Ash removal

rsterman

Howdy all... I seem to have a tendency to try and keep the ash pot of the egg clean.....so , usually after 2 or 3 cooks, I find myself sitting on the patio using the inefficient egg ash removal tool to laboriously scrape out ash and old lump before beginning the next cook....an odious task at best .....I was wondering what creative ways all of you use to empty the ash without spending all time on your butt taking ash out of that small opening...beginning every other cook or so in the squatting position is reducing the fun of eggin'..... Thanks...

DMW

Shop vac

RRP

 Two things I always do before every cook - I stir the old lump and add more back to the bottom of the fire ring...regardless of what I'm cooking or the temperature goal. I also clean out the fallen ash with this homemade tool. 3 passes and the ash is cleared out since this is wide and scrapes the bottom good enough! BTW the reason for my routine? I have a good feel for how long it will take to light and come up to temperature by starting at the same place every cook!

RRP

BTW that tool pictured above is for my large and medium and is nothing more than the metal edge guide used for ripping wood that I salvaged from an old Skil Saw. Then for my small and mini I use this tool that I made with a piece of brass pop-riveted to a steel strap.

chupacabra

shop vac for me as well...takes less than a minute to clear everything out.  I agree with @RRP I do the same routine everything before every cook so that I know exactly how each cook is going to start.

Ladeback69

I clean out the ash like RRP does between normal cooks, but when I am going to do a low & slow I take all the large pieces of lump, pull out the ash and use a Shop Vac to get the small stuff. I have noticed that ash and small lump will get back behind the fire box ring. I just installed my new fire box ring and there was a lot behind it, because it was moving around with the cracked pieces.

Raymont

I use a small garden shovel

VanDawg38

Shop vac, but I only hit it when I'm reloading with lump.  

vapilotda

Shop vac with the bag in it. The bags will hold quite a bit and it makes for easy disposal.

fljoemon

Definitely use a filter in your Shop Vac. The first time I did it without a filter, all the ash just blew up in the air and settled nicely in the patio :-)

THEBuckeye

I have a large egg and use the standard issue tool. I do rake the old coals with one of my Father's old 7 iron. I went through several Webers with that 7 iron and trilled I can still use it with the Egg. I've actually had it re-gripped. I help to give that 7 iron to my future son-in-law one day. 

As far as the ash, I remove every third cook or so depending on the length go the cooks. I've also found BGE lump produces less ash than the Whole Foods Natural Lump brand and FAR LESS ash the the Weber! 

keepervodeflame

Super easy, super fast, super clean. Worth every penny. 

Powersmith Ash Vacum on Amazon. No muss No fuss. 

Skiddymarker

@rsterman - you are way over thinking this. The ash tool is fantastic, use it to rake the area between the fire box and the base, then into the ash pit. The idea is not to pull all the ash out, the idea is to make sure you have air flow. It is best if you leave 1/2" or so of ash in the bottom of the egg. The ash actually insulates the ceramic from the pieces of direct burning lump that fall through your fire grate. 

Total time is less than a minute.

SmokyArkie

rsterman said:

Howdy all... I seem to have a tendency to try and keep the ash pot of the egg clean.....so , usually after 2 or 3 cooks, I find myself sitting on the patio using the inefficient egg ash removal tool to laboriously scrape out ash and old lump before beginning the next cook....an odious task at best .....I was wondering what creative ways all of you use to empty the ash without spending all time on your butt taking ash out of that small opening...beginning every other cook or so in the squatting position is reducing the fun of eggin'..... Thanks...

Have you tried lifting up the ash grid at the bottoms and then scraping away the ashes directly instead of indirectly. works great for me.

corey24

Shop Vac!

SmokyArkie

rsterman said:

Howdy all... I seem to have a tendency to try and keep the ash pot of the egg clean.....so , usually after 2 or 3 cooks, I find myself sitting on the patio using the inefficient egg ash removal tool to laboriously scrape out ash and old lump before beginning the next cook....an odious task at best .....I was wondering what creative ways all of you use to empty the ash without spending all time on your butt taking ash out of that small opening...beginning every other cook or so in the squatting position is reducing the fun of eggin'..... Thanks...

Have you tried lifting up the ash grid at the bottoms and then scraping away the ashes directly instead of indirectly. works great for me.

Shiff

Every 2-3 cooks I spend a minute using the ash tool to scrape out some of the ash.  As someone elkse said, you just need to remove enough to maintain good air flow.

henapple

I've been egging for years and just use the scraper and a dust pan underneath the opening. It'll be fine.

jllbms

For a real cleaning I remove the innards. Nothing beats that. Just not very often.

midwestsmoker

Ash vacuum from Menards

bboulier

+1 with Skiddymarker.

stemc33

+1 with what @Skiddymarker‌ said. Even when I pull the firebox out to clean behind it, I leave some ash in the bottom. For some reason I think the ash is the last line of defense for drippings/spilled goo from touching and accumulating in the bottom of the egg. Never had any signs of drippings in the ash, but it makes me feel better. Weird I know, but I think it's weirder that some people vacuum the egg.

stevesails

When you vacuum it out it's easy to get the ash out that's in the Firebox holes and other vents

mshump

Shop Vac is fast and easy

JHands

I pull the fire grate and with a gloves hand reach in and grab handfuls and toss in the trash. I of course have a small and am not sure how practical doing this with a large would be. I also have the advantage of working in a healthcare setting where I can swipe a box of gloves here and here and use them at home for cleaning and handling raw meats. Thanks to all you taxpayers

bettysnephew

Years ago when my father did the grilling on a pretty much flat round steel grill with a half hood and a rotating grate the standard was to line the bottom of the grill with about an inch of sand and place the briquets on the sand.  Don't know if this was to protect the grill or just because "that's the way you do it" kind of thing, but all of the cookouts I went to in our small town were set up that way.  I guess the layer of ash in the bottom is a similar practice.

Kruegs

I recently bought a Kick Ash Basket.  It makes it really easy to reuse the old lump but still remove the fire grate to do a quick clean out.

fishlessman

why would you want to clean it all spotless
) you just need enough space for airflow
i dont clean the muffler under the truck either

jmcnutt5

vapilotda said:

Shop vac with the bag in it. The bags will hold quite a bit and it makes for easy disposal.

I use a shop vac with a bag in it as well.  I tried going without a bag one time and it almost ruined my filter.  I use the bags that are rated for sheetrock dust.  This might be a little overkill but I want to be sure it catches it all.  Does anybody use the cheap bags and have success?

fljoemon

To counter the ash flying around when using a Shop Vac, I am now using a Drywall collection bag that you can pick up a 2-pack at lowes for around $11

http://www.amazon.com/Shop-Vac-8-Gallon-High-Efficiency-Disposable-Collection/dp/B00002N9E1

.

bettysnephew

I just had to break my XL down in order to refinish the table.  I have been burning some RO recently due to the sale at Walmart and it does make a lot of ash.  Anyway I was trying to not make much mess as I recently stained my deck.  I turned out that about the best tool I have found is a larger commercial spatula, not the giant one in another thread, to get the worst of it out before using the shop vac.  It was just the right size and angle to get almost all of the ash from the bottom.