Do You Clean Inside of Your PBC?

[johnec00]

Do you clean the build-up on the inside of your PBC when it looks like this? If yes, how?

[TallTrees]

I might take a wire brush to it, or spray a little water in while it's still hot after a cook, so that it can steam clean itself. And then dump the yuck out immediately there after.

[lschweig]

I would leave it alone unless there is mold. In a former life I would smoke thousands of pounds of fish a week and my smokehouses had a heavier buildup than you show. I always believed that it added to the flavor and is not unsanitary at all. No food inspector ever made a comment.

[lschweig]

However when the build up got beyond reasonable we would crumple up newspapers pretty deep light them and quickly close the doors. After cooling a quick scrape of the walls took almost all of it off.

[Mr. Bones]

I kind of look at it like: Do you scrub yer cast iron skillet back down to metal after every cook?

I share @Ischweig's belief, however misguided I may be, that it adds flavour.

Don't rightly reckon I know of any bad things that would live through the temps involved here...

[TallTrees]

But you do washout your cast iron skillets with hot water or wipe it out with a rag, and then dry it, dontcha?

[Mr. Bones]

Yup.

[Jerod Broussard]

Mine is horrendous at times. I let it burn very hot when the cook is over, and sometimes scrape loose flakes off so they don't get on the food. Wrong kind of crunchy bark.

[Mr. Bones]

Heard dat! We neck 'n' neck!

[lschweig]

Yup same theory as mine with high temp.

[EdF]

Likewise, though mine's a BGE.

[jbeck1986]

As long as it's not moldy, flaking off into food, or building up so much at the bottom that it's starting to block off airflow I don't see a logical reason to clean it. To look pretty? I believe it adds flavor. Plus that sticky gunk seals air gaps.

[W.A.]

No............

[Spinaker]

I never clean mine. If there is stuff hanging off the side s then I will hit it with a brush. But all the build up is a good thing. ITs part of the reason that I can set mine and not touch it for hours and hours.

[mayapoppa]

Yup to nope.

[bcostlow]

My rule of thumb: "if it's flaked, it gets scraped." Otherwise leave it alone.

[fzxdoc]

The Pit Barrel folks say PBCs should not be cleaned. Once in a blue moon I take a plastic pan scraper and get off some of the larger flakes along the sides of the barrel--the ones that are above or at the level of the food. I don't want the flakes to get on the food.

The inside of the lid is more worrisome to me because it's burnt grease stalactites can conceivably cause condensing vapor to drip back on the meat. So 3-4 times a year I leave the lid off at the end of the cook and let the high temp do its thing for 15 minutes or so on the barrel innards. Then I put the lid on ajar for another 15 minutes. All that stuff on the inside of the lid softens up nicely during that high temp exposure. I just scrape it off with a metal spatula. It stays pretty clean for quite a while.

Kathryn

[Bob's BBQ]

Like Kathryn I'll scrape the lid and the walls above the grate with a putty knife if I notice it's flaking or building up.

[MBMorgan]

As others have said, I don't worry too much about buildup. I'll scrape flakes, "stalactites" (thanks Kathryn ( fzxdoc )), or really big accumulations of gunk that the ash catcher misses ... but that's pretty much all.

[MariaMur]

What is the best method to wash them actually?

[LDimick]

I don't have one, have never tried to clean one, but I think that what I would do is spray it with a lot of simple green, hose it out, and fire it up to really dry it out. Kind of like a cast iron pan.

I may be way wrong, but I would try to get the crud off, and then get it dry ASAP.