How often do you guys clean your kettles, and with what?

[Johnpv]

Just out of curiosity, but for your kettles that are in active duty, how often do you clean them?  Are you using just hot soapy (dish soap?) water, or is there something better to clean them with?

I tend to at least lean out the bottom of the cattle from ash either right after I use it, or with in a few days.  It's lead me to discover one flaw in the one touch design, they need to let the fingers travel more so that their range overlaps a bit.  I always end up with little triangles of Ash that the fingers don't get to that I need to do by hand. 

This is my first Weber Kettle and I want it to last a life time, so I'm just wondering how often I should be cleaning it inside and out, to make sure that happens.

[Thunder71]

I'm new to the Weber kettle as well and not sure if I'm going to do a full clean every fall or every spring, but definitely one of the two. Day to day maintenance I just wipe the outside down and get the ash in the bowl whenever it looks like it's clumping up in those areas you mention.

I do take a grill pad and scrub the inside of the bowl and lid now and then as well.

Enjoy!

[Harbormaster]

I cook on the older three wheelers, and sweep them out with a whisk broom after every cook. I scrape down the entire bowl every other cook or so to try and keep things clean. If there's caked on ash and burnt fat/cheese/smegma on the bottom, that gets scraped out when I clean the ashes.

[Bman]

A full tear-down cleaning when I get a new-to-me grill.  I like to get it close to looking like new and that way I get up close and personal with it.  After that, it's just ashes, scrape out fat/cheese/smegma and a wipe down every so often.  If the lid starts to 'peel' then I bust out the wire brush.  And yeah, that little triangle of ash the sweepers leave drives me nuts also.  lol

[landgraftj]

I clean my cookers in the fall or spring really well. Otherwise just wipe them down and clean out the ashes after each cook.

[Duke]

Almost never. My grills are loaded with ashes inside because I don't use ashpans. Funny thing is I had a grease fire a couple weeks ago after I loaded it with lump. I will look for the pictures I took. Hey it's self cleaning! What more can you ask for?

[1buckie]

 How often do you guys clean your kettles, and with what?


 Rain.....every winter..........


  That's not smegma, that's flavorin' !!!!!

[Thunder71]

I'm glad this thread was started... makes me wonder if a deep cleaning every year is even necessary, or could potentially do more harm than good.

[Dave O]

I hate to admit it but I just googled "smegma" - What the @#$% is goin on with your kettles

[jamesnomore]

I hate to admit it but I just googled "smegma" - What the @#$% is goin on with your kettles

Bwahaha I have tons of head cheese in my grill to!!!

[Chasing_smoke]

I just sweep out the ash with the one touch. If its getting a fair layer of soot I take a dust brush and sweep it out. I guess I'm a once or twice a year deep clean guy. When I get a new grill I deep clean it and start using it again.  That way I know it's my ash in the kettle.


 "my kettle is more powerful it will do almost anything."

[javahog2002]

I clean them when I buy them. Not too often after that now that I have  about 16 weber cookers.

[Craig]

I clean them when they are new to me, unless they come to me already cleaned. Otherwise the occasional wipe down and 0000 wool treatment. Sometimes  I get my leaf blower and blow out the leaves and spider webs that develop on the inner side of the wheels (more of a problem with the plastic wheels). On my daisy wheeler's I use my ash sweeper gloves and sweep out the ash in a circular motion. I also wash my ash pans once in a while. I cannot stand ash mountains piling up inside an ash catcher pan. I empty mine after each use even if its just got a little bit on it. My gold kettle I only empty once every couple cooks.

[Johnpv]

Thanks for the replies everyone!  Interesting to see everyone's preferences.

Which brings up another question from me.  How do you guys clean your dirty vents? 

IE this

[Troy]

for the vents - some fine steel wool.
for stains like that, i might use some easy off or other cleaner.

for the bowl - a plastic putty knife to scrape
spray it down with easy off (generic kind from dollar tree), put it in a garbage bag and let it sit in the sun for a day.
Spray it down again the next day, let it sit for an hour, then come back with the scraper and a hose. ITS LIKE MAGIC

then i pull out the steel wool again for the tough stuff.

the outside just gets a wipe down, but i'll use 0000 steel wool on the outside with some degreaser if it needs it.