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Cleaning Your Egg

Pork Butt Mike
Pork Butt Mike Posts: 2,584
edited November -0001 in EggHead Forum
Cleaning your egg:
What is the best way to clean the inside of your Egg. What we use to call creosol build up in a fire place but I guess this is just plain grease. I know with a fire place chimney we use to burn news paper, which got real hot and clean the creosol off the sides of the chimney. Would this work with the Egg or is there a better way to clean the inside of your Egg. Thanks for any help.

PBM
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Comments

  • lowercasebill
    lowercasebill Posts: 5,218
    take a ball of foil and a plastic scraper and rub and scrape the inside to get as much gunk off as you can then burn for a while at 600 or so. i did not clean the egg for 2 years and then burnt at 950 for an hour. i turned the grease into creosote it ran down the dome evaporated the gasket ran out and down the outside of the egg. it was like melted plastic. took a whole saturday to clean up and re-gasket. the inside if the egg was absolutley beautiful but it was a mistake. now i burn it off [like a self cleaning oven] regularly.
    good luck and remeber the less gunk when you start the less melted grease to run off.
    bill
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  • Lazydogsaloon
    Lazydogsaloon Posts: 213
    I use a ball of foil to rub any large pieces off the top and simply get to TRex temps and let her go for about 1/2 hour.

    Lazydog B)
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  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    I do it the opposite of how bill and Lazydog do.

    I run mine at 550-600 for about an hour (or until all the lump is gone)- with the plate setter and all grids inside to clean them too. After it all cools I lay a drop cloth around the outer diameter of the egg (mine are in a table). I take out everything. The plate setter and grids get a good wire brushing. Then I take the crumpled foil and rub all around the inside of the dome. Most of the gunk will flake off (the reason for the drop cloth - a lot of this falls outside the egg).

    Then I grab the shop vac and suck out all the ash that has accumulated behind the firebox and all the gunk I have just scrubbed off.

    The cleaning process takes only 30 minutes. Then I put it all back together and she is good to go for another 3-4 months.
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 34,589
    an 1100 hundred degree pizza cook will make it white again inside, but if your running felts i wouldnt do it. last summer i did about 30 low and slows in a row on one egg, pork butts and chicken thighs and it really got gunked up. i picked up sticks in the yard and just did a 650/700 degree burn with a pile of them for few hours, not perfect, but clean enough. anything on the dome flaked off in big pieces
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • East Cobb Eggy
    East Cobb Eggy Posts: 1,162
    Fidel,

    Do you take out the fire ring and box as well?

    Greg
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  • East Cobb Eggy
    East Cobb Eggy Posts: 1,162
    For me, I just do a couple of 600 degree pizzas running for about an hour or so.

    You will be amazed at what this does to the placesetter and the dome itself.

    Afterwards, just take a ball of aluminum foil and scrape off the inside of the dome. Most of my flakes are up near the exhaust.

    Greg
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  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    Yes. A lot of ash builds up behind the firebox. Get it out of there to improve airflow.
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  • East Cobb Eggy
    East Cobb Eggy Posts: 1,162
    A lot of people say that it is easy to break the fire box and ring, if you take them out.

    What do you think?

    Greg
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  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    My firebox in my large was broken long ago. The medium is still intact. The mini has never been removed.

    My fire ring is fine in all of them, just don't drop it.
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  • FlaPoolman
    FlaPoolman Posts: 11,677
    I adapted a piece of surgical tubing for my shop vac that will fit and bend thru the airholes and the front vent to get to the back of the fire ring. Works great.
    Pat
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  • Pork Butt Mike
    Pork Butt Mike Posts: 2,584
    I have a lot of different ways to do this now, thanks too all. Nice little project this weekend.


    PBM
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