Need To Clean Up Stick Burner

[thirtydaZe]

I have a Yoder Cheyenne, it's been sitting unused for almost 3 years now, under a tattered cover on my back porch, otherwise exposed to the elements.

Well, it's that time of year where my smoking hobby starts to kick into high gear.

I'd been using a Kamado, and while i love it for long cooks, and set and forget, it's not a stick burner.

Mines not in terrible shape, a bit of rust where the cover frayed, filthy drip pan, and dusty cobwebby cooking chamber. the firebox was brushed clean of ash, so that's not an issue.

Anyhow, i'm going to get a new cover, a new drip catch, and clean out the big stuff from inside.

Other than a hot burn out, what else would you do? I'd like to coat/spray the exterior with something to make it look nice and silky smooth again.

What all should i be doing, i want to cook Saturday, and I want to clean Friday.

 

[daninnewjersey]

I use my weed burner to get a lot of the gunk out that stays behind after all my cooks. I also scrape the crap out of the inside where all the drippings turn into that black hard crap. Once I'm done scraping and burning, I coat every surface I can find with olive oil and get a small fire going....nothing raging hot just like 225-ish for a couple hours. That makes the oil set up nicely.

And shame on you for ignoring your baby that long....:mrgreen::mrgreen: J/K

 

[Fwismoker]

Hit everything inside with torch/weed burner, power wash inside and out and light a hot fire to dry everything quickly, then re season.

I'd at least wirebrush/ sand the rust on the outside and hit with Rustoleum high heat.

 

[thirtydaZe]

And shame on you for ignoring your baby that long....:mrgreen::mrgreen: J/K

yes, I know. It's a bit shameful.

Thanks for your input, i should actually invest in a weed burner.

 

[cyberstrategist]

I take mine after the big cooks or after several small cooks to the car wash and hose it down with the pressure washer - NO SOAP, just high pressure water - and then bring it home and light it up. I may add a bit more oil if i see spots that need it, as I'm waiting for the chimney to fire up the coals I'll be using.

 

[weave1499]

1. Sand and paint outside rusted spots (try to give paint 2 days to cure if you can. This step can wait til next week if you really want to cook this weekend. If you wait to paint, you'll want to run another fire 2 days after you paint to bake the paint on.
2.Scrape all surfaces as mentioned above, (can use weed burner before to loosen up the heavy stuff is there is some).
3.Shop vac chamber and firebox.
4. Start fire in firebox (Charcoal only, don't waste your wood) and get temp up over 300, hit inside cook chamber with hose to steam clean. kill fire 30 mins after steam. Should be dry. Clean ash out of firebox.
5. Cover whole thing (I would do inside and outside) and all grates in oil (olive, canola, something with high smoke point)
5. Start another fire, run at 200-225 for 3-4 hours. Should be good as new.
**Check the inside of your stack for heavy creosote buildup too. You can burn that off with a weed burner or rig up a way to start a fire in the stack.

 

[jwtseng]

**Check the inside of your stack for heavy creosote buildup too. You can burn that off with a weed burner or rig up a way to start a fire in the stack.

This is a great recommendation!

 

[Bigwoods4x4]

Fwismoker recommended Rustoleum high heat....and I agree.

This is what is looks like in matte black-they make a 1200F version and a 2000F version. Get the 1200, the 2000 is made for engines and requires hot surfaces to bake on to.

 

[daninnewjersey]

i should actually invest in a weed burner.

How do you light your stick burner now? Man...the weedburner makes it SO easy....just stack a bunch of splits in the firebox with some smaller pieces in between, light the burner and let it do it's thing. Makes lighting the smoker fun......

 

[thirtydaZe]

How do you light your stick burner now? Man...the weedburner makes it SO easy....just stack a bunch of splits in the firebox with some smaller pieces in between, light the burner and let it do it's thing. Makes lighting the smoker fun......

well, last time i used it, i was using a charcoal base to get small splits ignited.

I'm going to look into the weed burner, apparently my lowes has some in stock. I'll see what i end up with later tonight.
:thumb:

 

[S.Six]

I'll second a weed burner! Before I got one i thought it was over kill, but now I wish I had gotten one sooner. It's awesome!

 

[thirtydaZe]

Was just going to post an update. I got a bit anxious, so i went ahead and pulled it out of hibernation early. Picked up a few things at lowes, and away i went.

Once i removed the cover, which basically crumbled around me, where it wasn't board stiff, it was mostly just dirty. cobwebs, dust, just crap. the cooking chamber is in real good condition, the firebox, which had surface rust anyhow was in rougher condition. also, inside of the firebox was a surprise. My fuel rack, flaked, and piled that material on the firebox floor, which did cause some heavier rusting. I will be either wire brushing or grinding this in the future.

I kick myself for not taking a before pic.

Anyhow here it is after, i will be doing some rustoleum work on it in the near future.

Will be hitting it up with crisco or olive oil tonight or tomorrow, and doing another burnout.

also, i just barely looked, but my firebox isn't so shiny anymore after the fire was lit last night. not sure the actual after condition of it.

Thanks for all the help and ideas. Will post updates as i go. hopefully i can get more detail once im off work for a long weekend.