I was moving, had to put the smoker in storage. I have it back now. Opened the lid today. Oh lordy. I can replace the grates. ok fine. Cleaning, I read about it on the site...but mine is pretty bad. Do you just suggest sticking with the cleaning techniques here on AR or ? I really hate to buy a new one..but could I suppose if I am risky family and friends to sickness.. ? Anyone buy a used one and clean it or maybe your own turned out sad like mine?
Its porcelain. Yon can clean it. Some will disagree with me on this but ammonia, a disposable putty knife and some steel wool will take off a lot of bad. I understand even Weber says not to do that but I have need cleaning my 2005 WSM twice a year this way. When I find an old moldy kettle that I can't live without I do the same thing with it.
Obvius caution needs to be taken with both the mold and ammonia but it will clean up.
Hi, my name is Darrell. I'm an OTR truck driver for over 25 years. During my off time I love doing backyard cooks. I have a 48" Lang Deluxe smoker, Rec-Tec pellet smoker,1 Weber Genesis 330, 1 Weber Performer (blue), 2 Weber kettles (1 black and 1 Copper), 1 26" Weber kettle, a WSM, 8 Maverick Redi Chek thermometers, a PartyQ, 2 SnS, Grill Grates, Cast Iron grates, 1 ThermoPop (orange) and 2 ThermoPens (pink and orange) and planning on adding more cooking accessories. Now I have an Anova sous vide, the Dragon blower and 2 Chef alarms from Thermoworks.
Retired high school teacher and principal
Dr ROK - Rider of Kawasaki &/or rock and roll fan
Yoder 640 on Husker themed comp cart
Cookshack Smokette smoker
Antique refrigerator smoker
Weber 22 1/2" kettle w/ GrillGrates AND Slow and Sear
Rec Tec Mini Portable Tailgater w/ GrillGrates
Plenty of GrillGrates
Uuni wood pellet oven, first generation
Roccbox Pizza Oven
Meater Block
"Go Big Red" Thermopen instant read thermometer
Ultrafast instant read thermometer
CDN quick read thermometer
Maverick ET-732 thermometer
Maverick ET-735 thermometer
Tru-Temp wireless thermometer
Infrared thermometer (Mainly use for pizza on the Uuni and Roccbox)
Beverages - Is there really anything other than Guinness? Oh yeah, I forgot about tequila!
A car wash works well. Throw those grates in your dishwasher, they'll be fine. Keep in mind that most of your cooking temps (225 & higher) will kill most bugs, so wouldn't worry much about getting anybody sick.
Thank you all! Ok...I'm giving it a super clean and a tough hot hot coal treatment today. Supposed to get to 52F and sunny in my area of Michigan, so let's see what I can do. Thanks for help.
We have two weber kettle grills (one LARGE and one small/average), the SnS and the Weber Smokey Mountain 18" smoker. We use both natural lump charcoal and KNB for smoking and measure our temps with a Maverick 733, thermopen and MK4. Favorite beer depends on what is cooking (alt answer is yes).
Well, this could not have been any more timely! I was going to wait about a week before asking the same thing. My WSM is in need of a thorough cleaning, but won't be doing it before April 16 (accountant here).
Update: cleaned the WSM today. I did bring the grates inside, ignoring my gag reflex. Hot, super hot water. and brillo pad cleaned the grates. They came out great.
As for the part where the coals were, scooped that mess out, was soft, seemed fine. Easy. Hose washed and scrubbed. Looks ok.
Water pan harder to clean. Scraped with a plastic putty knife all the major weirdo-ness off. Tried to soak, tried to scrub, tried to brillo. Yeah, still burned on bit, but no creepy mold or similar.
Took the main body, just used a wire brush, sat it on the lawn and knocked off the junk. Seemed fine. Wiped with damp paper towels.
Reassembled everything up, filled with coals and let her rip till the coals were gone. I think it was hot enough to kill off anything I missed.
Am letting everything cool, will dump the coals in the morning. I think it's ready. Just now to get settled on temperature checking.
We have two weber kettle grills (one LARGE and one small/average), the SnS and the Weber Smokey Mountain 18" smoker. We use both natural lump charcoal and KNB for smoking and measure our temps with a Maverick 733, thermopen and MK4. Favorite beer depends on what is cooking (alt answer is yes).
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