Another smoker question.

I love smoking foods and Ive gotten ptetty good at it. But I hate cleaning the smoker. What is the trick to getting the racks clean of the drip grime and rub that gets baked on? Oven cleaner? I let them soak in hot soapy water but it still takes a lot of scrubbing.

In all reality do they really “need” to be cleaned that well? After a normal smoke I just scrape the big stuff off top and bottom and call it good, then soak and scrub with a wire brush every couple of times or after a messy smoke like brisket or ribs.

They definitely aren’t bright and shiny, but I still get a good smoke out of them. Also spraying with cooking oil helps in the cleanup process.

I don’t clean them often but spraying with oven cleaner, then pressure wash. Or, throw them in your oven when you do an oven cleaning and gets them back to new.

I spray mine with the pressure washer every once and a while.

I soak in hot soapy water then scrub clean with scotch brite pad or SOS. I havent found a short cut to cleaning them and hate it too.

Thanks everyone.

if you have a rack that sits up off the grill grates,you can put a cookie sheet under the meat being smoked to catch the drippings,that is what I do,i also fill the cookie sheet with water to help with keeping the temps down and it seems to help keep the meat more moist.

or,you can cover the grates under the meats with tinfoil,when done,give it a toss into the round file.

I used to do the long soak and SOS pad thing. Now I put my smoker racks in my gas grille and heat on high heat until loose bits get burnt. It comes off super easy with the grille brush after that. I found this to be much less work.

SuperDave1959 wrote:

I used to do the long soak and SOS pad thing. Now I put my smoker racks in my gas grille and heat on high heat until loose bits get burnt. It comes off super easy with the grille brush after that. I found this to be much less work.

X2