Bronco cleaning?

[Purc]

My Bronco is now 1 year old and I have cleaned the grates, diffuser plate, the hanging rods and the triple grate attachments. I have never touched the inside of the barrel of the smoker. Has anyone cleaned their barrel and if so how and what did you use. I keep my Weber Kettle and SnS clean all the time. Thanks in advance.

[Steve R.]

What's in there? I have some gunk, but not a whole lot. I just let it be. When mine was new there were a couple of leaks where the top and bottom sections bolt together, and grease would run down and drip from where the legs attach. That improved with more gunk buildup to the point that it doesn't happen at all now, so I really don't want to mess with it.

I think if you were so inclined you could remove the cup from the bottom and rinse the barrel out.

[Steve R.]

I think it's actually more important to keep the exhaust vent cleaned out. I haven't had it happen, but I hate to think of black grease dripping on whatever is on the grate below.

[bmillin]

You cleaned the grate attachments? I would never consider cleaning the barrel unless it was moldy. Just burn it out.

[Purc]

No, just the grates and the OKJ Triple grate add on attachment accessory that I added.

[Panhead John]

I’ve only rinsed out my Bronco once, after removing the grease trap. Even then it didn’t really need it. I’m with Steve R. There’s really no need to clean out the inside, that I can think of. I would look inside the lid occasionally to check for any flaky buildup. If so, I’d just use a putty knife, like I do inside my kettle lids to scrape it off. I’ve never cleaned the cooking grate except with a wire brush before each use. The hanging rods and hooks, I’ve thrown in the dishwasher a few times.

[Troutman]

I'm not a Bronco guy, but I rarely clean the walls my WSM smoker barrel. You want the grease to build up and "season" those surfaces. I think it was Harry Soo that reasoned that the slick walls (especially in a WSM) tend to reflect heat which inhibits temperature control in the vessel. By having a dull buildup, heat absorption takes place instead. I don't know how significant that is but it made sense to me and my lazy attitude toward cleaning smokers

Grills and grease pans, absolutely. Interior of the cooking vessel, don't bother (very often that is). My two cents worth.

[tstalafuse]

My first use was to cook what must have been a particularly fat (kinda like me) brisket that leaked a gallon or more of rendered fat onto a concrete deck. After cleaning the deck and using paper towels to absorb what was left in the bottom of the barrel, I took it to a car wash that had an engine cleaner/degreaser and cleaned it but good. I keep a water heater pan underneath the cooker now to catch any drippings.

[kenrobin]

I saw a post recently on a Hunsaker drum forum on Facebook that recommended sprinkling baking soda on the bottom to make it easier to scrape out the gunk and moisture after cooks. Sounds reasonable but I have not tried it yet.

[Uncle Bob]

Keep an eye on the underside of the lid. Sometimes gunk will build up there and then flake off (similar but dryer than what Steve R. warned). A plastic putty knife will usually take care of removal, just have something to catch the droppings.

[tstalafuse]

I use one of these after every cook to keep the gunk from flaking off on the food...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B089LLRL41/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Spinaker]

I would leave it. I have never cleaned the inside of my PBCs. The thicker that crust on the inside gets, the more insulated and consistent they seem to run.

[Finster]

Other than washing the grate, I've never cleaned the Bronco. I've done probably a couple of dozen cooks on it. This morning I scraped out the gunk in the bottom..
quite a mess. Grease mixed with ash I presume..

[klflowers]

How did you get down in there? I got long arms but that is impressive

[Uncle Bob]

I don't know if I've shown this on here before or not in other posts. A few years ago I measured the diameter of the bottom, found a pizza pan very close to the same dimension, drilled the hole for air flow, and set it in. It doesn't capture every ounce of debris but probably 98-9%. Just lift it out periodically, before any large accumulation occurs since it's so easy, and it makes clean up easier.

[Purc]

Great idea that I'm going to try. Thanks Bob.

[TripleB]

I clean my Jambo walls and bottom under the grates after every use. But not the walls above the grates.

[STEbbq]

I never cleaned the inside of the PBC(they actually discourage it as I understand) and touched up the outside as needed. I did have the PBC ash bucket which is the same thing as Uncle Bob did, which is a fantastic idea. I’d get something similar and call it good on cleaning.

[Uncle Bob]

Just to clarify for folks less familiar with the advantages of a Bronco, it comes with an ash bin as standard equipment which captures a significant majority of the ash from spent fuel. That pan I made was more for liquid effluent that migrated down the sides of the barrel or dripped past the fire basket.