Cleaning your pits

[Baboontyme 2812]

How do you clean your pits? 

Assuming you have a ball valve. Jesus. I have drained mine before, and yes hulla I have done it at the power wash before but I guess I have never done it with the pit hot. Because a fuck ton of gunk just came out and it turned into a debacle. I put a full sized foil pan underneath it and lowered the tongue end where the valve is and I about filled that thing up. Tried to funnel it into some containers with the wife's help but the funnel clogged. The grease spilled all over the driveway because the pan was too full. There is so much gunk in the belly of the pit that it is clogging the valve and I had to use a screwdriver to loosen up the flow (dose nasty). I have a bunch of solid sediment in there now and most of the grease gone. I finally got most of the grease into a styrofoam cooler and honestly I'm probably just gonna tape the cooler shut, bag it and toss it come garbage day. There's gotta be a better way. Even at  the power wash I wouldn't have been able to move a lot of the hard sediment in there. I do have a scraper that came with the pit and it helps but still too much gunk. 

[immortal13 4059]

I feel bad for you, bro

[Fudbelty 2788]

Soap. Water. Loofa. Then use Axe antiperspirant

[Incredulity 11675]

I have cleaned my low tier stick burner(trailmaster) by burning a bed of coals below the grate.  Them I scoop out ashes/debris.  Give it a little scrub, spray with veg oil.  Put away for winter.  

[VABuckeye 2472]

I use soap and deodorant. 

[Baboontyme 2812]

8 minutes ago, Incredulity said:

I have cleaned my low tier stick burner(trailmaster) by burning a bed of coals below the grate.  Them I scoop out ashes/debris.  Give it a little scrub, spray with veg oil.  Put away for winter.  

That sounds like a pretty good plan. You don't get a massive grease fire? Or you drain first I presume? I feel like I still would have had a massive grease fire. 

[immortal13 4059]

49 minutes ago, Baboontyme said:

That sounds like a pretty good plan. You don't get a massive grease fire? Or you drain first I presume? I feel like I still would have had a massive grease fire. 

Only one way to find out 

[Baboontyme 2812]

lol....you guys know me if you've been around the block. I'll probably try it. Document it. It will end in spectacular debacle of fashion. 

[Incredulity 11675]

There certainly is some flares, but mine drains continuously so there isn’t a huge puddle of grease to deal with.  I just burn it off a good distance from house on gravel driveway.  

[Baboontyme 2812]

Thanks Incred. What do you drain it into?

[Incredulity 11675]

Stainless bucket, I don’t know where I got it.  Sits on bottom shelf between legs of pit.

[Baboontyme 2812]

Ok. So how do you empty your bucket? What do you empty it into? What kind of shit flies does your bucket full of slop attract in between refills? 

[Anastasis 23474]

I ask my husband to figure it out for me. Wait wut?

[Incredulity 11675]

14 minutes ago, Baboontyme said:

Ok. So how do you empty your bucket? What do you empty it into? What kind of shit flies does your bucket full of slop attract in between refills? 

I clean the bucket after each pit use.  Into garbage bag, garbage bag into trash.  

[Air_Matt 19]

We drain what we can and then burn the rest off with a propane torch. What doesn't become liquid after burning and isn't able to drain we try to scoop out. 

Also do this when we haven't cooked in a very long time and if for some reason water gets in and is sitting at the bottom. 

And no its not enough to burn off any "seasoning of the pit".

[TXLNGHRN10 341]

There's no easy way to do it. It's a fucking mess, but the alternative is a huge ass grease fire. Those are fun

If your drain is clogged, you're going to have to scrape it out.  In the future when you're cooking, leave your valve open with a bucket or pan under it and let it drip out.
If you don't, as soon as it builds up and cool's down, it'll clog up again.

[kevwun 15790]

The whole bottom of my pit holds water, so when I'm done cooking I drain the grease and water out while it's still hot so the grease doesn't have a chance to congeal.

[HenryJames 66080]

I use French dressing.

[ousuxndallas 65]

I accidentally get a grease fire going. Does the trick.

 

 

[luke duke 6413]

I accidentally get a grease fire going. Does the trick.

 
 

Is that Champ’s pit?

[luke duke 6413]

How do you clean your pits?  

I never shut my valve. I keep a bucket under it and dump it in the field behind my house every once in a while.

The grates get pressure washed.

The bottom of the pit (and tuning plates) gets scraped with a putty knife. Wear gloves.

[GringoSalado 1651]

3 hours ago, kevwun said:

The whole bottom of my pit holds water, so when I'm done cooking I drain the grease and water out while it's still hot so the grease doesn't have a chance to congeal.

This. Another reason to run water in your cook chamber. Grease floats on water instead of adhering to the inside.

[ChampKind 1314]

17 hours ago, Baboontyme said:

That sounds like a pretty good plan. You don't get a massive grease fire? Or you drain first I presume? I feel like I still would have had a massive grease fire. 

Where the fuck is Luke Duke when you need him. He's a pro at starting grease fires

[ChampKind 1314]

1 hour ago, luke duke said:

 

I never shut my valve. I keep a bucket under it and dump it in the field behind my house every once in a while.

The grates get pressure washed.

The bottom of the pit (and tuning plates) gets scraped with a putty knife. Wear gloves.

 

This is bullshit. LD just catches the motherfucker on fire and lets it burn off all the grease.

1 hour ago, luke duke said:

 

 

[ChampKind 1314]

3 hours ago, ousuxndallas said:

I accidentally get a grease fire going. Does the trick.

 

 

Y'all may laugh, but this is actually a really solid method of cleaning your pit. Burn off the grease the scrape the creosote.

[C-Man 27230]

Admittedly, I don't use my Klose all that much. I leave the valve drain open all the time and it dumps into a stainless steel bucket. Dump that out from time to time. Guess it's time to go in and clean out the cooking chamber with some Simple Green and the hose.

[Baboontyme 2812]

I just got done. Made a huge mess on the front lawn. Wife is gonna be pleased. After I scooped most of the crud out by hand I tried to light the bottom of the pit with my torch but no fire. I guess that means it was clean enough. I also bought a small electric pressure washer on sale at Lowe's and gave the firebox a good blasting. 

I gotta say, cleaning out a bucket every time I'm done cooking does not sound fun. Maybe I can just drain into a foil pan while cooking and toss the whole thing. I would imagine that grease hardens up within a few hours after cooling?

[GringoSalado 1651]

^ the grease will separate on its own, the fat (suet) will coagulate and float on top of the rest of the liquids (all of which will float on water).

Edited May 29, 2018 by GringoSalado
grease load was too ripe for a mom joke

[Doc Holliday 199]

 

28 minutes ago, GringoSalado said:

grease load was too ripe for a mom joke

the grease load does make for a good lube when she's fishin for some lovin

[Buzzrock 14921]

Feeling very happy about my BGE right about now

[Baboontyme 2812]

Gringo and kev - where do you drain your water and grease into when you're done cooking? Seems like that would be more volume than a bucket would hold. 

[kevwun 15790]

I have a small oval shaped washtub that I drain mine in to.  It probably holds between 2 and 3 gallons.  I have to fill it a couple of times.  I don't live in a neighborhood, so I just throw it over the fence.

[dcbc 14487]

On 5/30/2018 at 7:22 PM, Baboontyme said:

Gringo and kev - where do you drain your water and grease into when you're done cooking? Seems like that would be more volume than a bucket would hold. 

Tossed some BBQ grease in a remote corner of my yard once. It wasn't remote enough, however.  One of the dogs had some amazing brisket breath that night.  Fortunately, the grease hardened up a bit by the time her system was done processing it. 

Now, I usually try to find an old container that's getting thrown out to empty grease into and let it congeal. 

Edited June 1, 2018 by dcbc

[GringoSalado 1651]

On 5/30/2018 at 6:22 PM, Baboontyme said:

Gringo and kev - where do you drain your water and grease into when you're done cooking? Seems like that would be more volume than a bucket would hold. 

Multiple 5 gallon buckets until the water runs out, then a foil hotel pan thing for the grease which is disposed of.