On the fence; How easy is the egg to clean?

Marty

I am another "potential buyer sitting on the fence. Don't think I have ever asked how do you clean the egg and how difficult is it to clean?

Car Wash Mike

<p />Marty,
Once a year I pull out all parts and vac up all ash not picked up by ash removal tool. Put back together again. I usually cook steaks once a week so temp gets to 700 and after cook I let temp get back up for awhile burning off gunk on grate and extender.[p]I go threw about 750lbs of lump a year.[p]CWM

yaB

Marty,
You probably need to define a little more exactly what you mean by "clean". From an overall maintenance point of view, I find the Egg to be easier to maintain than any other grill I've used, including various gas grills, Weber and Weber-like kettles, hibachis, etc.[p]When the weather's good, I like to wash and Simonize my Egg. A bucket of soapy water, another bucket of clean water to rinse, a quick chamois rub, and you're ready to go. The Egg always seems to cook smoother and faster than it does before this treatment.[p](Just kidding on that last paragraph! The Egg *always* cooks smoother and faster than the other grills.)[p]Bob

The Naked Whiz

Marty,
Other than scraping out ash occasionally, I don't really ever clean my eggs.
TNW

Toy Man

Clean you egg - what is that....[p]I don't worry about it. Just scrape the grill to get the top layer of crud off. Disassemble and get all the ash out about twice a year. [p]I did wipe the fine layer of soot off the top half of the egg today. Was feeling particularly ambitious.[p]Toy Man

Fire in the Hole

I always disassemble and thoughly shop-vac out my egg before a low-n-slo. I have a twenty-five year old JCPenney 5 gallon shop vac with a metal canister that I have used for years to clean out cold fireplaces and grills. Not much good for anything else.[p]Performing a though cleaning of my egg requires some careful disassembly and reassembly as my firebowl has been a four-piece jigsaw puzzle for some time now. All of the pieces fit together well and everything seems to work as it always has, so I'm not too worried about a replacement any time soon.[p]The whole process of disassembly, cleaning, reassembly and loading with lump and lighting the egg off takes less than 15 minutes. No rush and no big deal.[p]Otherwise, I only clean out the ash when I feel that the airflow is starting to get disrupted from the ash build up which can occur after several loads of lump are burned. The better the lump, the less ash left behind, the longer between cleanings. IMO.[p]If you have a weak moment and you decide to burn up that old bag of Kingsford that has been sitting in the back of the storage building for a while, you will find that you will have to clean out the ash a lot sooner from all of the leftover ash. Not to mention the likelyhood of experiencing an armhair-removing flashback![p]As far as cleaning everything else, I let the egg self-clean the racks right before I cap it off to snuff the flames. Next time I am ready to cook, a quick brush off and away we go. I never clean the exterior. It adds charactor.[p]If I were you, I would be more worried about finding a few more free hours during the week to be able to cook on your egg! So many good things to cook, so little time.[p]:)

RRP

Marty,
please go into this with your eyes wide open - when you go ceramic the inside of your unit gets very black and somewhat ugly - that is to be expected. After the first few cooks it will never be white inside again. Oh with a high burn parts of your fire box will be white from an intense burn off, but forget about the dome. Black is good. Soooo, if you're a clean freak either accept this or you'll fret yourself to death. HTH

tn slagamater

Marty,the Egg pretty much cleans itself. There is very little ash, it is incredibly efficient. I try to get a little ash out every couple of months and then behind the firebox every 6 months or so...Once you taste the food you will not mind the smoked, blackened interior ; but you can always super heat it to burn off the black color inside if you prefer....

Unknown

Marty,
Cleaning inside the Egg is not necessary. The more you cook, the more it cures. This is one fine and finely tuned cooking machine. Marty, don't hesitate to puschase one of these wonders of the cooking world. You will find that those of us that own an Egg and those of you that will purchase one some day, are a cut above all other cooks.
The only thing I do to my Egg is wipe off the grill before cooking with a scotch pad. I clean out the ashes whenever I think about it. Every now and then I take the fire box apart and clean it out. I think you should go tomorrow and purchase an Egg, large prefered. Happy smoking, grilling and eating. [p]Jerry

Standbell

Marty,
Had my egg for 7 years, use it about 3X per week. Other than cleaning out the ashes,that's all I've done. It works great, for both low and slow, and high temp steak sear.

Unknown

Marty, other than cleaning out the ashes occasionally and running a wire brush over the cooking grid now and then, I've never cleaned my large BGE in the five years I've owned it. It is absolutely the best grill/smoker I've ever had and we just love the food that comes off of it. You won't regret buying one (or more).

ranger ray

Marty,
an occaisional wipe of the outside with a damp rag is you need... the suface is ceramic and nothe really sticks to it... a hot fire will clean out the inside....and a semi annual vac. of the interior shouls suffice.... i have mine three years now and still consider it one of the best purchases i have ever made...i use mine about four days a week year round... cooking outdoors when it;s frigid is one of the advantages.... can't do that on a gasser...you won't regret it...