New 3 D.5 owner

[Up-In-Smoke]

Hello everyone.  Brian from NE Pennsylvania.  Have had my 3 D.5 with cart for about a year now and love it.  First smoker I've had that works great in the dead of Winter. 

Question,, I haven't been using foil on the bottom and now it's a mess after a year of cooking.  Is there anything I can do to clean it up?

 

[LarryD]

Welcome to the forums!  I've always foiled mine, so I can only speculate.  I would be tempted to wet down the bottom really well, turn the smoker on for a short time to warm everything up, wet it some more, and then use a putty knife to gently scrape stuff out.  I'd fully expect this to take several cycles.  Just be really careful to not spray onto the element itself... I'd probably wrap foil around the element guard before spraying anything to avoid accidental splash.

 

[EFGM]

I've always foiled as well. You might search "How To Clean an Oven with Baking Soda & Vinegar" and see what your thoughts are on this. Others might have some thoughts as well. There is a video on it. Let us know how you come out whatever method you use.

 

[polarlys]

If it's cold and jelled I would suggest to scrape it as good as you can with a wide putty knife ( or whatever you find works ) and then hot soapy water to get what's left. 

 

[old sarge]

Welcome Brian from SE Arizona I once had to strip my old Cookshack clean after some mice scampered up the grease hole and left hair and droppings stuck to the floor pan and low on the walls. I used oven cleaner and a putty knife then hot soapy water. Had to re-season but no harm to the smoker. I prescraped first then used oven cleaner.

 

[SconnieQ]

I assume you have been changing the foil for each smoke? Or is it the same foil for a year? The foil should be changed for each smoke. I just wipe down the excess grease with paper towels after removing the foil. If the foil is stuck, turn your smoker on 100 degrees for a while to warm it up. Then scrape it off with a plastic putty knife or old credit card. If that doesn't work, pour a little warm water on it. Make sure to have the drip pan underneath. You can use oven cleaner to clean up the rest, but it doesn't need to be sparkling clean. If you use oven cleaner, wrap the element in foil to protect it. After cleaning, run another seasoning cycle to burn off any chemicals.

 

[Up-In-Smoke]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I ended up just wetting it and scraped it off.  Can right off.