.

Thanks

Wes

My gosm gets ran up as high as I can get it . Then pressure washed. Steam cleaned.