Cleaning Ash

thecult · April 2010

All, I love my BGE but hate the ash. Has anyone had any success using a vacuum/shop vac? I would like to find something that will clean up the ash for me. Thanks in advance.

Little Steven · April 2010

I use a shop vac with a paper filter. Be very careful cause if you get any embers you have a fire source. Don't need to do it that often.

Steve

RVH · April 2010

I bought a cheap home-vac at Lowes and it seems to work fine. However, it is more trouble than it is worth to get it out and hooked up: a dustpan and a scraper tool are handy and quick.

Sooner Egg · April 2010

+ 1

eagin · April 2010

I picked up the Bucket Head shop vac from Home Depot that someone posted about on here a few weeks back. The price was right ($20) and it works great. It fits on the same bucket I dump my ash in anyway, so most of the time it's just right next to the egg anyway, which makes it convenient to use before starting a new cook.

Grandpas Grub · April 2010

:laugh:

I picked up a Sears small shop vac just to clean out the ash. It was so nice I didn't want to get it dirty. :woohoo:

Ash tool every 5 to 10 cooks.

GG

FearlessGrill · April 2010

I don't bother to clean out the ash after every cook. If I'm doing a long (12+ hour cook) I'll take the guts out beforehand, scoop out the ash, and throw it in the garden. I'll do the same if I notice the ash level getting high, either visually or by noticing that I need to open the vents further to hit a certain temperature (due to restricted airflow). I go low tech here, and use my hands to scoop it out, and I put it in the ceramic cap to transport it. No extra tools to keep lying around. This doesn't take me more than 10 minutes every two weeks, and I use my Egg nearly every day.

If you're having ash issues, you may want to try using a different brand of lump. I've been using Wicked Good for a while now, and I find it to be pretty good in this regard. I've noticed that some, Cowboy in particular, really give off a lot more ash.

-John

FlaMike · April 2010

I use a shop vac (rigid) with the standard filter. It gets a bit sloppy to clean it, so I usually manually rake out the ash into a small bucket, and occassionally use the rigid to get behind the firebox using a narrower length of tube.

belle's dad · April 2010

I bought a small shop Vac about a year ago at either Home Depot or Lowes. Works great. Use the egg about three times a week and clean out about every two weeks.

Gordon
Vero Beach, FL

Tarpon65 · April 2010

I actually found a piece of a file system that used a 1/2" x 18" long metal flat stock for the file folders to hang from. I bent that and use it to scrap the ash into an old metal pan. Works great and it was free! Good lump leaves very little ash.

ebrooker007 · April 2010

If I'm going to do a long cook I use my shop vac to clean it out. If it's just a routine cook then I use a piece ofmetal bridgeing used for new construction to tie floor joists together. I bent it 90 degrees to use as an ash tool. I had a bucket of them in my garage. With 4 and 6 year old boys it doesn't hurt as bad if it gets lost.

field hand · April 2010

I tried the BGE cleaning tool and didn't like the mess getting the ash out and into a bucket. Next tried the shop vac which really did a good job but sure was a mess cleaning the vac and filter. Now using a wood stove ash pan with a long handle. Had to bend the edges a bit so it would fit through the opening. I think this works best. I'm sure it's not as good as the vac, but think I'm getting around 90% of the ash, which seems to be good enough. Good luck.

Barry
Marthasville, MO

PhilsGrill · April 2010

Not sure if I understand the problem. Using the ash tool and dust pan, cleans out in about a minute.

schmeetex · April 2010

I have to agree with Phil. I use the ash tool and BGE ash pan and clean up is very easy. The pan fits perfectly into the opening and it takes about a minute to clean out the ash. I only clean after every 4th or 5th cook.

Compared to the old days of Kingsford Charcoal that you had to clean up after every cook...and still got ash on your food...the BGE is great!

SchmeeTex

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