How To Clean An Electric Smoker?

When you are done smoking you will notice how the entire process is messy, but the good thing is that it is not hard to clean.

Cleaning an electric smoker is different from cleaning the grill where you have to use your strength to scrub the grill down.

How Often And Frequently You Should Be Cleaning Your Electric Smoker?

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It is important for you to give a frequent cleaning job to your electric smoker. If you regularly use an electric smoker, then it will be great if you clean it after three to four days.

All smokers need a good amount of spring cleaning at their end. Furthermore, you can assume this fact that smokers need a cleaning phase once you use them for 3 to 5 times,

If you have invested in a top notch smoker, then do follow this cleaning and maintenance practice.

Do Read the User Manual Before Cleaning Your Electric Smoker:

In addition, you have to understand the user manual content so that the correct and proper cleaning job can be given to your smoker. Different smokers need different cleaning jobs, so read out the user manual instructions and clean your smoker accordingly.

It is through the user manual that you can get this assurance that the right clean up job is carried out by you. There are a few of the brands who do not give manual along with the smoker package.

So what you can do in this scenario is to visit your manufacturer’s website and look how they have instructed and guided to clean out the respective electric smoker.

Tools Needed for Cleaning An Electric Smoker:

There is certain number of tools that you should need to give a professional cleaning job to your electric smoker. So, before you start off with this cleaning job, you have to check whether you possess all the required cleaning tools or not!

Like, you need tarpaulin or newspapers so that you can cover whole and entire work surfaces and floors. Then you need a bristle free grill brush.

Furthermore, you are in need of a soapy water bucket, a few of the sponges or cloths. Moreover, do grab a scouring pad, metal spatula or you can use a grill scraper.

Then you need tongs and paper towels as well as vegetable oil. Have a microwave-safe bowl and too boiling water.

You need a glass cleaner so that you can clean the glass windows of your smoker. And buy a stainless steel cleaner if you have got a stainless steel smoker.

Cleaning And Maintaining the Interior Section of Your Electric Smoker:

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For cleaning just the interior side of your smoker, it is an easy job to do. It will be best if you clean the interior section of it while it is still a little bit warm.

But it should not be that hot enough that it becomes difficult for you to touch and handle it.

No matter how extensively you clean your smoker, it will not become spotless. It is generally seen that with each use, your smoker may become darker more and more, so do not worry about this fact!

It is all because of this darkening that your smoker will not get any rust on it and it may make your smoking process convenient enough.

The smoking chamber is usually made of stainless steel or porcelain coated steel because it has to keep the temperature inside.

That means if you start scrubbing the interior you can peel off that coating and destroy your smoker. That is why you have to do it differently.

Don’t use any chemicals in the smoker because you can’t clean them 100% off the surface and when you turn the smoker up those chemicals can end up in your food. You can use water or even a combination of water and vinegar for harder dirt.

Before you start cleaning your electric smoker, make sure it is turned down and cold.  You don’t want to touch a hot smoker or you will get burned.

The first step in cleaning your smoker is removing everything you can remove. Smoking racks, water and drip pan and the wood chip pan.

If you are sure that they can be cleaned in the dishwasher, put them inside and let the dishwasher do the hard job so you can focus on the smoking chamber.

The first step in cleaning the smoking chamber is to gently remove all the excess residue on the walls with the plastic brush.

It has to be plastic because the metal one will damage the chamber. Now that you have removed everything you could without adding water, proceed to the next step.

That is using water or a combination of water and vinegar and spray it all over the chamber.

Leave it for a couple of minutes so the vinegar can soften the residue.

Now, use a sponge and gently brush everything until you clean it.

This can be a dull process that lasts for some time, but once you are done there is only one thing you have to do.

Wipe the entire chamber with a paper towel and make sure that you haven’t missed anything.

That is everything you can do inside of the smoker and now you can go to the outside.

If you use a protective cover (buy cover on Amazon) you won’t have to clean it that much, the usual wipe with the wet rag should do the trick.

If it is dirty you can use some soap with it to make it all shiny again.

The more you use the smoker the darker the smoking chamber will be.

That doesn’t mean it is not clean it just means that with use the silver color will darken and that is a completely natural state that happens with every smoker.

But, that doesn’t mean you don’t have to clean it, you do, but I want to say to you that it will never be as shiny as the first day you have opened it and started smoking.

What If There Is Mold Inside?

The electric smokers are manufactured and produced in a factory, then they are packed and delivered to the local shops, supermarket or to an electric store in a certain time period. 

In this span, due to lack of premium packing, or due to the defect on the upper packing case of the electric smoker, sometimes mold manages to make their space inside your electric smoker. 

With that being said, beside this factor, if you use your electric smoker occasionally and keep it inside your store room most of the year, there are chances that when you open your electric smoker after a certain time period, you will find mold inside your electric smoker. 

Having said that, if you have ever come across this situation before and don’t really know how to make your way out of this situation, then you don’t need to worry anymore, as we have got your cover. 

These mold houses themselves in your electric smoker due to the moisture present in your gadget. Most of the types of mold you will find in your electric smoke would be grease bacteria or maggots.  

 In order to get rid of these maggots and molds within no time, all you have to do is to take a bowl of water, put it into the microwave, and raise the temperature of the water until it becomes too hot and starts boiling.

Carefully pick the hot bowl with both of your hands, and place the bowl inside your electric smoker.  

Once the bowl is inserted into the electric smoker, close the lid above and operate your electric smoker for an hour at the highest possible temperature.

As the hot bowl present inside your  electric smoker will release an immense amount of heat in the model, it will surely kill all the molds and maggots present inside the smoker. 

Hence you will be able to get rid of these fungal bacteria quickly with ease:

Cleaning the Outside of Your Electric Smoker:

As stated above, in order to witness high durability of your electric smoker, you need to make sure to clean your electric smoker from inside and outside of the model twice a week.

To begin cleaning with the outside layer of the model, you need to make sure the power cord of your electric smoker is detached from the socket. 

With that being said, in order to clean the outside part of your electric smoker with precision, follow these steps mentioned below. 

Simply wash and Rinse Your Electric Smoker with Soapy Water:

In order to wash the outer layer of your electric smoker in a profound manner, you will need to make a mixture of a soapy water, by using a sponge or a damp cloth, wipe the outer layer of your electric smoker to make sure that the dirt is removed from the model completely. 

In addition to this don’t forget to scrub the seal of the door of the electric smoker as well.

Once you are done with these proceedings, by using a garden hose you can easily remove the soap from your electric smoker within no time. 

Use Glass or Stainless Steel Cleaner if Needed:

As the technology is evolving, modern electric smokers come in handy with a glass design, or comprise of a glass window or a stainless steel mounted on the outer layer of the electric smoker.

With that being said, in order to clean the glass or stainless steel in the best possible way, you may need to take the help of a glass cleaner to witness fantastic and impressive results. 

What proves to be the most common mistake of people nowadays is that they use the help of regular detergents to clean up their electric smoker.

Which results in making the outlook of the electric smoker dull and can cause serious damage to your product. 

Hence it’s essential that you stick with the information above, to avoid any type of inconvenience later. 

Electric Smoker Maintenance:

If you are a smoke fanatic and love to take your electric smoker along with you in every bbq party you visit, then you may need to look after your electric smoker in the best possible way to maintain its glorious outlook and its smoking abilities. 

And in order to do this, what proves to be the best possible way according to the experts is to rub and scrub the shelves present inside the electric smoker with vegetable oil in order to protect food from sticking in them.   

With that being said, it is preferred that after every use, while the electric smoker tends to be warm enough, you should use a wire brush to remove food, grease or any drippings inside your smokers quickly with ease.

As due to the hot temperature of the electric smoker, the stucked food will be removed easily due to the heat of the electric smoker.  

By following both of these steps, you can be assured that you are an electric smoker who is going to remain safe from the attack of molds, and provide you with an ultimate durability.  

Apart from this, what can prove to be a more effective and productive way to keep your electric smoker safe by buying a cloth cover for it?

Buying a cover for your electric smoker won’t only increase its lifespan but will also keep it protected against harmful elements.

Conclusion!

If you own an electric smoker, or are looking forward to getting your hands on one of the finest electric smokers sooner or later, the information provided above can prove to be fruitful for you. 

The information above is comprehensive and covers every single detail that you need to know about cleaning and maintaining your electric smoker.