# Do you clean your smoker to reduce Creosote taste? I have MES and I wondering if I should?



## tempnexus (Jul 1, 2018)

Some folks say that seasoned smoker is the best, some say that a dirty smoker makes bitter meat.  Which side are you on? and if you do clean the smoker like let say MES (since it's electric) than how do you do it and how far do you go?


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## BKING! (Jul 1, 2018)

Well it is more like a dirty smoker has the potential to add a rancid grease flavor to food not a bitter creosote one. Bitter creosote comes from too much smoldering wood. I’d use an amazen tube to get a clean smoke. I wouldn’t do a deep clean inside the smoker after every cook but i would at least scrap the inside with a putty knife or some sort of plastic scraper and clean the grates. When I had an electric smoker I used to foil the water pan. Some people even cook in pans and I do that as well on occasion.


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## mike243 (Jul 1, 2018)

Keep the exhaust vent wide open and it will cut down on the build up in the MES,a clean smoker has never made any body sick.If the side walls are dirty cleanem,nothing much worse than going both ends .Its hard to hit temps high enuf in a electric smoker to sanitize it,other types can  Hit the top temps and scrape/burn off previous cooks


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## chilerelleno (Jul 1, 2018)

I've Smoke Vault 24" propane smoker.

Maybe three or four times a year I take a wire brush to the inside of my smoker, same goes for the bottom drip pan.
Otherwise I just take the wood pan out, put the water pan on the top rack and crank the heat to 300°-400° to clean the
It burns almost all the grease and makes everything come off easily with the brush.
After every cook I clean the racks the same way, just a quick five minutes cranked all the way.


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## lovethemeats (Jul 1, 2018)

I had about 9ft of tubing hooked up going from my pellet box to my MES30.  It was great for cooling the smoke down when cold smoking. Had the same thoughts about cleaning the smoke more with lots of tubing. Joints leaked even when taped up. Messy. Lots to clean. Just 2 weeks ago I pulled off most of it and have it down to about maybe 2ft total.  Thats enough to knock off some of the creosote and also my pellet box helps. Other then them two. I scrape out my box with a putty knife removing all the loose stuff. The glass on the door I clean with every use. Foil is a smokers best friend. Creosote I'm not too worried about. My pellet box is about the size of 2 mailboxes and then some. Alot of the stuff ends of on it before hitting the smoker.
Good luck in finding what will work best for your situation. You will find it. Trying different things don't hurt.


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## chef jimmyj (Jul 1, 2018)

Two. 6 year old MES smokers. Other than grates, grease tray and loose stuff, these have never been cleaned. The Southern States are dotted with decade or hundred+ year old pits that have never been cleaned, some not even the grates!



mike243 said:


> Its hard to hit temps high enuf in a electric smoker to sanitize it,other types can Hit the top temps and scrape/burn off previous cooks



Just a bit of clarification. The temps that Sanitize a smoker, reduce bacteria to a Safe level, happen between 130° and 160°F. Sterilization of a smoker,  the total destruction of active bacteria and their spores, happens when temps reach 160° to 225°F. So considering the MES has a hot smoke range of 225-275°F and we hot smoke in this range, there is no possibility of getting sick, even using the dirtiest of smokers and grates.  For Cold smoking, just run the MES up to 275 and let it cool to ambient sterilizing the smoker before use...JJ


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## TomKnollRFV (Jul 1, 2018)

I clean my MES 140s about once a week. This for me is removing the water pan, the grease tray, and all grill plates, I fill a big tub with water and soap, and put them in there for generally overnight. Then I spray it them down and use a plastic scrub brush I have on tough spots. This makes them nice and clean again. I then put them back in the smoker with a light spray or rub of EVOO.

I kick her up to 275f and run for at least an hour at 275f to dry it out, normally with a load of hickory chips. Every smoke, ill regardless of time I check where the heat sensors are and spray the area around them with apple cider vin and warm water and clean. I also clean the meat probe, ill regardless of if I used it or not. <I've gotten errors from the smoker when I left the meat probe out of the smoker. Not sure why, but the moment I put the probe back in and it warmed up, it worked>.

I use Apple Cid Vin and Warm Water on the window on my MES as well <Skipped this week..to hot to sit out there and work on it>. I also brush off build up around the door frame. Total time spent actively scrubbing/spraying/etc is maybe an hour. I also spray and wipe down the bottom of my AMAZEN pellet tray <Because mine sits on the Grease tray and always ends up with some grunge on it>.


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## chilerelleno (Jul 1, 2018)

TomKnollRFV said:


> I clean my MES 140s about once a week.


OCD much?  :p


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## TomKnollRFV (Jul 1, 2018)

chilerelleno said:


> OCD much?  :p


I have no idea what you are talking about! <Possibly just a tad>


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## tempnexus (Jul 1, 2018)

thank you all for the amazing ideas, I will just sprits it with vinegar, wait 10 min, blast it with water and then sprits it with cheap oil like canola and finally blast it to 275 with small amount of wood just to coat.  Thank you


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## GaryHibbert (Jul 1, 2018)

I generally clean my MES about once a year.  Pretty much all I do is scrape the loose black buildup off the walls and brush it out.
The grease pan I foil and change the foil when it gets a grease buildup.  Same goes for my sand filled water dish and  the large grease tray on the bottom.
The probes for my digital remote therm get cleaned after each use.
The cooking grate comes inside after it cools each time.  I give it a good scrub to remove the big pieces and then it goes in the dishwasher with the supper dishes.  Since I spray the grate down with Pam before each cook it cleans up real easy.
And that's about the full extent of my cleaning.  So far so good.  Nobody's ever got sick.
Gary


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## KrisUpInSmoke (Jul 1, 2018)

The instruction manuel for my MES says, "This is a smoker. It will turn black." Lol... the guys that wrote that must have a great sense of humor. After all, commercial smokers turn black.

In the MES, I clean chucks and build up with a plastic putty knife on the walls and cover the drip tray, water pan and element cover with foil that I replace after every cook (with the exception of the element cover which doesn't always get a lot of drip or grease every cook). Clean the window with a magic eraser and rinse with plain water.

And I'm good with 

 GaryHibbert
 explanation for the rest, although I've taken a pressure washer to the grates. The water and drip pans can't take it though...:confused:


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## KrisUpInSmoke (Jul 1, 2018)

chef jimmyj said:


> For Cold smoking, just run the MES up to 275 and let it cool to ambient sterilizing the smoker before use...JJ



Thank you. That's a helpful tip!


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## chopsaw (Jul 1, 2018)

tempnexus said:


> thank you all for the amazing ideas, I will just sprits it with vinegar, wait 10 min, blast it with water and then sprits it with cheap oil like canola and finally blast it to 275 with small amount of wood just to coat.  Thank you


Go back and read post number 6 .
Years spent to season a smoker , why would you want to get rid of it  ?


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## tpc74 (Jul 3, 2018)

I have cleaned my dual-fuel masterbuilt once, but I had an issue with the door being extremely warped so they sent me a new one, as well as a new burner and such, and it had sat for a year since we moved, so I decided I wanted it nice and clean after i fixed it up and then i re-seasoned after that.  No problems at all but it is a messy job, and takes awhile.

My MES 40, that was just gifted to me from my father, I cleaned once as well and re-seasoned.  I am actually doing my first smoke with it on the 4th.  I don't plan on doing such a deep clean ever again, but I felt it was necessary this time around.  Dad told me not to, but what kid ever listens? LOL  I figure this way I know what I'm working with, and whatever happens is on me and I won't question if it was something else he might have done differently.

On the other hand, my weber kettle that I first started smoking with, has never been cleaned.  But its regulated to charcoal grilling duties now.  We also had an old square masterbuilt firepit, that was actually a type of dual use grill/smoker, and I used that as well for a smoke, and I doubt i cleaned it either. It wasn't terrible, but not the best either.  I don't even know where it is anymore, i think one of the kids got it in the move.


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## johnmeyer (Jul 3, 2018)

I wrote about my experience with MES creosote residue and taste in this thread:

Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness ... But Does It Taste Good?

Don't bother reading the replies because the thread went off the rails about how to upload photos. Bottom line: if you have a lot of creosote (black gunk), and not just the usual brown stuff, then the taste can be improved by cleaning. "Purple Power" was recommended as a cleaning agent, but I didn't have it at the time I did the work.


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## Bearcarver (Jul 3, 2018)

chef jimmyj said:


> Two. 6 year old MES smokers. Other than grates, grease tray and loose stuff, these have never been cleaned. The Southern States are dotted with decade or hundred+ year old pits that have never been cleaned, some not even the grates!
> 
> Just a bit of clarification. The temps that Sanitize a smoker, reduce bacteria to a Safe level, happen between 130° and 160°F. Sterilization of a smoker,  the total destruction of active bacteria and their spores, happens when temps reach 160° to 225°F. So considering the MES has a hot smoke range of 225-275°F and we hot smoke in this range, there is no possibility of getting sick, even using the dirtiest of smokers and grates.  For Cold smoking, just run the MES up to 275 and let it cool to ambient sterilizing the smoker before use...JJ




^^^Well Said by JimmyJ !!!^^^
I have an 8 year old & a 4 year old MES, and the only things that get cleaned well are the Racks, because that's where I set my meat, unless I put it in pans. I also clean the Water pan & line it with foil, so I only have to clean it once in awhile.
I removed my floor pan & cover the floor with foil, changing foil when needed.
As for the walls & ceiling, I check before start-ups, and if there is any black stuff hanging from it, I brush it off so it doesn't fall on my food. I also clean the two sensors on the back wall now & then to make sure they work like they're supposed to work.

So if you don't want your food to taste like the black stuff on the inside walls, don't drag your meat around against the walls.

Bear


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## johnmeyer (Jul 3, 2018)

As I said in that thread I linked to, if you see a lot of smoke coming out of the MES while you are preheating, you can 100% guarantee that the smoke from that old gunk will get on your food. If that is "good" stuff, like what builds up in a commercial smokehouse, then no problem. If, however, it is really bad stuff, then you want to remove it. I would assume that most commercial smoking operations are competent enough to be producing smoke that is *not *mostly creosote. By contrast, the MES when used with its own internal chip tray can produce some pretty foul-tasting stuff.


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## banderson7474 (Jul 3, 2018)

hmmm I might need to pressure wash my OK Joe.  So if I bite into meat and get that numbing feeling at first, that's from creosote?

I messed up in the past and burned pine every once and awhile.  I do have a lot of black goop on the walls but I always thought that was the smoke seasoning.  I mean it smells good when I open the smoker even when it's not fired up.


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## zwiller (Jul 3, 2018)

johnmeyer said:


> As I said in that thread I linked to, if you see a lot of smoke coming out of the MES while you are preheating, you can 100% guarantee that the smoke from that old gunk will get on your food. If that is "good" stuff, like what builds up in a commercial smokehouse, then no problem. If, however, it is really bad stuff, then you want to remove it. I would assume that most commercial smoking operations are competent enough to be producing smoke that is *not *mostly creosote. By contrast, the MES when used with its own internal chip tray can produce some pretty foul-tasting stuff.


+1;  Must pass a sniff test.  Smells good leave it be, smells bad clean it.  I think proper combustion is the key and this is the origin of TBS.   While all smoke contains creosote, I bet TBS has much less than thick white smoke.  I am still ecstatic how well the MES and AMNPS works and my MES smells GOOD.      

Only clean the racks and a real hot soak in Oxyclean is the shizzle.  Actually, pretty much ANYTHING can be cleaned with that.  $1 per tub at Dollar Tree.  If you've never used it, you're gonna freak.


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## johnmeyer (Jul 3, 2018)

zwiller said:


> Only clean the racks and a real hot soak in Oxyclean is the shizzle.  Actually, pretty much ANYTHING can be cleaned with that.  $1 per tub at Dollar Tree.  If you've never used it, you're gonna freak.


I need to try that in my ultrasonic cleaner when doing the MES racks. My wife raves about it for the laundry, but until you made this suggestion, it never occurred to me that I could use it for racks, etc.


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## Bearcarver (Jul 3, 2018)

johnmeyer said:


> I need to try that in my ultrasonic cleaner when doing the MES racks. My wife raves about it for the laundry, but until you made this suggestion, it never occurred to me that I could use it for racks, etc.



Holy Shoot!!
Your Ultrasonic cleaner is big enough for an MES rack???
Must have cost an arm & a leg, John!!!

Bear


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## johnmeyer (Jul 3, 2018)

Bearcarver said:


> Holy Shoot!!
> Your Ultrasonic cleaner is big enough for an MES rack???
> Must have cost an arm & a leg, John!!!
> 
> Bear


Bear,

You have obviously priced them out and you are absolutely correct: if the ultrasonic cleaner was big enough to fit an entire MES rack, it would have probably cost several thousand. Fortunately, while mine was definitely a splurge (almost $300) it isn't in that league.

Mine is 9 liters (about 2 gallons) and I can fit one end of a 30" MES rack into it if I place the rack diagonally across the cleaner's opening. I suspend it by hanging it from my garage cabinet handle. I do one side (about 30-60 seconds is all it takes), and then flip the rack 180 degrees and do the other side.

Unfortunately, even after doing this, there are about 3-4 sections in the middle that still need to be cleaned by hand. However, since the tough part of cleaning the racks is where all the rack wires connect on each end (all those little corners...), the cleaner does most of the tough work.

I can also fit my mailbox mod (made from a popcorn tin) into the cleaner. This lets me get ALL the creosote off after each smoke, and makes it more efficient at condensing the creosote out of the smoke before that smoke gets sucked into the MES. I have to rotate the popcorn can in the cleaner because it too won't fit all at once. The smoke gunk comes off almost instantly, so the entire cleaning procedure for the mod is only 2-3 minutes.


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## Nutshell (Jul 4, 2018)

I just wipe down after each smoke with a clean damp rag to get any loose buildup off.  That’s it.  Keep the season!!


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## Bearcarver (Jul 4, 2018)

johnmeyer said:


> Bear,
> 
> You have obviously priced them out and you are absolutely correct: if the ultrasonic cleaner was big enough to fit an entire MES rack, it would have probably cost several thousand. Fortunately, while mine was definitely a splurge (almost $300) it isn't in that league.
> 
> ...




The only time I ever used one was when I was 17.
I had already graduated, but wasn't old enough to work at Bethlehem Steel, so I got a job at a place that Machined technical ceramics, sapphire, glass and quartz. They had an ultrasonic cleaner, and I lowered my Crummy watch band into it. I couldn't believe how fast the crap came off of that sucker. It looked Brand new, and all I did was hold it in there!!
This was 52 years ago!!

Bear


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## johnmeyer (Jul 4, 2018)

Bearcarver said:


> The only time I ever used one was when I was 17.
> I had already graduated, but wasn't old enough to work at Bethlehem Steel, so I got a job at a place that Machined technical ceramics, sapphire, glass and quartz. They had an ultrasonic cleaner, and I lowered my Crummy watch band into it. I couldn't believe how fast the crap came off of that sucker. It looked Brand new, and all I did was hold it in there!!
> This was 52 years ago!!
> 
> Bear


My late father had a little one that he used for mom's jewelry. He kept trying to get me to buy one, but my wife doesn't have any jewelry other than her wedding rings, so I never made the purchase. When dad died, I figured he would have wanted me to have it, so I took it home with me.

Once I put my watchband in there and had the exact same experience as you did, I was hooked.

Then, like any addict, I kept wanting bigger and stronger machines. Perhaps someday I'll get one of those _really _big units.


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## tempnexus (Jul 13, 2018)

johnmeyer said:


> I need to try that in my ultrasonic cleaner when doing the MES racks. My wife raves about it for the laundry, but until you made this suggestion, it never occurred to me that I could use it for racks, etc.


Ultrasonic?!  DAMN you guys are sick... I was thinking of some freaking water jets to wipe it down and maybe some vinegar before the water....sigh.


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## TomKnollRFV (Jul 13, 2018)

tempnexus said:


> Ultrasonic?!  DAMN you guys are sick... I was thinking of some freaking water jets to wipe it down and maybe some vinegar before the water....sigh.


They're all fancy. I just got a pressure washer for the first time ever in the house hold. It's been on the list of 'things we should get' for 15 years or so.

..And now I still have yet to use it.


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## tempnexus (Jul 13, 2018)

TomKnollRFV said:


> They're all fancy. I just got a pressure washer for the first time ever in the house hold. It's been on the list of 'things we should get' for 15 years or so.
> 
> ..And now I still have yet to use it.


Let me tell you this that once you start you can't stop.  I got one 3 months ago....I have to hold myself back from pressure washing everything....I wash my car every week...I use the Chemical Brothers Pressure Washer Foam thingy....google it since I don't want to link the Amazon site (unless it's ok).   I LOVE IT.


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## TomKnollRFV (Jul 13, 2018)

I've used them in the past for blasting houses off in the country with stuff to remove mold etc <Like 3 story country houses>. I'll probs get it out one of these days and just nail my two charcoal grills and the grates and re-oil like new..


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## johnmeyer (Jul 13, 2018)

I have a love/hate relationship with power washers. I've rented or borrowed them a few times. For a pressure treated deck at a cottage in Wisconsin that is under dead leaves and snow all winter, it is fabulous. For our redwood deck here in California, it is "the great destroyer" because it takes out all the soft wood between the grain, leaving a deck with ridges that neither looks good or is comfortable in bare feet. I was fortunate because my next door neighbor ruined his deck before I had a chance to use one on mine, so I was spared the problem.

Also, I've tried them on BBQ grates and the like, and never thought they did much. Once stuff gets burned on, the only thing I've found that works is really long soaks in the proper solvent, or mechanical scraping.


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## TomKnollRFV (Jul 13, 2018)

johnmeyer said:


> I have a love/hate relationship with power washers. I've rented or borrowed them a few times. For a pressure treated deck at a cottage in Wisconsin that is under dead leaves and snow all winter, it is fabulous. For our redwood deck here in California, it is "the great destroyer" because it takes out all the soft wood between the grain, leaving a deck with ridges that neither looks good or is comfortable in bare feet. I was fortunate because my next door neighbor ruined his deck before I had a chance to use one on mine, so I was spared the problem.
> 
> Also, I've tried them on BBQ grates and the like, and never thought they did much. Once stuff gets burned on, the only thing I've found that works is really long soaks in the proper solvent, or mechanical scraping.


I was thinking more because I can just get all the sediment etc out with out disassembling...hrm. Well then. Also glad you didn't ruin your deck!


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## banderson7474 (Jul 13, 2018)

I pressure washed my joe last weekend for my smoking rebirth. It got all over me. It did ok but i still had to use the wed burner to get it all off


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## cal1956 (Jul 13, 2018)

wal-mart and i think auto zone sell something called "super clean " in a gallon bottle , its purple colored
i have a propane smoker and once in spring and once in fall  i pour that stuff in a spray bottle and mist it on 
heavy enough to keep it wet , set it set 15 minutes then hose it off , that stuff is great !! washes all the old grease right off


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## zwiller (Jul 13, 2018)

Dead serious, try oxyclean.  Same stuff is in the pro deck chems.  No need for pressure washers, the chem does the work.  https://www.deckstainhelp.com/efc-38-wood-deck-cleaner-review/  Sodium percarbonate.  Follow up with citric acid to neutralize and no real need for pressure washer.   Environmentally safe too.  For smoker grates, throw them in the utility sink, add a scoop of oxyclean, add hot water, next day run some bristles over them and rinse off.  As good as new.  I still use a pressure washer for the deck but it is only to speed things up.  Also, a common approach to ruined deck boards is to pull screws etc and flip them over since other side is fine.  A few boards will need to be replaced due to cuts but the vast majority do not.


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