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I just recently had to clean out my GOSM it had built up a lot of grease in the bottom and scraping it out wasn't good enough evidently because it caught on fire. Was no big thing but it got a good pressure washing and re-seasoned and all is well now
I do the "burn out" a couple times a year, fill it full of wadded up newspappers, a lot of them and lite it off. Then take a wire brush to the loose stuff, and reseason with lard.
Make sure to keep the ashes cleaned out of your unit, moisture and ashes can cause rust.
I used to clean my little red bullet everytime I got finished smoking and after reading and gaining knowledge I found it isn't necessary to give your smoker a nice shiny cleaning every single time you use it. In fact I have noticed lots of people clean certain parts but let the main body smoke and season many times.
I clean my grates everytime but have just allowed the inner body to "season" and this has been 3 weeks and counting and works great!
I clean the grates and spray out the insides after every smoke (self-cleaning method) and recently did a nice scrub down on the walls as little black flakes were peeling off and falling into the food.
let all that good juicy flavor sit the winter and scrape her out in the spring. I do clean the grates after every smoke, get her up to temp and spray with water and steam her clean.
I use a wet/dry vac to pickup any ashes from the bottom of the GOSM. The racks get cleaned about once every two weeks. I foil the grease pan, that makes cleanup much easier.