Cleaning my new Mak 1

fishingbouchman

New member
Tried doing some looking around on here but not seeing it. I need to work on my searching skills. Now that I have a few cooks under my belt wondering how often and how to clean her. Want to keep it working, cooking, and looking good.

~Little things like do you use wire brush to clean the grates?
~How often do you clean the drip tray.
~Saw a post by Sparky and the use of Dog power but wondering if there is anything better out there. My lab has been doing a great job on the drip bucket, that thing is spotless.

Thanks
 

Chili Head

New member
I use a metal putty knife on the drip pan. If I've cooked something big like a brisket or a butt I clean it after each use. If I'm making burgers or something that hasn't left a lot on the pan I'll wait to clean it. I usually clean it every three cooks regardless because the fire pot needs cleaned out too. I have a small shop vac I use to clean the fire pot out and the ash in the bottom of the grill.
 
Ditto to Chili and Scallywag on the shopvac. At least weekly, unless I have cooked brisket or pork butt which requires more often). I have tried numerous cleaners (including Greased Lightening) on powder coated areas, none have worked as desired, but are adequate.
 

scooter

Moderator
I'm lazy so I use foil. After each weekend of use I:

1) refoil my grease pan
2) wire brush my grates
3) vacuum out the firebox with a shopvac or other vacuum that has a filter rated to contain ash
4) Hit every other surface with Greased Lightning
5) Polish the SS with Weimans SS polish

oven cleaner will do wonders for a messed up, unprotected grease pan. Be careful about using the high setting to "clean" your MAK. It could put a hurting on your powdercoat and the result would be prematurely turning it from black to gray.
 
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sparky

New member
Sparky, we're on to you...when your grill gets too dirty you just buy another one! :)

thats not true buddy. i have so many because of the business i started. SPARKY'S SMOKE-N BBQ. my wife got me my business license, catering license and food handling cert. i just pimp myself out to parties and whatnot. have maks will travel. i only do it if i like the ppl.
 

RickB

New member
thats not true buddy. i have so many because of the business i started. SPARKY'S SMOKE-N BBQ. my wife got me my business license, catering license and food handling cert. i just pimp myself out to parties and whatnot. have maks will travel. i only do it if i like the ppl.

Do i see a comp team coming on?
 
I know I responded earlier saying I tried Greased Lightening and didn't have much luck, but I was wrong. I was at one of the major hardware stores today and saw Greased Lightening. It was not packaged like anything I own (read as I never really owned it, just thought I did). I purchased it and it is better than anything I have found. #500 looks as good as it did after the first cook. I apologize for misrepresenting what I was actually using. As usual, you folks are very helpful in choosing, cooking on, and maintaining a grill!
 

NorCalQ

New member
Wow! Just tried the SD20 on some really stubborn smoke spots that wouldn't come up with SS cleaner or Simple Green and it worked fantastic. As it foamed, you could see the brown stuff coming up with the foam. After, it just wiped off...amazing!
 
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