Stampede Detailed cleaning of my 590

[DFB]

How often do you give your grill a detailed external cleaning?
Mine is located under an old carport I built many years ago. It is home to a project jeep, a Cub Cadet needing a new fly wheel and other assorted stuff in different states of disrepair.
We live absurdly rural with no neighbors in any direction for over a mile and some directions for many miles. It is rural hilly Tennessee.
I say that to say this, we are the Jones. People try to keep up with us. I also have water front property in Arizona for sale.....Thank you George Strait.
We use the 590 2-5 times a week. I just sliced a pork tenderloin that is just wonderful. Until the RECTEC(Q), I never knew.
My grill is ugly. I cleaned it twice, but then failed to keep up. I keep the inside maintained, but the outside has suffered.
When I sit down to detail the external grill, what do those who know what I am talking about use?
I may get the buffer out and polish when I have done all I can by hand. Thanks for any ideas..... Before and after pics to follow.

 

[Mike]

@DFB I wipe down the outside usually before each cook. Note that I only said wipe down. I'm not giving it a hard scrubbing and super detailed clean on the outside. While I don't want my recteq bull to look like trash I also don't care if it has some smoke stains on it either.

I do however clean the inside of the grill of all ash before most any cook and I will also scrape the drip pan clean about every other cook... depends on what I've been cooking or about to cook.

To me, keeping the inside clean is the most important. I've seen to many people pellet grills (regardless of brand) have nasty fires because they haven't cleaned the inside. I like my house and my grill to much to let it burn up in a fire and using a shop vac makes this cleaning process about a 2 minute ordeal.

About once a year I'll do a real thorough cleaning, usually right before winter.

 

[DFB]

Good info....thanks. I do keep the inside maintained. I had thought about a wipe down before cooking. Seems backwards but convenient.

 

[Wslayer]

I keep interior clean, about every third cook I do exterior. Just spray down with vinegar/water mix and wipe. Heavy stuff gets barkeepers friend.

 

[charlesrshell]

Right after use I scrape the cooking grill while hot with a stainless steel bristle free brush. After my Stampede has cooled I screw on the grease drip bucket mason jar's lid. To try to prevent a grease fire and back burn, sometime prior to next use I vacuum the fire box , vacuum the lower body interior, and change the grease drip pan foil. Then do a quick job on the exterior stainless steel with Bar Keepers Friend spray. Don't plan on doing any detailed cleaning unless needed.

 

[BethV]

I keep mine pretty clean. Hubby does a detailed cleaning of the outside and inside about once a month. I do the in between cleaning after every couple of cooks. Kind of depends on what I'm cooking. I always have an extra foil layer on the drip pan that lays on top that can be easily removed and replaced after each cook without any effort. When I don't like the looks of the grates, I toss them into the dishwasher. They come out looking like new. Smoke is so different than the burnt on stuff from a gas grill. I take the heat deflector out about every 3 cooks and splash it with the hose. It's amazing how much comes off with just water. I love the ease of this grill!

 

[charlesrshell]

I keep mine pretty clean. Hubby does a detailed cleaning of the outside and inside about once a month. I do the in between cleaning after every couple of cooks. Kind of depends on what I'm cooking. I always have an extra foil layer on the drip pan that lays on top that can be easily removed and replaced after each cook without any effort. When I don't like the looks of the grates, I toss them into the dishwasher. They come out looking like new. Smoke is so different than the burnt on stuff from a gas grill. I take the heat deflector out about every 3 cooks and splash it with the hose. It's amazing how much comes off with just water. I love the ease of this grill!

WOW, you clean your grates in the dishwasher?

 

[BethV]

WOW, you clean your grates in the dishwasher?

Yep! It's the easiest way to get them clean. I'll run my grill brush over them before removing them from the smoker. Then into the dishwasher they go.

 

[charlesrshell]

Yep! It's the easiest way to get them clean. I'll run my grill brush over them before removing them from the smoker. Then into the dishwasher they go.

OK Beth.

 

[Mastertech59]

WOW, you clean your grates in the dishwasher?

I do the same thing with my Bulls cooking grates.

 

[Mannydog]

I just ran my grates thru the dishwasher this morning. Normally just scrape & wipe them down after every cook, which is fine. Grates came out perfect from the dishwasher!

 

[DFB]

I finally had a chance to get back on line.
I will need to order Bar keepers friend. None local.
In my house I am the dishwasher. So grates are scotch brite scrubbed out doors.
I spent sometime on the grill this AM. With barkeepers friend I hope it can be cleaner. I could take off the hinges to clean them real well. Thanks for all the tips..... But here it is:

 

[Beach Bum]

BK friend will help quite a bit. I bought it for my Bull and then gave it the true test on my ten year old Weber Summit. That Weber was filthy. It looks great now.

 

[Waterboy]

BK friend will help quite a bit. I bought it for my Bull and then gave it the true test on my ten year old Weber Summit. That Weber was filthy. It looks great now.

I did exactly the same thing. After cleaning the Bull my 13 year old Weber Summit looked pretty sad so I tackled it. It took a lot of elbow grease but WOW did it ever come back to life. Only difference is I used Cameo.

 

[Beach Bum]

Yes full disclosure, my Summit took some heavier scrubbing. The three month old Bull was pretty easy.

 

[charlesrshell]

Someone mentioned someplace that he used Acetone to clean his stainless steel. Has anyone tried that?

 

[Fhughes]

@charlesrshell I recently stripped the paint from a stainless canister using denatured alcohol but it wouldn’t touch the baked on stuff on the front of my Bull . Acetone might be better but I think I’ll just stick with bar keepers

 

[charlesrshell]

@charlesrshell I recently stripped the paint from a stainless canister using denatured alcohol but it wouldn’t touch the baked on stuff on the front of my Bull . Acetone might be better but I think I’ll just stick with bar keepers

OK, understand. I wish I could find the post. It sounded like Acetone did a good job.

 

[Mjutectec]

That looks great. My Stampede wasn’t terrible and I cleaned it with cameo by Brillo but the smoke stains across the top didn’t come out. I’m going to try the bar keepers friend in the spray. It looks like there are several versions. Which did you use for these results. Thanks

 

[DFB]

Mjutectec, I used scotchbrite pad on the back of a sponge with Dawn. I hope BarKF will finish off the job.