cleaning the smoker/using pans to catch drippings

[coyote]

Hi, new to this and have not smoked on my new smoker as yet. but, she be well seasoned, I washed her well then dried her. then painted all the inside of her with a quality vegtable oil. burnt mesquite coals and mesquite wood in her several times, she now looks well seasoned and ready to go.
I hope I did it correct..
Now I was wondering about putting aluminum pans (disposable ones) to catch the ashes and the meat drippings. thus making clean up easier.is this a good idea?? thanks

 

[morkdach]

what kind of smoker do you have .
and how clean is clean to you .
any little bit will help .

 

[desertlites]

yup my thoughts also-I like the thought of continued seasoning.

 

[coyote]

Well, I have a Bar B Q grill that is 30 plus years old..it can be used to smoke but not the real way.just add chips to the coals. I use a scraper every now and then to get the lid to close. I keep the cooking grids pretty clean by putting them in the fire place coals every now and then then I coat them well with cooking oil, then fire up the grill to reseason them.

the smoker I bought is a Landmann. kinda nice family size smoker and can do two to three big turkeys I guess.I was just wondering about the bottom of the smoker, making it easier to get the ashes out with an alumium pan and the cooking area if I need to catch the drippings to use for what ever or to keep the bottom from getting real filthy if that is the correct word. just don't know what the right thing to do is I reckon.the rest of the grill sides, top ect will not be cleaned. and if it get funky, well I can clean by fire. I can load her up with some hard wood and light her and let fire kill any bad things that might be brewing.

the way the grill is set up now it is a little difficult to remove ther ashes.

 

[travcoman45]

You could use aluminum pans, I use a metal pan lined with aluminum foil to catch most drips, that way I just toss the aluminum foil. Might give the trays a clean once in a while depending on what they look like. I never have cleaned any of the rest of the smoker. Grandpa never did, and there was never a bad piece of meat that came out of his smoker! I would mop up the floor once in a while to keep the grease to a minimum.

 

[bustedluckbarbq]

I have some cake pans in my offsets under the grates... after they cool and before the next smoke i just scrap out the thick stuff and smoke on.... clean the cooking grates after they warm up with a brush.... if they get really ugly i'll brush em with warm soapy water , dry, then spray down with cookin spray...

 

[flash]

Foil on the water pans is good for easy clean ups. As for the rest of the inside, clean the grates, empty the ash pan and sweep out any remaining ash if it builds up too much. Other than that, don't bother with it.