Ash cleaning: How often, and consequences of procrastination?

[pbft]

When is it time to clean out the ashes from the firepot? What happens if you wait too long?

I've looked around this and other forums, and I haven't found a good answer. I have seen some suggestion that a little ash in the bottom is a good thing as it provides some insulation, but I haven't seen discussion about when it's too late or what the effects of too much ash might be.

Not that I'm lazy, of course ;-)

I want consistent performance but I don't want to be cleaning it needlessly often. Any words of wisdom?

 

[Pitbullsmoke]

Hello
I clean my RT 700 Bull after every 4 or 5 cooks.
I just refoil drip pan and vacuum out firepot and ash in bottom of smoker.

 

[TheJWhoa]

I do the same,after switching to another brand of pellets with less ash i know where its all at,but ive also been known to clean out every hopper full

 

[wildblue]

Every 4-5 cooks seems about right. Usually when I re-foil the drip pan, I clean out the ash, wash the grates. Depends what I've been cooking too - a 16 hour butt smoke usually makes more of a mess than a handful of steaks, ribs, chicken, whatever.
I don't know if it hurts anything to leave it messy or full of ash. Mine is covered and in the barn when not in use, so I'm not too worried about moisture holding in the ash or anything either.

 

[navydroid]

I'd agree with the 4 to 5 cooks. Like everyone has said, it depends on what you've been cooking. If I've cooked a couple times and I'm getting ready to do a long cook, I'll go ahead and clean everything so I don't have to worry about ash or grease build up in the middle of a 16 hr brisket. Just use good judgement.

The consequences of not cleaning are that the ash will start to build up and blow around inside landing on your food. If you start noticing ash on your food, grates, or pans, you've went to long.

 

[Mike]

When is it time to clean out the ashes from the firepot? What happens if you wait too long?

I've looked around this and other forums, and I haven't found a good answer. I have seen some suggestion that a little ash in the bottom is a good thing as it provides some insulation, but I haven't seen discussion about when it's too late or what the effects of too much ash might be.

Not that I'm lazy, of course ;-)

I want consistent performance but I don't want to be cleaning it needlessly often. Any words of wisdom?

I clean before each cook. Probably a bit over kill but it takes seconds to do really to take the grate out and suck up the ash with the shop vac.

 

[Grilltreats]

I don't get too excited about removing the ash. It doesn't hurt anything to gather up for awhile. It also collects dripping, if any. I have heard though that ash is acidic, so I don't go forever without removing the ash. I find the inexpensive HD "Bucket VAC" works to remove the ash. My ash gets spread over my garden plot.

I do however keep the fire pot cleaned out about every 7 to 9 cooks or so. Though it really isn't necessary to loose sleep over that either. Just a quick lift off of the drip tray, then remove the big stuff as much as I can with the gloved fingers. If I have the vacuum out, of course I hit that too.

I quit foiling the drip tray. It is so much faster and easier to just use a paint scarper to remove the excess grease build up before a really hot cook. If a slow cook, who cares, it's not going to get hot enough to flame up any grease, so I wait until just prior to a cook above 350°, or it gets overly disgusting to my eyes. I scrape the excess down to the trough and then push that out through the chute with a paint stir stick into the awaiting collection jar.

So as you can see, the Rec Tec can be mostly a trouble free and care free experience without a lot of hassle. I see some people overly obsessive about cleaning every part right after every cook. I use to be that way starting out. I got over that with use and experience.

 

[wildblue]

So as you can see, the Rec Tec can be mostly a trouble free and care free experience without a lot of hassle. I see some people overly obsessive about cleaning every part right after every cook. I use to be that way starting out. I got over that with use and experience.

I notice on the FB groups I'm in (which I just keep snoozing because it's the same 4 questions over and over) that some people are obsessed with keeping the whole grill spotless inside and out. Someone even managed to strip some paint off because they used harsh cleaners on the outside. It's a grill, man.... it should look like it's been used
Rec Tec actually has a good 'year end cleaning' article https://www.rectecgrills.com/blog/year-end-maintenance/ if you haven't seen that, it has some good info in it.

 

[Mike]

Best part of that article is "Don’t overthink it… It’s a simple machine and only a handful of issues can arise with it."

So true.

I like to keep the aluminum foil clean and replace it often and the ashes vacuumed. I know I do it more often than I probably should but it's super easy to do certainly doesn't hurt

 

[cookingjnj]

I just cleaned my pit out today. Smoked some wings last night and planning on reverse searing a couple of Prime Rib Eyes tonight, so thought it about time. I have burned probably 60# of pellets since the last time I did any cleaning. This was a quick and simple clean. I ran the pit completely dry of pellets and then blew out as much of the fines from the auger tube as possible, changed the foil on my drip pan (yeah, I still foil), vacuumed out the pit, and the firepot. Filled hopper with cookingpellet.com Perfect Mix, and ready for my cook tonight. One thing I do if I empty the hopper and tube completely is to put a handful of pellets in the firepot. Just makes the start up quicker later on.

 

[Mike]

Nice through cleaning @cookingjnj. Cleaning the tube and bottom of the hopper is something I haven't done myself but should. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[Track_29_golf]

I clean mine 2-3 cooks right now just because its new lol
But I don’t see the need to foil a piece of stainless. I just use a scraper takes 2 mins. Pull ash out the pot with my hand. Use scraper on bottom of grill too.

 

[Kim]

Smoked some wings last night and planning on reverse searing a couple of Prime Rib Eyes tonight, so thought it about time.

Be careful with the reverse searing. I reverse seared a rib roast the other day and got a grease fire. Upon talking with RecTec they told me that in order to do a reverse sear without risk of fire that I need to clean the drip pan after the cook and before the sear.

One of the reasons that I went with RecTec over the Mac is because of the reverse sear videos on YouTube. Kind of false advertising if you ask me. I reverse sear practically everything.

 

[Kim]

I clean mine 2-3 cooks right now just because its new lol
But I don’t see the need to foil a piece of stainless. I just use a scraper takes 2 mins. Pull ash out the pot with my hand. Use scraper on bottom of grill too.

RecTec also basically told me that you should always foil to prevent grease fires.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

I clean my ash often.

 

[Buckeye smoker]

I clean my ash often.

...No one likes a dirty Ash.