Cleaned The Inside of My Egg And Wow!

johnkitchens · February 18

I gave myself a large BGE and table for Christmas this year. I cook on it two times a week. I purchased my egg already assembled from my local dealer. I noticed that the gasket on my base was getting charred on the back of the egg.

I soon realized that the kids that put this together didn't line it up. I decided to fix that tonight. It took about two minutes to loosen, adjust, and tighten everything back down.

I then decided to go ahead and clean and clean out the entire inside. I took all of the lump out and the removed the fire ring, the fire box, and the fire grate. I always clean my vents prior to a cook, but there was still a decent amount of buildup on them that didn't just fall off. After removing everything I completely removed all of the ash and put it all back together. It took 15 minutes total.

I put my lump back in and lit it and wow. My egg got to temp in no time. I guess the buildup of ash in the vent holes and underneath was really hindering my air flow.

I normally leave my base door wide open and adjust my daisy wheel to adjust the temp, but tonight I had to almost close the base door and the daisy wheel in order to keep my temp from going too high.

I also discovered that the dealer had installed my fire grate upside down! I think I will clean mine at least once a month.

jlsm · February 18

If you get a HighQue grate, you won't need to clean the egg out that often. In the warmer months, it might not matter to you much, but if it gets cold where you are, you might appreciate the longer wait.

rjm522 · February 18

I use a small shop vac with a flexible hose and vacuum the ashes out every time I use it. Once or twice a year I take her apart and vacuum out then entire inside, but there is rarely ash in between the ring and outside wall.

GQuiz · February 18

I got a small brush with the dustpan that's dedicated to my Egg. On a similar note, the inside of the dome is getting "sparkly" from all the sweet smoke, what do you use to clean it? I don't want to use a grill brush like I would on a gasser. Suggestions...

Eggcelsior · February 18

GQuiz said:

I got a small brush with the dustpan that's dedicated to my Egg. On a similar note, the inside of the dome is getting "sparkly" from all the sweet smoke, what do you use to clean it? I don't want to use a grill brush like I would on a gasser. Suggestions...

Lots and lots of heat. You are seeing fat from food polymerize on the dome. Do a clean burn(vent wide open and DMFT off for 30 minutes to an hour. Or cook pizzas.

Eggcelsior · February 18

Also, you can ball up some aluminum foil and use it like a scouring pad.

johnkitchens · February 18

I just used a brush in the dome and swept out everything I could get. I didn't take the time to break out my shopvac and get 100% of everything out.

My egg is black as smut on the inside. I think I need to clean mine with heat. I may do that this weekend.

BYS1981 · February 18

I only clean my egg out about once a month, but I always stir the lump before lighting fort air flow.

GQuiz · February 18

Eggcelsior said:

m
GQuiz said:

Lots and lots of heat. You are seeing fat from food polymerize on the dome. Do a clean burn(vent wide open and DMFT off for 30 minutes to an hour. Or cook pizzas.

So run it WFO (wide flippin' open)? I'll do that. Thank you

joe@bge · February 18

I have never cleaned mine in 4 years...smells like BBQ heaven on the inside. :D

As for ash cleanup...I do that about every 4 cooks depending on how many of them were low and slow.

jbates67 · February 18

I have a small vacuum dedicated to ash removal. I will pull everything out once or twice a year but the vacuum usually gets 95% of the ash and build up. There's a definite difference after cleaning in how long it takes to get to temp, it's very quick.

johnkitchens · February 18

@jbates67 Since it was the first time I had ever cleaned it I was shocked at how fast it got to temp!

I plan on cleaning mine about once a month.

SmokinDAWG82 · February 18

I also bought a small shop vac just for my egg, it's great for getting most of the ash out, but it is tough on filters! I take mine apart and clean it about every 2 months

cortguitarman · February 18

SmokinDAWG82 said:
I also bought a small shop vac just for my egg, it's great for getting most of the ash out, but it is tough on filters! I take mine apart and clean it about every 2 months

Get yourself a Drywall bag. Those filters will stay shiny and new. When the bag is full, throw it away and pop in a new one.

FanOfFanboys · February 19

I probably need to clean mine. I'm almost at a year of ownership and only thing I've ever done is stir the old lump before each use and I use ash tool to roughly scrape out bottom. My inside is sticky/thick black everywhere and I'm sure good bit of ash tucked in the proverbial corners. May do next warm weekend.

johnkitchens · February 19

If you have cooked a lot you will have a lot of ash that you can't get to without taking the firebox out.

It is probably time for a good cleaning.

FlashkaBob · February 19

cortguitarman said:

I also bought a small shop vac just for my egg, it's great for getting most of the ash out, but it is tough on filters! I take mine apart and clean it about every 2 months
Get yourself a Drywall bag. Those filters will stay shiny and new. When the bag is full, throw it away and pop in a new one.

Drywall bag? I don't even have a filter in mine. Since my BGE is not in my shop, I allow mother nature to take the ash away for me. This way I don't have to clean out the vacuum as well as the egg. Really annoys the neighbors when their laundry is on the line :-O

Plano_JJ · February 19

I'm anal about stuff like that. I clean mine about every 4th or 5th cook. It makes a big difference in performance from what I can see.

Eggcelsior · February 19

FlashkaBob said:

cortguitarman said:

I also bought a small shop vac just for my egg, it's great for getting most of the ash out, but it is tough on filters! I take mine apart and clean it about every 2 months
Get yourself a Drywall bag. Those filters will stay shiny and new. When the bag is full, throw it away and pop in a new one.

Drywall bag? I don't even have a filter in mine. Since my BGE is not in my shop, I allow mother nature to take the ash away for me. This way I don't have to clean out the vacuum as well as the egg. Really annoys the neighbors when their laundry is on the line :-O

It's probably their dog that's been pooping on your lawn.... ;)

SWVABeanCounter · February 19

I've heard from somebody here to not use a drywall bag and just fill with some water. Haven't tried it yet myself. Maybe when its warmer.

bccomstock · February 19

I ran a clean burn this weekend and got the bottom half nice and white.. I put my platesetter and grates in there to clean them as well, so the top half is still charred black. I'll have to do that later. Also was a good time, especially after the clean burn, to shopvac out the ashes.

pgprescott · February 19

+1 on the shop vac bags. They make different sizes and it eliminates the "poof" of dust you get with regular filters. No mess at all. They are great.

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Cleaned The Inside of My Egg And Wow!

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