by adm » 30 May 2011, 17:27
I never really clean my kettles or WSM. For the kettles, I just use the heat from each new bed of lit charcoal to zap any crust on the grate and then brush it off with a wire brush into the coals. If I'm doing a one sided indirect cook, then I'll need to turn the grate through 180 degrees to get to both sides.
If the grate is really cruddy, then a good tip is to put a layer of aluminium foil on top of the grate for a while - this pretty much turns anything left on there into ash that just falls off.
For the smoker, I do empty and wipe clean the water pan after each use (or you end up mouldy fat in there). The water pan is normally almost empty by the time I have finished cooking, so I just lift it out, open all the vents wide to get the temperature up then brush the grates off and let the thing sterilise itself and then go out.