Not sure exactly what you call the V shaped pan in bottom of the smoker that funnels the grease and such into the water pan. Anyone have any tricks to help stop the various substances from burning on so friggin' hard you have to soak it for 2 days or attack it with a chisel? Have tried PAM and various other oils etc. with no luck. Have covered it in foil and slit open the smoke vents, but then the "stuff" goes in those holes. Way better than no foil though. Not a biggie, but any tricks out there? Thnx
Ad,
I have some commercial degreaser that I spray on my V tray. When I am done smoking then it washes right off. I take it out of the smoker before I spray it. I know some have the small steam sprayers that they use.
Never thought of a degreaser afterwords. So you finish up cooking, take the pan out, spray it with degreaser in the sink, and waaalaaaa. Easy cleanup. Got the name of the product and where you can get? Thnx.
I soak in hot soapy water for a couple of hours then use a brillo/SOS pad and get her shiny again. The V-tray, water bowl and racks are the only things I get shiny in my BS.
BBQ or engine degreaser, after the smoke, will take care of all the needed elbow grease.
then I put it in the dishwasher after I have scrubbed.
If you have a wire wheel, it will make the V pan look like new.
I just dumb all of my trays, v pan, etc into a container. Add PBW(Powder brewers wash) and water and let soak 24 hours. Washes clean easily afterwards.
My wire racks usually are ok since I give them a liberal spraying of PAM prior to using. The grease V pan is the pain, especially if you have sugar based rubs or sauces involved. Will investigate the barbecue degreasers at Canadian Tire and see what happens. That or maybe the wire brush attachment in the cordless drill. Power tool cleanup.....sounds fun:) Thnx all.
My water pan ,v-drip and bottom pan are fine but all my racks need to be replaced due to extensive use ;D
nepas
I always heavily spray with Pam for grilling before hand. After cooking, I usually fire up the gas grill and flip the V-tray on it upside down. After a couple of minutes, all of the baked on greasy nasty stuff has burned off it and then clean up is much easier.
I don't generally like to wait around so, I usually just spray both racks and drip-pan in the sink with oven cleaner, wait about 15 minutes and just spray off with hot water in the sink. Anything that doesn't spray off (almost 99% will spray off) will come off easy with a nylon brush as it's now soft. Yeah, I know a little caustic, but I don't like to scrub. I once sliced my finger on one of the vents in the V-pan attempting to clean with a dish cloth...not again!
JD
ad,
what else you could after the smoke / cook is take all the racks / v tray / bisket water dish is place them in a tub filled with dish soap and water s.. let them soak over night .. then clean.... this method makes an easy clean up and lot less scrubbing.
on your next smoke.. try it
beefmann
what clean the v-pan. I used to spray with Grilln-pam (now Pam Pro High Heat) then soak for a long time and use Brillo and Elbow grease. Now I wipe it hit it with wire brush for hard stuff and any food particles. Then leave it. And replace it with a new one once a year. I also always keep a spare new one around in case it gets real bad. Easier than damaging may arthritic elbows, sure it costs some, but hey why not.
I like the oven cleaner suggestion. I used to soak and scrub, but now I hit it with the hose at the highest pressure. The big stuff flies off and I assumed the rest wasn't going to hurt anything. A good cleaning evey once in a while is probably a good idea. I am trying the oven cleaner on the next smoke.
If yer not the energenic type, as if after a gathering, grab yer beer cooler out of the garage and dump some warm water with some powdered tide detergent and dump it in. Racks V-pan and all. No scrubby here
just a hose off next day.
Now that seems even better! The only reason I stopped scrubbing the v-pan was because I was geting cracked on so much. My wife seems to think reading a forum/books about smoking meats, talking with the local butchers, collecting spices, meticulously cleaning, etc. was bordering on a problem behavior. Everybody eats the food though....
Since powder tide works I'm thinkin of trying powder dishwasher detergent.
I let it soak over night in my kitchen sink but then I realized I probably shouldn't let all that grease go down the drain.
I wont do my initial cleaning in the sink because I am afraid of clogging it. What I do is put on the old welding gloves and srape it with my little dutch oven scraper while its still hot. Believe it or not most gunk comes off that way. I then put it in a tub of water and dish soap over night and the rest comes right off.
BFLO