New to smoking

[JessieWebster]

Hello everyone, I got a Masterbuilt electric smoker for Christmas. Ive already made a few things, my husband made burgers the other night, and of course left a mess, i cleaned the racks, do i need to clean everything? I just started some bacon wrapped chicken, and now im afraid that i shouldve cleaned it, will this ruin the chicken I have in right now?

 

[old sarge]

I clean the racks after every use. The interior I leave alone until the smoky coating starts to alligator and flake. Then I just brush off the loose particles. No hard scrubbing.

 

[daricksta]

Hello everyone, I got a Masterbuilt electric smoker for Christmas. Ive already made a few things, my husband made burgers the other night, and of course left a mess, i cleaned the racks, do i need to clean everything? I just started some bacon wrapped chicken, and now im afraid that i shouldve cleaned it, will this ruin the chicken I have in right now?

Just like Old Sarge I clean also clean the racks after every use. If grease dripped down onto any trays or pans I clean those two. My Masterbuilt is only 30" and many times when I place pork ribs or beef briskets on the racks the ends of the meat touch the walls. So part of my cleanup is wiping down any surfaces the meat touched because you'll see bits of dried meat there and on the rack guides.

I've had my smoker for almost 6 years now so periodically I do a thorough scrubbing (dampened and dry paper towels, no soap) of all the interior surfaces to wipe off the collected carbon deposits. I also get the inside of the heat vent and the inside of the wood chip loader as well. You really want to pay attention to keep the ceiling clean. There were a few times when I was placing cheese on top rack for cold smoking, my hand or arm rubbed the ceiling and all those nice little black carbon particles fell down onto my nice clean cheeses. I still smoked them like that but made sure I ate those slices myself.

 

[SmokinAl]

If you cover the drip pan & water pan with aluminum foil, and spray the racks with Pam, then cleanup is easy.
Just use a grill brush on the racks & after a few uses replace the foil liners. When you start to get a build up on the inside walls & ceiling, a quick brushing with a wire brush will knock off all the loose stuff. And I have found the easiest way to get the loose stuff out of the smoker is with a leaf blower.
Hope this helps!
Al

 

[gary s]

Good morning and welcome to the forum from a cold, cold day here in East Texas, and the best site on the web. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about everything.

Gary