Let’s start off by getting down to the meat of the conversation. To clean a pellet smoker all you need to do is take the main grilling compartment apart, scrape it, and vacuum it out. Honestly there’s a bit more to it than that but we’ll get into more details as we go on.
- Disassemble main grilling compartment.
- Scrape out flakes and clumps from all surfaces.
- Vacuum it out.
You will need at least a few tools to clean your pellet grill. Grab some aluminum foil, a grill scraper, and a shop vac to start off with. If you want, use nitrile gloves and paper towels for clean up.
- Aluminum foil
- Grill Scraper
- Shop vacuum
- Nitrile Gloves (optional)
- Paper Towels (optional)
Start off by taking the grill grate, drip pan, and heat diffuser out of your main smoking compartment. You can scrape the grill grate before or after you clean the smoker, it doesn’t matter too much. Make sure to scrape down the drip pan if it needs it and replace the aluminum foil to make future clean-ups easier. Next scrape the heat diffuser if it needs it but it usually doesn’t need it.
Next, use your grill scraper to scrape around the inside of the smoker. Focus on getting rid of flaking creosote and/or rust. Next focus on any chunks or globs of built up grease or ash. Scrape everything down into the bottom to vacuum out later.
After you’ve scraped the inside of the smoker. Pull out your shop vac (or vacuum with a hose) and vacuum out all of the ash from the bottom of the grill. Don’t be afraid to really get in there. Then vacuum out the fire bowl; get as much ash and pellets as you can out of the bowl.
Next it’s time to reassemble the smoker. Start by adding a small handful of smoker pellets to the fire bowl to prime the grill for the next time you start it. Dust off the fire diffuser and throw it back into the smoker compartment. Now, add a layer of foil to the drip tray if you haven’t already. Place the drip tray and grill grate back into the smoker. Lastly, clean out your grease pan if needed.
Cleaning and maintenance is important for all grills to a certain extent. For pellet smokers it will help improve performance, lengthen the life of the pit, and help you avoid safety issues. I clean my old Traeger every 2 to 3 cooking sessions. This is a pretty good rule for a pellet smoker and you should do the same.
Ash builds up in the grilling compartment during smoking on a pellet grill. Once this ash builds up enough it can cause oxygen issues for your fire and make it hard to get the smoker up to heat or stay lit. If the ash gets soaked with water or grease it will cake in there and eventually cause rusting of the metal around it.
I’ve even had my pellet smoker explode on me before! Best I can guess, I let it get too dirty on a long cook. Then the fire went out but the smoker began to fill with wood gas. Once we lifted the lid just a crack, it blew open and scared the hell out of me! I got off easy, but I learned my lesson.
Let me know what you think about this how-to on pellet grill cleaning! You can leave a comment down below or reach me on the Contact Page. If you have any smoking or grilling questions you want answered, let me know those as well.
Lastly, go ahead subscribe to my Newsletter and YouTube Channel if you like my content. This really helps me out and allows you to stay up to date with all of my new posts. Let’s build this BBQ community together!