Vacuum the Ash only once a year?

[Bill-N-Carolina]

It’s getting to be that time of the year I will probably keep some ash in minejust for the insulation

I can see it definitely helping in the winter.

 

[Bill-N-Carolina]

I clean the fire pot out every 5 or 6 cooks and vacuum the barrel 2 or 3 times a year.

I do about the same on my bullseye but haven't vacuumed the ash on my 590 yet and I've owned it for about almost a year. I cook year round so I'll probably clean it in a few months.

 

[Bill-N-Carolina]

CS told me most people clean the ash from their smokers too much. He told me his personal smoker hasn't been cleaned in over 6 months. What I've found is the Recteq makes far less ash than my Traeger did. That thing needed vacuuming every cook. Same pellets produce far less ash in the Recteq. Plus, I hated the fact I had ash all over my food in the Traeger, not in the Recteq. I've probably have more than a dozen cooks on mine now. All I do is replace the foil on drip tray & that's it. I love this smoker!

I love my stampede as well. I'm thinking about adding a 1250 with comp cart due to the 15% sale.

 

[Bill-N-Carolina]

Reading these responses, I can grasp why some may want to leave the ash in but for 1x or 2x a year. My thing is - although the ash may act as an insulator, it's surely also a wick for moisture. Yes, I know these are stainless smokers, but not all parts are, and why facilitate a condition to wick moisture into them? I vacuum mine out every 3-4 cooks. I don't like the ash flying around and peppering my food. Just my 2 cents worth........

Good point about the moisture. I'll definitely keep an eye on it.

 

[FF Cory]

I was recently scrolling through Recteq's videos on YouTube and came across their grill maintenance video. Recteq recommends only removing the ash from the grill around once a year. They claim the ash helps prevent flare-ups (specifically on the bullseye), provides insulation and surface area to help heat the grill quicker, and helps keep the amount of ash flying around during the cook down. Does anyone only vacuum their ash once a year, or do most clean it more often?

I have a 590 and I clean every other cook.

 

[Motodad1776]

Typically every 3rd cook for me, or depending on what I have been cooking and or for how long.

 

[Gilmore]

I have a bullseye and vacuumed the fire pot after my 3rd cook. After another 10 cooks looked are the fire pot and it was the same as it looked before I cleaned it after my third cook. The ash seemed not to change. Now after 40 cooks, no change in the amount of ash. I use bear mountain exclusively, and that may have some effect on my ash build-up.
If enough of the more experienced grillers in this site post otherwise, I'll clean annually. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[Motodad1776]

The ash has to be in there and keeps building, otherwise it's just blowing all around your grill and getting on the food........clean those ash pots out folks!!! A fireplace or a wood burning stove has to be cleaned out regularly, what's the difference with our grills that also burn wood?

 

[gkal1964]

Had my Stampede a little less than a year now. I clean the pot every 2-4 cooks, re-foil and brush the grates. I have yet to remove any ash. Going to have to soon because it’s getting pretty deep. I’ll probably just scoop it out, leaving a nice base. Best of luck.

 

[Motodad1776]

I have this unit for cleaning the fire pot and built up ash elsewhere, the price is right and works wonderful.

https://www.amazon.com/PORTER-CABLE...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

[IMAWriter]

I vac out the firepot and change the foil when the hopper is almost empty.

Does the foil need to be removed when doing hotter cooks? Thanks, and happy Easter to all!

 

[Daikyu]

I leave foil on all the time. Even when I do burgers at Full setting. I have a 590 and the large foil rolls from Sams club are perfect size for the 590 drip pan.

I clean the ash about once a year on my 590. I don't use the grill a ton maybe once or twice a month.

 

[Maule Guy]

I vacuum my 570 maybe twice or three times a year. I think the ash layer adds some insulation to the bottom of the barrel. I also put six fire bricks along the bottom which seems to help even out the heat across the grate and cut down on pellet consumption.

 

[TheRicker]

I came across this pellet bucket kit that has a Wire-mesh basket that helps to separate wood dust from the pellets. Yall may have seen it before but I hadn’t. (Ashamed to admit I sift my pellets with a kitchen colander.)

I have been using (new) 5-gallon paint buckets from Home Depot to store my open bags of pellets.

These Oklahoma Joe buckets are a bit pricey but I may buy one every so often and work them into my pellet storage rotation. I really do hate the pellet dust. Note: I’ve had good luck with the direct-ordered Cookinpellets.com pellets (1/2 pallet). In general, my observation has been that the more a bag of pellets gets (man)handled, the more broken pellets and sawdust I see. Each bag from CookinPellets.com are individually boxed. The boxes I received were in good condition. I store them on a steel grate shelf half a foot off my garage concrete floor.

https://a.co/d/hs5X9Bz (This is an Amazon link)

Are any of you using these, or something similar, already?

 

[LarryCTN]

I came across this pellet bucket kit that has a Wire-mesh basket that helps to separate wood dust from the pellets. Yall may have seen it before but I hadn’t. (Ashamed to admit I sift my pellets with a kitchen colander.)

I have been using (new) 5-gallon paint buckets from Home Depot to store my open bags of pellets.

These Oklahoma Joe buckets are a bit pricey but I may buy one every so often and work them into my pellet storage rotation. I really do hate the pellet dust. Note: I’ve had good luck with the direct-ordered Cookinpellets.com pellets (1/2 pallet). In general, my observation has been that the more a bag of pellets gets (man)handled, the more broken pellets and sawdust I see. Each bag from CookinPellets.com are individually boxed. The boxes I received were in good condition. I store them on a steel grate shelf half a foot off my garage concrete floor.

https://a.co/d/hs5X9Bz (This is an Amazon link)

Are any of you using these, or something similar, already?

I have one Oklahoma Joe bucket and a couple plastic colanders......

 

[Greg Jones]

Are any of you using these, or something similar, already?

Interesting product, I’ve never seen that before! I use 5-gallon food safe buckets and spin on/off lids from Lowe’s. Also not cheap, but keeps everything dry. I don’t find the dust to be a big problem for me. By the time I get to the bottom of the bucket, all the dust has sifted down and is on the bottom of the bucket. I just toss it out, and even if a few pellets get tossed also it’s not a big loss for me.

PS: I tried that kitchen colander process 1-2 times and decided it was not for me. Too much work.

 

[kstone113]

I was just speaking with my dad about this yesterday. If you have a Bull or one of those bigger grills, I think around once a year is good but depending on how much you cook. When I re-foil, I usually scoop out with my hand the firepot and even out the ash on the bottom of the barrel. Unless you use your Bull or similar grill as your daily grill, around once a year but if you use all the time, I would imagine around 2 to 5 times a year.

My Bullseye is the grill I use a lot for grilling and I know i'm overdue to vacuum out. I push the ash to the back side of the grill just in case any rain gets in that the ash will dry up any water(unless you have a 380X which that won't apply to this. But the Bullseye would be 2 to 5 times a year. I'm more on a 1 to 2 times a year myself.

This is kind of like the foil or no foil debate. Just depends on preference and how and what you cook. I still like to foil b/c I like the easy clean up and more importantly, I almost exclusively use my Bull to smoke meats and not grill with some exceptions. If I was use my bull as my main grill, I believe I would have a different opinion.

 

[Maule Guy]

Being inherently lazy, once a year seems about right. Also, I don't cook on it every week either. I did find that putting six firebricks in the bottom of the barrel smoothed out the L/R temperature differential somewhat.