Cleaning the stainless steel Bradley

[asurber]

What is the best way and how clean should the inside be? I just did a quick wipe on the three sides but had a lot of black crusty stuff on the back, especially just above the heating element. Without removing the heat shield there was a lot of the loose black stuff that would be right next to the element after I scraped it off.

[nsxbill]

Inside, I leave it alone.  I clean the door seal area, and remove the vent at top and clean it.  I wipe below the door, and let the unit season. If I see thick buildup inside, I wipe with soap and water only.  The outside of the unit is cheap cheap cheap stainless steel. Simply using a stainless steel cleaner will leave you a surface prone to rust, despite it being stainless steel...it stains.  I have two of these SS smokers, and before I knew it would be a problem, I tried to clean outside of the unit I use most.  I won't do that with the other one.  Just follow instructions on cleaning outside with water and mild soap to keep it looking good.

Am I disappointed in the stainless not being stainless.  Yes, it pisses me off.  A better grade of Stainless could be used instead of the cheap Chinese one step above plain steel on this unit.  It would improve the unit substantially.

Bill

[manxman]

Yes, in the main leave it alone as nxsbill says. Occasionally some of the black crud starts to peel off and I just use a paint brush to brush the flaky bits off so they don't end up falling on the food during a smoke.

I also use the paint brush to get rid of any bits of food that may have gotten around the heater element.

The only place I clean inside from time to time is up around the smoke vent, i have found if it builds up there excessively when it gets hot during a smoke blobs of black crud have dripped down on the food which looks a bit unsightly.

Also clean the vent and the door seal as nxsbill suggests.

I wipe the exterior of my SS model over with a damp cloth and mild soap then a wipe over with a clean dry cloth. I then use a small amount of light lubricating oil on a cloth to wipe it over to preserve the finish, not bothered about the cosmetic appearance rather than the fact the SS really is the cheapest possible and I want to prevent it going rusty.

18 months into owning my SS BS and no sign of rust so far.

[asurber]

Thank you for the replies, clears it right up!