dirty dome

penfresh

ok, I searched the archives but didn't get a good answer that helped... the other night I did steaks and they had a nasty, off taste. my dome is nasty dirty with crude build-up. I tried high temp to burn it off a week ago but it's still there. How should I clean it?[p]Penny

RRP

<p />penfresh,
using a 3M wheel in a drill after about 2 hours of very dirty work this was how my dome came out. It was a pretty sad looking scaly mess before.

Smokey

penfresh,[p]I just did a big spring/summer cleaning of my dome (and inter parts). I use steel wool. If you go this route, don't ba afraid to go through alot of steel wool (it's cheap). [p]I got black crud all over me and the desk, but the egg looks great![p]Smokey

stike

penfresh,
gonna guess you did ribeyes, and after searing shut the vents to let it dwell, right?[p]just a hunch.[p]i gave up on the manul-approved method of doing the dwell (shutting the vents after a sear), especially with ribeyes, because the fat renders off, hits the coals, and smolders, having no O2 to allow it to flare up. that fat is otherwise not an issue with the vents open, but shutting down, and keeping the fatty sooty smoke inside (together with no fresh air in) gives you that horrible black soot on the steaks[p]not as big an issue with less fatty cuts, like filets

Whitetail

stike,
I totally agree. My dome could be as white as snow and I still don’t like the dwell method. IMHO When the vitals are on there needs to be some airflow.

Crab leg

penfresh,
Wad up some heavy duty aluminum foil into a fist sized ball and scrape the inside of the dome with it. It does a good job and leaves nothing extra behind. Then burn the heck out of the stuff that you knocked off and you should have a pretty nice dome. I agree with the comments below about NOT DWELLING with airflow cut off. Nasty taste was prolly from that, not the crud in your dome. Hope this helps.
Seth

penfresh

stike,[p]actually it was a porterhouse and a filet...but you are correct...I did dwell. you are good! so how do you do your steaks? trexed?

stike

penfresh,
well
depends what's "going on"[p]if i get home and the wife says "steaks", it's pretty much Trex.[p]if i have time (read:weekend), i'll do the hotub method. not for the supposed taste benefits, but for the solid 'med/rare' all the way thru.[p]sometimes do the reverse trex when i am rushed and don't want to wait for the temps to come down. say 350 400 to get her going, maybe 4 minutes a side. then off with the daisy, open up the lower vent, and sear like a banshee[p]or i microwave it, with garlic salt and A1 steak sauce.
(not)[p]

penfresh

stike,[p]thanks, strike, now I must go get some ribeyes and experiment. oh, the sacrifices we make to perfect our style ;-). I'll let you know how I did.
Penny