Making do with a Weber here, with a water pan and dry wood on lump.
Last lot was four ham hocks and a few beef ribs, squeezed in the middle to keep
the heat indirect. A lot of the fat dripped around the water pan. The fat and
the ashes made a real mess...

Got a lot off that off using a stainless steel scourer -- like extremely coarse
steel wool, but non-rusting. Picked up a lot of the dirt, but was completely
clogged afterward. Hey, about four for a dollar. And I have a couple around to
clean the grill while it's still hot, as that gets it clean enough without much
work. Take out water pan, get the grill hot, put on leather welder's gloves,
give it a scrub, done.

Still plenty of crud on the enamel. So, break out the oven cleaner. This is gel
that you brush on and let sit, with lye as the most active ingredient. And while
I'm at it, I put the stuff all over the inside of the Weber.

The deposits on the lid swell up with the lye, to 1/8" and more. And while I'm
scrubbing and so on, I think "should I even be doing this?" Is it kinda like
stripping the seasoning off a cast-iron pan? This was a build-up of wood
smoke... (No argument about the stuff in the bottom, that needed to come out, or
it'll rancid or burn and give oily smoke, or something.)

So, is it crud, or is it "seasoning"?


Thomas Prufer

On Sun, 24 Aug 2014 13:33:12 +0200, Thomas Prufer
> wrote:

>Making do with a Weber here, with a water pan and dry wood on lump.
>Last lot was four ham hocks and a few beef ribs, squeezed in the middle to keep
>the heat indirect. A lot of the fat dripped around the water pan. The fat and
>the ashes made a real mess...


>
>So, is it crud, or is it "seasoning"?
>

Little bit of both, IMO. I use a putty knife to get the thick stuff
off and leave the rest.

Your working way too hard. Dump and rinse the water pan but otherwise leave it totally crudded up till you get ready to cook next time. When you get ready to rumble burn the gunk off and give it a wire brushing. I use a propane flame thrower to burn off the grates or you can just get a big hot fire going in the pit and if something wants to burn..let it. That oven cleaner will remove paint be careful. Its also a hazardous substance. Stick with fire.

On Mon, 25 Aug 2014 21:18:43 +0100, bigwheel
> wrote:

>Your working way too hard. Dump and rinse the water pan but otherwise
>leave it totally crudded up till you get ready to cook next time. When
>you get ready to rumble burn the gunk off and give it a wire brushing. I
>use a propane flame thrower to burn off the grates or you can just get a
>big hot fire going in the pit and if something wants to burn..let it.
>That oven cleaner will remove paint be careful. Its also a hazardous
>substance. Stick with fire.

Got it.

I got started cleaning because the fat and ash had formed a 1/4"-plus layer
down where it doesn't get real hot. And the lye will strip paint (and skin), but
the gel brush-on means it doesn't take much, and I'm not in danger on inhaling
that stuff like with sprays. And the lawn didn't mind the mess being washed into
it:-)

I'm ahead of you on the water pan. I use commercial-grade one-way aluminum inset
pans for those water bath food server things. They are not real cheap, about a
dollar a piece, but heavy-gauge aluminum. They get used as oven pans first, or
for veggies on the coals. And because the know they'll get thrown out if they
don't clean up nice and easy, they do clean up nice and easy. And once they get
beat up and dirty, they get used up as water pans... It gets too bad -- out it
goes!

And a tip I got from my mom: when a cast-iron pan or griddle gets dirty, heat it
well, scrub it with table salt and newspaper or paper towels and a trace of oil,
(using gloves because the lot should be smoking hot), rinse. Gets the dirt off,
but leaves the pan seasoned.


Thomas Prufer

Hear you on those aluminum pans. I use a full sized model for a water pan in my big pit. They last a surprisingly long time. When our cast iron skillets get real nasty I stick them in the firebox of the pit and run a load of wood through it. Comes out like brand new..but do need to be re seasoned.