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thirdeye's Mailbag ~ Subject: Ash Buckets

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thirdeye
thirdeye Posts: 7,428
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
In the last two weeks four of my barbecue type e-mails asked almost the same question.... "Hey thirdeye, what do you with your ashes"? I guess this is one question that doesn't come up that often on the forums, so I thought I would throw it out here to see what other folks do with theirs....


AshBucketcopy.jpg


Here is my solution. It's your basic bucket from the hardware store, the lid is a stainless water bowl for dogs, and my knob is homemade (but any good home improvement store will have a knob section). Total cost around $15. At one point I was going to put some kind of double bottom in it, but it's not like I'm cleaning glowing embers out of my cookers. I scoop the ashes into the bucket, and seal it with the lid for a couple of days to make sure they are dead out.
Happy Trails
~thirdeye~

Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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  • BENTE
    BENTE Posts: 8,337
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    i was using a old charles chips can it came as a christmas present.. i used it for 5 years it rusted out earlier this summer.. i am now using a old washbucket that i found under my house (from the old owner) your idea looks really good. if i could get my hands on another one of those charles chips cans i would be using it :(

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    happy eggin

    TB

    Anderson S.C.

    "Life is too short to be diplomatic. A man's friends shouldn't mind what he does or says- and those who are not his friends, well, the hell with them. They don't count."

    Tyrus Raymond Cobb

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  • Clay Q
    Clay Q Posts: 4,486
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    Great idea. The lid you made is perfect. I have a stainless milk pail, farm grade about the same size as yours for any warm ash to be safe.

    Most of the ash from my eggs goes out not through the lower intake door but by way of a lump bucket. I lift it out and shake the ash into a pan so very little ash makes it's way down under the grate.
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    I have lump buckets for all my eggs and I don't think I'll ever go back to cooking without them.
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  • Richard Fl
    Richard Fl Posts: 8,297
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    I scoop mine out the next day or so and toss in the garden. Have a scoopper pooper to catch the cold ash. Clay do your milk can buckets stay in the eg during cooking and handle the heat ok?
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  • Gator Bait
    Gator Bait Posts: 5,244
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    I use 2 buckets. One is a regular metal pail with holes driled in the bottom. The other is a small garbage pail with lid. I put a broken peice of paver in the bottom of the larger pail for an air space and have large paver I set the whole thing on when hot. I think I got them both at HD for less then $20.
    BucketA.jpg
    BucketB.jpg
    BucketC.jpg
    I have doubled the size of the holes in the smaller bucket and could probably go up to at least 1/2". I have not been sifting lump out of the ashes as I first intended. It wasn't worth the mess and effort, now I just toss it. The buckets fit under the front of my medium egg.

    Gator

     
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  • Texas Eggie
    Texas Eggie Posts: 150
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    I must say thank you all for you idea. I used a shop vac until I clogged up the filter.
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  • Smoking Coles
    Smoking Coles Posts: 230
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    I incorporated ash pans underneath my eggs in my table design. I designed it where 9" square cake pans would slide right underneath. The pans I bought are teflon coated, and the ash doesn't even stick to them. When I'm ready to rake the ash out, I just slide the pan out, rake the ashes and dump. It's a nice little feature I stole from someone who put there table pic up on TNW site, so I can't take credit. I usually never clean my egg out hot, so I usually just discard of them in the outdoor trash can. Not the best pics of their functionallity, but hopefully you get the picture.

    IMG_0173.jpg
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  • Clay Q
    Clay Q Posts: 4,486
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    The lump bucket you see in the pic is a stainless bowl with slots cut into it for air. Yes, stainless can handle the heat very well and one of my lump buckets is over two years old without much wear and tear from fires.
    I just lift out the lump bucket before I start a fire, cold lump inside, shake out the ash over a pan and presto...I have gotten rid of the ash and I have clean lump ready for the next fire. I would say about 95% of the ash stays in the lump bucket with very little going down past the grate. I clean the bottom of the egg about once in two months...and I do a lot of cookin with quite a bit of lump being burned.
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  • Clay Q
    Clay Q Posts: 4,486
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    Very nice table.
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  • Smoking Coles
    Smoking Coles Posts: 230
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    Thanks Clay, it was alot of fun to build and figure out. Took me alot longer than I thought to build, but overall I'm very satisfied.

    I really enjoy all of the cooks and pics that you post. All of you guys who post recipes and cooks are very appreciated by the rest of us.
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  • Boilermaker Ben
    Boilermaker Ben Posts: 1,956
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    Nothing clever for me. I found some time ago, that a standard plastic grocery bag hangs in the perfect position when you loop one handle over the tab on the bottom vent cover (in the fully open position) and the other handle over the nest guard-thingy just to the left of the vent. Easier to do than it is to describe. Maybe I'll have to take a picture next time I clean out the egg.
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  • BoneDaddy's
    BoneDaddy's Posts: 257
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    Well I need one of those fancy stainless bowl things :-) ...Did you make it?
    Bone Daddy's Competition BBQ & Catering
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  • Sooner Egg
    Sooner Egg Posts: 578
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    I scoop em into a bucket and toss em out....after I'm confident there is no heat left
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  • FrankC
    FrankC Posts: 416
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    Clay,

    Can you tell us how you made your bowl?

    fc :)
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