Stampede Stainless S Darkening After Cooks?

[stevrons]

Hey guys,
Just got our RT-590 several weeks ago and have been cooking quite a bit with it. So far barbecue meatballs, chop steak, brisket, ribs. Everything tastes great so far, the RecTec is now a family member. Around the house I call it "the good ole' Rec Tec" which the kids get a kick out of that since it's brand new. It's really been fun for us and all our kids.

As any good family member would do, we'd love to see our baby looking tip top. So question....after some cooks is it completely normal that the stainless steel, even after a cleaning, is not going to return to the really shiny stainless steel color? On the front of ours, it's now taken on a slight brownish shade, with some spots of pure stainless. I've tried BarKeeper's friend, vinegar, soap/water to get out the brown but can't seem to do it. Any thoughts ?

Thanks
Stephen

 

[Waterboy]

@stevrons the BKF should do the trick. Probably going to take a little more elbow grease. I used Scotchbrite scrubbers and scouring pads on the tougher spots. A lot of folks install high heat gaskets on their lids to stop most if not all of the discoloration (though Rec Teq doesn’t recommend it).

 

[charlesrshell]

Has anyone tried Acetone? Someone posted one time that it worked good.

 

[Fhughes]

Congrats and welcome. I have the 700 but even on mine those areas are the same places of concern for me too. I’ve seen people use automotive buffing compound with a soft cloth followed by automotive polish with a soft cloth. It all depends on how shiny you want it.

 

[Bullporky]

I agree with @Waterboy on using Bar Keepers Friend. It works wonders. You can also install LavaLock on the door. It seems to have helped my 590 with the stains around the door.

 

[charlesrshell]

Has anyone tried Acetone? Someone posted one time that it worked good.

I found the post that this guy used Acetone to get the smoke stain off. Here is what he said:

For RT users who are searching for a way to quickly remove the smoke-induced tarnish, I found something that works quite well... acetone. A little acetone on a rag quickly cut through the tarnish on the stainless steel and surprisingly thick smoke build-up on the edge of the lid where I plan on placing the Nomex tape.

I think I will get some Acetone and try it out in a small place and see how it works. I personally don't think that Barkeepers works that good.

 

[Gonefishin]

I tried Acetone today. As a test I compared it to Members Mark grill cleaner that was recommended for my Weber's from someone who restores them. This is the 2nd time I tried cleaning the RecTeq, 1st time was several months ago when I tried BKF, which I didn't care for. To me the Acetone dries was too fast to be of use, I was tempted to try Naptha, which dries a lot slower, but I was happy with the results of the grill cleaner that I didn't bother. I spent maybe a minute working each side of the examples below, the grill cleaner you spray on and try to keep it wet then wipe it off. Harder done then said as it runs down the grill and dries if you don't wet a cloth and work at keeping it wet. The Acetone you have to wipe on, and then try and keep wiping it while wet although the cloth dries incredibly fast too. I did find that where the grease and creosote were not bad, just wiping with the grill cleaner worked fine.

If you try the grill cleaner https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D6C8Q1G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 do be careful, it's pretty strong stuff. Sucks the air out of you like beach does. I wear rubber gloves, and wipe everything down with water after.

The 2nd image is before.
The 3rd image was after the grill cleaner on the left and the acetone on the right.
The bottom is after spraying both sides with grill cleaner, wiping it off, reapplying the grill cleaner and lightly hitting them with a scotch pad.

I did the front and sides too with similar results but the pictures came out the best on the back.

Neither product completely removed the thick black deposits in the front at the lid, probably removed 80% of it, and neither removed the light yellowing you see on the lower back.

Took an hour to do the test then completely clean and polish the grill on the outside. I'm not going to try getting the insides spotless. I did the grates and the grease tray by cooking them on the Weber gasser, then letting them soak in the grill cleaner for a few, they came out okay but not great.

I'm good with it this clean.

 

[charlesrshell]

Thanks @padlin00. Good post. So do you think the Sam's Member's Mark is the best to use on stainless steel?

 

[Gonefishin]

Who knows, it's the only grill cleaner I've tried, but it does work.

 

[Clm65]

I use the Members Mark cleaner too. Good stuff, but agree that it won’t get it 100% like new.

 

[Gonefishin]

Best I can find out is the yellowing is heat discoloration. To get it off one can try vinegar, club soda, or tomato sauce/ketchup. I just tried vinegar, briefly, it removes the real light yellow but that's it. Supposed to take a lot of elbow grease which leaves me out. Same holds for the club soda.

 

[KRedman]

I think the coloring adds character and makes it look good and used. I don’t mind it at all- though it is a good idea to keep it mostly clean just for cleans sake. I have a stainless steel gasser that’s been out in the elements for 8 years sometimes with a cover, sometimes not, and pretty much is as solid as the day I got it. Granted it wouldn’t pass the health department’s inspection, but it’s good enough for me!

 

[Bytor]

@padlin00 Have you thought of getting the vent extensions? Once I installed mine, I noticed there now is little discoloration around the vent area. The vents now seem to direct the heat/fumes away from the back of the smoker.

 

[Gonefishin]

I thought of it for rain purposes but one of the things I like about the RT is that I can see in the back without opening the lid during pizza cooks. I'm guessing that the extensions would hinder the view.

I'm really not that concerned with the looks of the grill, I just did the experiment as I had some Acetone and got a bit carried away with cleaning.

 

[charlesrshell]

Here are some threads about the smoke vents for your info if you missed them @padlin00.

https://www.recteqforum.com/threads/all-weather-smoke-vents.2041/
https://www.recteqforum.com/threads/all-weather-smoke-vents.226/
https://www.recteqforum.com/threads...r-smoke-vents-for-the-rt-340-and-rt-590.2048/

 

[TomatoBob]

I am the guy who originally suggested acetone. I have found that If I wipe the discolored areas regularly with Acetone and do not let the stains caramelize, I am able to keep my 340 clean and bright. For the tough spots, cleaning with a wet paste of BKF on a scotch pad works great.

For the grill itself, I use a stainless scrubbing pad and water while the grates are in the smoker. I do this after every second or third use. To my great surprise, this method returns the grates to like-new condition in less than a minute. I think that one of the keys to keeping the grates clean is to not let stuff build up, caramelize and bake on.

I have noticed that some types of pellets seem to produce more discoloration than others. When I first got my smoker, I had mesquite in the hopper. After that, I went through a bag of hickory. Both of those pellets created discoloration similar to the images that were provided earlier in this post. Currently, I have a blend of hickory, oak and cherry. This mix does not seem to produce as much staining.

Could it be that the resins in some types of woods stain more than other types?

 

[stevrons]

Great info guys thanks for all the feedback. So we've been cooking away but the "can I get this grill back to looking fresh" has been on the mind. Tried BKF and it works well on smoke buildup, but not well on grease that's dried in, not at all actually.

I actually just saw this video on how to restore SS grill using Scotch Brite pads and just came to my computer to buy them on Amazon and then saw all these posts. I think this is the ticket. It appears that when you use these pads you're actually re-graining whatever side of the SS grill you're working on so you need to run/work the pad along the entire side, not just in a little spot or that one spot will look terrific and stand out from the rest of that side.

@TomatoBob is that what you found as well ?

Here's the video :

 

[TomatoBob]

TB here. I did not get that deep into the removal of discoloration. My smoker is only a few months old. For me, acetone works for recent smoke cleanups and a BKF past works for older buildups. Restoring down to the stainless grain is not something that I have attempted or even knew was an option.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Surprised I missed this one earlier. Okay folks, part of why you're getting mixed results is you're dealing with two kinds of cleaning. The dark product around the lid sides and top is all or nearly all smoke deposits. Down below the lid, and the drip pan line if you visualize it, is corrosion of the metal and maybe some dripped grease. That's why you get partial cleaning with a "stubborn" leftover. Whatever cleaning product, and effort level, you're using works better on the smoke, but needs more for the corrosion. It's usual at about this point in the discussion that some reader(s) has their brain screaming "It's stainless steel you idiot, it can't corrode!!" Well, not so fast grasshopper, you're dealing with 430 grade stainless that is less resistant to corrosion than higher grades that most people think of as "rust proof" (which is also technically incorrect but to far off the reservation for this project).

I'll start here with a small consideration. If you're particularly fussy about how your cooker looks be very carful with abrasives, either the scotchbrite pad or the granular material in liquid/paste cleaners. Always work in straight lines to match the existing brush finish when scrubbing, scotchbrite pads come in various "grits" similar to sand paper and the more aggressive versions will likely not make you happy, especially if you really go at it. I've had good results with Barkeepers friend, though if the smoke build up is heavy it does take effort and multiple applications. BKF contains oxalic acid and a mild particulate abrasive, so you get both chemical and mechanical action, but you'll need to let the product sit for awhile (wet) to get the chemical benefit. Other products that are similar, e.g. CLR, also have oxalic acid without the abrasive, and some other brands are nearly identical to BKF, though might vary chemical amounts. Stuff like acetone are mostly some form of petroleum solvent and will work on the smoke and grease, but won't do anything for the corrosion. I've used the Members Mark grill cleaner, and while I haven't dug into the chemistry, it acts like a caustic. Excellent for cleaning cooking grates and the greasy bottoms of some of my other cookers. I haven't tried it on corrosion, but if I'm correct that it's a caustic it won't have as much affect as it does on smoke/grease. Acids tend to work better on the metallic corrosion, thus the oxalic acid in BKF. Or, another effective acid that you may already have available is phosphoric acid. It's common in products like Naval Jelly, Ospho, and various other "rust" removers..................including the "home remedy" Coca Cola. I'll post up a pic of my 590 that needed some polishing after experimenting at high temps for pizza cooks. The shiny patch to the left is the result of about 5 minutes of work with BKF and a terry towel (trying not to ruin the original finish look). It was a lot like work, but removing corrosion without damaging the base metal is like that.

 

[charlesrshell]

Surprised I missed this one earlier. Okay folks, part of why you're getting mixed results is you're dealing with two kinds of cleaning. The dark product around the lid sides and top is all or nearly all smoke deposits. Down below the lid, and the drip pan line if you visualize it, is corrosion of the metal and maybe some dripped grease. That's why you get partial cleaning with a "stubborn" leftover. Whatever cleaning product, and effort level, you're using works better on the smoke, but needs more for the corrosion. It's usual at about this point in the discussion that some reader(s) has their brain screaming "It's stainless steel you idiot, it can't corrode!!" Well, not so fast grasshopper, you're dealing with 430 grade stainless that is less resistant to corrosion than higher grades that most people think of as "rust proof" (which is also technically incorrect but to far off the reservation for this project).

I'll start here with a small consideration. If you're particularly fussy about how your cooker looks be very carful with abrasives, either the scotchbrite pad or the granular material in liquid/paste cleaners. Always work in straight lines to match the existing brush finish when scrubbing, scotchbrite pads come in various "grits" similar to sand paper and the more aggressive versions will likely not make you happy, especially if you really go at it. I've had good results with Barkeepers friend, though if the smoke build up is heavy it does take effort and multiple applications. BKF contains oxalic acid and a mild particulate abrasive, so you get both chemical and mechanical action, but you'll need to let the product sit for awhile (wet) to get the chemical benefit. Other products that are similar, e.g. CLR, also have oxalic acid without the abrasive, and some other brands are nearly identical to BKF, though might vary chemical amounts. Stuff like acetone are mostly some form of petroleum solvent and will work on the smoke and grease, but won't do anything for the corrosion. I've used the Members Mark grill cleaner, and while I haven't dug into the chemistry, it acts like a caustic. Excellent for cleaning cooking grates and the greasy bottoms of some of my other cookers. I haven't tried it on corrosion, but if I'm correct that it's a caustic it won't have as much affect as it does on smoke/grease. Acids tend to work better on the metallic corrosion, thus the oxalic acid in BKF. Or, another effective acid that you may already have available is phosphoric acid. It's common in products like Naval Jelly, Ospho, and various other "rust" removers..................including the "home remedy" Coca Cola. I'll post up a pic of my 590 that needed some polishing after experimenting at high temps for pizza cooks. The shiny patch to the left is the result of about 5 minutes of work with BKF and a terry towel (trying not to ruin the original finish look). It was a lot like work, but removing corrosion without damaging the base metal is like that.

Thanks @Uncle Bob good info. I am beginning to think I am not going to worry about my Stampede's exterior stainless steel anymore. Just let it do what it wants to do like a lot of folks do. I haven't used my Stampede anymore since I got the Bullseye. I also don't worry about the Bullseye exterior lid and body. Letting the smoke soak in so to speak.