Normal Clean Up?

[TheGrizMan]

Greetings all,
I've had the PBC for a month and a half now and have done two cooks with two pork butts each, a 10 hour overnight cook and an 8 hour day time cook (holy cow that's fast when I'm used to 12-13 hours on the weber kettle!!). However, I'm curious how people clean up their PBC after a cook? I just finished reading through this post about scraping the PBC but it doesn't really touch upon the general basic clean up after a cook. Here's what I ran into after m first cook, a lot of ash, and a lot of fat sludge, for lack of a better term. Proved be more of a challenge to clean than I anticipated. Dumped what I could out with gravity's assistance, then laid it horizontal and cleaned/wiped the fat sludge/ash mixture out with paper towels. That's pretty fair to reach down to the bottom of the barrel to clean out, looking for any other ideas as to how to clean easily (perhaps letting it burn really hot post cook with lid off will help some with the sludge and keep more just the ash). As always, thoughts/suggestions/ideas greatly welcomed!

-Joe

P.S. So glad I pulled the trigger on this beast of a rig. I was definitely torn initially between this and WSM, happy I chose this!

[Nate]

I have an ash pan for my charcoal basket however the "sludge" can still get underneath it.

Based on the recommendations of fzxdoc and others I also put a couple pieces of foil in the bottom (making sure not to block the intake vent). It seems to help some and I don't have as much to worry about but I still seem to get some under the foil. I usually then just use some paper towel to get any residual.

I believe Jerod Broussard has his PBC sitting up a bit higher and sweeps the ash out of his...

Hopefully these folks, MBMorgan , or some others can jump in and help you out some more.

[Jerod Broussard]

If I got sludge I burn it out. I used to crack the lid and let it rip. I now have a vent on the lid I just open up.

[Spinaker]

I don't ever clean mine after a cook. I've cooked on mine countless times. When the cook is done I open the dampers and stacks and let it burn out. Then I close everything up.

I NEVER scrape mine. All that build up helps the PBC maintain temps. Maybe if the carbon is peeling a bit I will hit it with a small brush but I don't do any maintenance.

You can use a pizza pan for the bottom if you want to catch the ash, but I don't bother. I used to think this was important. But its not. Just dump the ash out by tipping the barrel over. Sometimes I will take a paper towel and wipe some of the ash from the sides after dumping, but I don't worry about it. When you have it flipped over. Give the Bottom a few hard taps too get the stuff off the bottom and your good to go again. No need for all these extra steps and products to keep it clean.

Its a 30-Gallon drum not a $30,000 Kalamazoo cook station.

[Jim Burgin]

Benefit of gunk! I found that after the few initial cooks on my PBC, the gunk on the interior or the lid kept the smoke from escaping around the lid. Before that I followed the advice of pounding the lid with my shoe to stop the smoke fro escaping. Now, no need to.

[MBMorgan]

Everyone has a slightly different approach. In my case, I do use the ash catcher and it does a good job of catching an estimated 95%+ of ash and 99%+ of sludge (which I then remove using a small metal putty knife). Once in a great while, there's a little sludge in the bottom of the barrel (I don't bother with foil) that gets the same treatment before dumping it into the ash can. I've also experimented with using Oil-Dri pellets around the ash catcher. Oil-Dri works but really isn't worth the effort ... largely because you have to dump them out after every cook and there's not much sludge that the ash catcher misses anyway.

[lschweig]

Your approach is the same as mine. I have never had sludge on the bottom of my PBC as of yet, but have had to scrape it off of the ash catcher.

[Spinaker]

What is this "sludge" that everyone speaks of? Maybe I would use foil if I had that problem. I've done three briskets at once multiple times and never had an issue. All that is on the bottom of my rig is ash. Maybe a little bit of stuff on the bottom but it pops right out when you hit the bottom of the barrel, as its burned out and crispy.

[MBMorgan]

What is this "sludge" that everyone speaks of?

It's just fat/grease that drips down and somehow makes it through the coals before burning up complete. Kinda like little tarballs stuck to the ash catcher (or bottom of the PBC) that scrape up easily.

[Spinaker]

Weird I've never noticed this.

[MBMorgan]

Spinaker , I don't see it often. It most commonly occurs when a really fatty meat (like duck, chicken, and baskets of sausages) drips more than can burn away immediately.

[fzxdoc]

I get sludge from pork butts, chuckies and occasionally from whole chickens. Laying 2 sheets of heavy duty aluminum foil on the bottom of the barrel (shaped to fit the inside of the barrel by folding the corners under, using the inside of the lid for a template) keeps my PBC clean and makes cleanup a snap. When the ash is completely cold, usually the next day, I lift out the basket and dump the ash into a large trash bag. Then I reach in and fold up the foil into a packet, and the bottom of the barrel is nice and clean.

I'm petite, and it's difficult for me to reach deep inside the barrel to do any scraping. I'm afraid I might tumble in one of these days! Just kidding. But it is easy to just grab the edges of the foil, make the packet, and toss it into the trash bag.

There's no way I could lift the barrel to dump the ash without making a mess. I envy you tall, muscular guys that advantage.

After several cooks, if the inside of the lid appears to be developing little black stalactites (bad because moisture can condense on them and drip back onto the meat), I set the lid slightly ajar at the end of a cook for 20 minutes or so. The resulting high heat softens the gunk on the inside of the lid, which I then scrape off with a putty knife. I don't clean the walls of the barrel except perhaps to brush some loosening flakes occasionally.

Kathryn