You're Cleaning Your Kamado Wrong! Try This Instead
The Basic, Upgrade and Ultimate Clean
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Introduction
Treat It Like a Car Detail: Basic, Upgrade or Ultimate
What's up BBQ fans! I've got a whole bunch of cooks on my Komodo Kamado 38, and outside of wiping down the outside a few times, I haven't cleaned it at all. Today we fix that. I'll walk through the tools, the sprays and cleaners, and how I clean it. Think of it like getting your car detailed: you can get the basic package, the upgrade, or the ultimate.
I'm not one of those guys who keeps his smokers hyper clean. This is backyard barbecue. I only use drip pans for big batches of pork butts. I've done up to 14 on this guy, and the fat that rendered out was a couple of inches deep.
The Cleaning Kit
Gloves. My Clean Space Project 5 mil nitrile gloves are hands-down the best deal on the internet. The discount shows at checkout, and I get 1,000 gloves for about $89.
A coarse grill pad. Mine came in a Citrusafe cleaning kit.
A grill stone. It's safe on porcelain enamel, cast iron, stainless and chrome. It's very abrasive.
A hard foam pad for your drill. It'll eat through the crud on your grates.
Bar Keepers Friend. Make a little paste with a non-scratch sponge, and it cuts through almost anything on stainless.
Degreaser: Zep 505, the purple industrial stuff. It's one of the best degreasers I've found. Spray it on, let it sit 30 seconds, and wipe the soot right off.
Microfiber: a stack of microfiber cloths for wiping everything down.
Stainless polish: Sheila Shine. It has oil in it, so it protects stainless and gives it a crazy good shine.
A shop vac. Mine is the Bucket Head wet/dry from Home Depot. It was cheap and works very well for this.
Cleaning the Grates
The grates just lift out. I give them a head start with a wire brush to knock the big stuff off, then go at them with the grill stone. It cuts right down to the stainless in no time. Then give them a quick rinse, because there's a lot of powder left behind from the stone.
That's why you do the grates first: all that dust falls into the firebox, and you'll vacuum it up later.
The Ultimate Clean: Soak It
For the upgrade package, soak your grates and firebox parts in Simple Green. Buy it by the gallon, mix it at the strongest ratio on the label, drop the parts in a 5-gallon bucket or storage bin, and wait about 24 hours.
For like-new results, use PBW. It does the best job by far. It's pricey, but a little goes a long way. The label says 1 to 2 oz per gallon of water, and I double that for barbecue parts. Leave them a couple of days and the crud literally peels off.
Important: read the PBW label. It's fine on stainless, copper, rubber, glass and plastic, but not aluminum or wood. I learned that the hard way when it destroyed the aluminum grill grates for my pellet grill.
The Firebox
The adjustable firebox is one of my favorite things about the Komodo Kamado. The plates let me set up for a half or quarter basket. A plate on two little rails pushes air underneath the basket, so it always has to go through the lump. That's one of the reasons it holds temperature so well.
Give the pieces a scrape and flip them over to help them clean. One warning: the two-piece firebox is meant to stay put. Once it's in, don't remove it, or it will most likely break. The only part you take out is the charcoal basket.
Cleaning Out the Ash
With a Kamado Joe or Big Green Egg, you pretty much clean out the ash between cooks. On the 38, the whole cavity under the fire is wide open, so you can go a long time. I've had mine almost a year, with at least two videos a month on it, and I've vacuumed it once.
On the newest design, the basket end lifts and tilts up, so you get full access to the ash. I had about 5 inches in there, and it filled my shop vac bucket to the top.
When it's that full, air still takes the path of least resistance, so make a path through the ash and expect to open your vents a bit more than usual.
Don't Burn It White
On a Kamado Joe you can run it around 900°F and let it sit a few hours to burn the inside white again. Don't do that on a Komodo Kamado. The inside is refractory cement, which is a little porous, and that dark grease build-up helps insulate it. If it gets really gummed up, run it at 400 to 500°F for a couple of hours, but don't take it far enough to turn it white.
Detailing the Outside
I clean my outside every couple of cooks.
Degrease the tiles. Spray Zep 505, give it a scrub, and use microfiber so you don't scratch the tiles. Don't spray it inside the pit.
Check your grout. Cracks let water into the lid, and over time it gets heavy. If that happens, run it at 500 to 600°F for 4 to 6 hours to steam it out. To patch it, preheat so the outside is warm, press grout from the included tube into the crack with your finger, let it dry overnight, then scrub with a soft sponge and soapy water. You'll never see the repair.
Shine the stainless. A little Sheila Shine goes a long way, like WD-40.
Storage Mode vs. Cooking Mode
A lot of people email me and Dennis about temperature problems, and this is usually why. The latches have two settings. The first is storage mode, with a little play in the lid. For cooking, push it down hard to the second, locked position. Otherwise you have an air gap that overrides your vents.
After a cook, shut it down, wait an hour, then put it in storage mode and crack the top vent a little. That lets air through so you don't get mold, mildew or trapped moisture.
Final Thoughts
Wear a shirt you don't care about. I once ruined a brand-new one doing this job.
The whole thing took me 30 to 45 minutes. A brush and a grill stone get you clean grates fast, and for the ultimate clean, soak everything in PBW for a couple of days.
Thanks For Watching
Whether you're a seasoned pitmaster or a novice, these tips will enhance your cooking skills and leave your family and friends raving about your delicious, smoky creations. Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more step-by-step videos, and let's together become the barbecue heroes we were meant to be!
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