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On 24-Jun-2004, (kaskiles) wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I purchased an American Gourmet Deluxe Grill & Smoker from walmart.com
> about 1.5 months ago. My primary interest was offset smoking, and I
> didn't really plan to grill.
>
> I used the smoker about 3 times per week, with a starting fire base of
> char coals and I would then add Hickory chunks purchased from the
> local Walmart for like $5 for a blue plastic bag full.
>
> The food is mostly good, and I'm still getting the hang of controlling
> the temperature, etc.
>
> But one thing I noticed a couple weeks ago is that the wood smoke tar
> build-up in the cooking chamber is so bad now that it really needed to
> be cleaned up... It had been dripping this tar from the smoke-stack
> to cooking chamber seam early on. After a couple more weeks it was
> really building up, and when it would get hot in use it will drip out
> on the concrete. But the final straw was a few cooking times ago,
> the liquified tar would be dripping down in strings from opening the
> cooking chamber door and contaminate the food! I had to use a screw
> driver to pry the door open easily, then have a wrag to whipe up the
> liquid tar before opening the door fully to keep down the
> contamination.
>
> I decided today to move the grill grates into the cooking chamber and
> try to burn it out clean, like automatic oven cleaning... The
> thermometer is pegged way beyond it's 550F and I couldn't get it out
> to try to keep it from getting damaged, some strange spring metal clip
> just won't let go. Also, all the tar bubbled up and is dripping all
> over the place, good thing I layed down some cardboard under it. This
> tar made a big fire inside too. Now I'm trying to just let it cook
> out.
>
> Am I doing the right thing for cleaning it? The only thing I've found
> that cleans this tar (dissolves it) is strong Ammonia. I really
> didn't want to scrub down the entire cooking chamber insides with
> Ammonia...
>
> Thanks, Kenneth.

Kenneth, it sounds like you have been closing down the chimney
damper. I've been using an offset pit for nearly two years now and
I only saw that problem when I first started. Leave that chimney
damper wide open until you want to shut the pit down. I periodically
burn my pit out just like you did. But I do it to get the excess grease
out. After six or eight cooks it makes an interesting fire when that
grease lights off. The inside of my cooker stays dry as a bone
otherwise. The grills get nasty, but my food hasn't killed anybody
yet. When they get too bad, I build a fire in the cook chamber and
burn them clean. If I happen to be real lazy that week, I run them
through the self cleaning oven in the house.

--
M&M ("When You're Over The Hill You Pick Up Speed")