best way to clean a smoker??

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bignick1984

Fire Starter
Original poster
May 9, 2016
56
25
california
Hey, I'm wondering how people clean their smokers..

I have a gmg pellet grill and it has a sliding tray. I do not put tin foil over that because I like being able to control the smoke/heat with it. I always scrape the tray best I can and scrape everything else I can but there is still grease that I can either wash off or burn off. I usually will just put the temperature to 500 and burn all the grease and hope it doesn't catch fire.

What are your tips/advice??
 
I recommend calling the manufacturer and asking them since you have a pellet smoker. I would not recommend chemicals or water. Residue may burn and get onto food, water reacts with ash and causes rust out. Certainly get the grease out as it will rot and turn rancid. spray down exposed areas with PAM to prevent rust. I have a Pit Barrel and when it gets greasy,I burn coals with the top off and the fire goes up the barrel. I don't let it burn long, just enough for the fire to travel up to the top then I Cap it with the lid. Then I scrape off the burnt powder with a steel wire brush and it's like new again.

Someone more experienced smokers can make other recommendations.
 
Thanks for the response Cpt. Yeah I know better then to put water into the smoker because of the electrical. I scrape the best I can but just always have the grease left. That stuff I try to burn off, I just hope it isn't bad on the pellet smoker taking it up to 500 degrees to burn everything off.
 
Does the tray come out? Are there pieces that won't melt? If so vinegar works really good. If so see below but put tray in then oven. The plus to this is the oven gets cleaned too.

If the tray doesn't come out. Get a disposable pan or a stainless pot without a plastic handle (think small, like the old Putin pot pie pans). Cut a lemon in half, squeeze it in the pan, place it cut side down in the pan. Fill with vinegar half way up the lemon. Fire up your smoker to the high temp and let run for 15 minutes. Check to see how the junk is. Should come right off if not let it go another 15.

The down side to this method is it's going to clean off all the seasoning in the pit. But quite frankly if you're cranking up the pit to 500 to clean now it's going to be taking care of that too.

This also works great for cleaning a microwave. Use glass though and not metal. 15-30 minutes on high and everything wiped clean.
 
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