Seasoned Pit Barrel

[SRA]

Does anyone clean the buildup on the inside of the barrel and underneath the lid on their PBC? My initial thought was to just leave it but maybe there is a reason to clean it?

[Jon Solberg]

Hey SRA, I'm not a PBC guy but here's a page from the main site on the subject of cleaning in general. I clean my cookers and grills down to bare metal as least twice a year. More if needed. Then again I wash my cast iron as well.

http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_tech...intenance.html

[RobertHouston]

From the PBC website. http://pitbarrelcooker.com/faq

Q: How do I clean my Pit Barrel Cooker? Maintain it?
A: After the barrel and coal basket have completely cooled dump remaining ash. There is no need to clean anything except for the stainless steel hooks after use. DO NOT WASH OR RINSE THE INSIDE OF YOUR PBC. Always store your Pit Barrel Cooker out of the elements when not using or cover. The more you cook on it the better it gets!

[Jon Solberg]

All do respect to them but that going to get kinda nasty in there at some point isn't it?

[Jerod Broussard]

I rub my welding gloves, and if anything flakes off and falls, it just got cleaned. Cooking a brisket UDS style right now. I need bark on each side so I can wrap and get that sucker done before bed time.

[David Parrish]

I'm with Jerod. Knock off the flaky stuff as needed. At some point you might notice your lid drips black tar like gunk on your food. If that happens you can crack the lid at the end of a cook. Let the PBC get super hot and burn the funk off.

Really the PBC doesn't need much in the way of cleaning.

[Ernest]

I let it rip after every cook, that gets the inside clean enough.
Gotta burn that grease at the bottom of the barrel.

[smarkley]

I guess I need to do what David Parrish and Ernest suggest... my lid is so gunked up I need to tap the edge of it with a mallet to open it when it is cool

[_John_]

same here, I can lift my whole barrel by the lid. Wish I could get that seal on my kettle.

[fzxdoc]

I let it rip after every cook, that gets the inside clean enough.
Gotta burn that grease at the bottom of the barrel.

I actually let it rip before every cook, lid off and lid on, in the firestarting process. I figure that burns a lot of stuff off.

At the end of some (long) cooks, my fire is so low that I'm not sure I could even toast a marshmallow on it!

Fortunately I don't have grease on the bottom of the barrel; I'm more concerned with moisture dripping down from a gunky lid surface during the cook. I've never witnessed that (yet), but I know some PBC power smokers see it a lot. I check every time, although I wouldn't know what to do to prevent it if it happens during a cook. Little tiny meat umbrellas perhaps?

Kathryn

[smarkley]

ya know that reminds me... on my last rib cook I got a big black gob of gunk on one of them... not sure how it got there maybe a drip?

I just wiped it off, it was ok.

[David Parrish]

It was a drip. Time to burn the gunk off that lid!

[JPP]

So at the end of the cook I guess you pull the rebars, leave the lid off for five or ten minutes then put the lid on and roast the goo off??

[JPP]

same here, I can lift my whole barrel by the lid. Wish I could get that seal on my kettle.

I found a stainless steel brush with a toothbrush sized head at the local hardware store... Fits nicely in the rim of the cover and is VERY effective... A few minutes under the rim of the lid and on the lip and no more sticking. If you do it when the barrel is cold, the crud turns into particles and falls away rather than gunking up the brush... I tried using one of these with flimslier bristles but they didn't have the stiffness I needed to scour the rim... a good brush with thick-bristles of stainless steel did the trick.

[smarkley]

Thanks JPP... I will try that too.

[fzxdoc]

Thanks, JPP for the tip. My PBC lid is stick-y as well, although if I wiggle it, it comes open. I think I need to give it a little wire "toothbrush" action just as you describe.

Kathryn

[JPP]

Here is a pic of the brush... Its about 3/8" wide... Wrench for scale.

[fzxdoc]

Great. Thanks. Now I know exactly what to look for!

Kathryn

[SRA]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'm going to go middle of the road and let it burn hot after the cook and just knock the the flakes off concentrating on the lid. I use a pizza-like pan underneath the coal basket so I don't ever have any grease build up down there. I have never noticed any drips from the lid onto the meat but that does sound a little nasty so I will clean the lid.