SF Cleaning and maintenance

[PatrickE]

How often do you guys clean your SmokeFire? I am not just talk the ash bin, but the inside of the grill itself.

- Do you fully clean the flavorizer bars every time?
- Do you clean the grates too?
- What is a good safe cleaner that won’t make the grill smell like chemicals?

I have had mine for about 4 months now and I feel like it needs a good scrubbing.

Thx!

 

[abmet]

I’ve never used any chemicals on the inside. I just run it at 500 or higher for a while to burn off everthing, then scrape the surfaces. I scrape everything through the holes in the bottom and give quick shop vac if really cleaning it. I have used degreaser on the outside.

 

[bbqking]

I just vacuum it out thoroughly with a shop vac every 4-5 cooks. I’ve used simple green on once or twice inside and out…does not do anything for the inside. I feel some of the smoke residue gives it character…as long as it doesn’t get in your food.

 

[rexster314]

A good scrape down once a month or so (unless you've done a lot of fatty foods then right after cooking it) Then scraped all down into the ash bin. If I feel real energetic, I'll get my Ridid wet/dry vac and suck out all the crud. If my hopper is empty, I'll suck out the pellets in the auger feed slot and get all the dust build up in it
I use a wire brush on my electric drill at the same time to knock off all the gunk accumlated. I once put them in my home oven's self clean cycle and it worked perfect.
Simple Green, orange cleaner for most of the porcelain enamel outside and I'll use some Easy-Off on the parts that have an excessive buildup of smoke residue. Stainless cleaner like Barkeep's Friend

 

[KevinD]

I only shop vac every 6-8 hours of cooking. Usually use a drip pan.

 

[Bluesmoke]

I usually scape the build up off the flavorizer bars about every 3 or 4 cooks. Use a shop vac to clear out the ash and scape down the bottom of the pitt at the same time.
Than run the smoker at 450 to 500 to burn every thing off. It seems to work well.

 

[Iburgess]

How often do you guys clean your SmokeFire? I am not just talk the ash bin, but the inside of the grill itself.

- Do you fully clean the flavorizer bars every time?
- Do you clean the grates too?
- What is a good safe cleaner that won’t make the grill smell like chemicals?

I have had mine for about 4 months now and I feel like it needs a good scrubbing.

Thx!

If i'm not doing any cooks with a lot of drippings, I've probably gone 3-4 cooks before worrying about cleaning the inside. If I do a cook with a lot of drippings I will clean it after, or before the next cook. I decided to put the grates in the dishwasher recently and they cleaned up pretty cool. Not sure I'd bother cleaning the flavourizer bars. A good high temp run or cook should take care of them, IMO.

CHEERS !

 

[Goneincognito]

I clean it out after (or before) every cook (burn pot, cook chamber and draw), wire brush on the grates.
This takes probably 5min to do as I use pans if it's going to be a messy cook.
It also gives me a chance to inspect for any damage to parts.
Every 2 weeks I will remove the auger to ensure no compacted dust or damage.
This also takes about 5min once you get the hang of it.
I do pizza once a week so the high heat helps to blast things away.

I have had my EX4 for just over 12 months and use it 3-4 times a week. More in the warmer months when it replaces the gas grill.
I have never had failed part, flame out, temp issue or grease fire.

 

[emilchik]

I cooked two pork shoulders (pulled pork) then cleaned out the bottom of the grill and flavorizing bars. I used cheap plastic patching knife I bought at the Home Depot to vector scrape the bottom of the grill from the greeze drippings and ashes. After that I run it at 600F for 15 minutes.
After it cold down, you can brush off the rest of the stuff.
Don't try to run it at 600F before removing the greeze from the bottom. It will catch on fire.

 

[JpsBBQ]

I clean mine 2-3 times a year. I may or may not use foil pans to catch grease on big cuts. I routinely run my EX 4 at 400-600. I do this without ever cleaning anything other than the cooking grid. The high potential for a fire is when grease or animal fat is located above the heat source. Heat rises. The fat below the edge of the fire pot is a very minimal fire risk and the temperatures there are almost assuredly below the 375 minimum requirement to combust animal fat under precise conditions.

Note this fryer. The oil below the fire tube never rises above 100 degrees. Genius. Just like the Smokefire. Get the animal fat below the heat source and it’s far less likely to ignite as opposed to sitting on a tray directly above the heat source like in most every other cooker. So simple and so smart. You can get a fire from some residual grease on the flavorizor bars and deflector shield above the heat source but below the cooking grid. This is where you should concentrate your efforts.

 

[emilchik]

I had greeze fire on this grill twice. Both time I had greeze on the bottom of the grill.
The greeze ismixed up with wood saw dust and ash. It makes a perfect fuel. The flame from the hotpot shuts up and gets reflected down (together with some burning ash and saw dust). That's what lights up the greeze and saw dust mixture.
Btw,, the temp sensor is way above that area. That's why it take a while for the grill to warm up to that temperature. It has to warm up all other parts below that sensor, and the flame is well above 600F.

 

[JpsBBQ]

I had greeze fire on this grill twice. Both time I had greeze on the bottom of the grill.
The greeze ismixed up with wood saw dust and ash. It makes a perfect fuel. The flame from the hotpot shuts up and gets reflected down (together with some burning ash and saw dust). That's what lights up the greeze and saw dust mixture.
Btw,, the temp sensor is way above that area. That's why it take a while for the grill to warm up to that temperature. It has to warm up all other parts below that sensor, and the flame is well above 600F.

I simply don’t believe this based upon personal use and common sense. Heat rises. Flame goes up. I’ll say it. BS.

 

[Goneincognito]

I had greeze fire on this grill twice. Both time I had greeze on the bottom of the grill.
The greeze ismixed up with wood saw dust and ash. It makes a perfect fuel. The flame from the hotpot shuts up and gets reflected down (together with some burning ash and saw dust). That's what lights up the greeze and saw dust mixture.
Btw,, the temp sensor is way above that area. That's why it take a while for the grill to warm up to that temperature. It has to warm up all other parts below that sensor, and the flame is well above

It can happen but it gotta be pretty filthy.
Hot air rises so it doesn't take long at all to heat up reach temp.

 

[emilchik]

I simply don’t believe this based upon personal use and common sense. Heat rises. Flame goes up. I’ll say it. BS.

It can happen but it gotta be pretty filthy.
Hot air rises so it doesn't take long at all to heat up reach temp.

You can remove flavorizer bars and see for yourself where flame are shooting when you heat it up the grill to 600F. Also check how much of hot saw dust comes out from underneath the metal heatshield when the fan is blowing full power.

 

[Goneincognito]

You can remove flavorizer bars and see for yourself where flame are shooting when you heat it up the grill to 600F. Also check how much of hot saw dust comes out from underneath the metal heatshield when the fan is blowing full power.

If you arent cleaning it out before running it that high you deserve everything you get.