WSM cleaning

[hoffmaba]

What do you all do to clean your smokers after your smoke? Specifically, I'm interested in the water bowl (that often has some drippings) and the bottom basin, which collects the ash.  

 

[jirodriguez]

For the ash pan I just bought a 6" wide brush head at home depot - it's called and acid brush. Has strong almost horse tail like bristles, when I dump the ash I use that brush to sweep all the fine ash out. That's all I do for the fire bowl other than about 2X a year a light pressure wash - more of a rinse than anything else.

For the water pan you have a couple of options. First and foremost foil your pan for every smoke, then when you dump it later you can pull the foil out and usually just wipe it down with some paper towels and call it good. Then usually about every 3-4 months I give mine a soak with simple green and hit it with a scrub brush - don't use heavy metal scrubbers you don't want to scratch up the finish because that will make stuff stick all the more. Also gets the 2X a year power wash.

The other option for the water pan is to periodically put it in the oven with oven cleaner on it. Me personally I don't like the smell of oven cleaners so I don't use that method but there are some folks that do use it with good success.

Johnny