Tips on cleaning Weber E320

[wazza]

I have only had my Weber for a week and have so far enjoyed cooking a few chickens and some steaks. All turned out well, but i'm still learning so they will be better next time.

I was wondering about the best way to clean the Weber as it does get dirty after the cooking.

So far I have been giving it a good wipe down to remove as much grease as possible after each cook. However, I have noticed the enamel flavouriser bars are starting to blacken up as well as the enamel grill bars. The salesman said I should throw them into the dishwasher- I did this but it didn't do much as the gunk was baked on. I decided to give them a going over with some soapy steel wool and hot water today and this was good and they look good again, but its a big job to do frequently.

I was wondering if any other Weber users had any cleaning tips to pass on which might make things easier?

[Smokey]

There is a sun on your horizon
Its called super heat / self cleaning.
Crank everything up to eleven and let it smoke out with the lid down
300-350 c should do it.
Then it will all be just white powder.
But , stay close when doing this and keep side tables and anything under clear.

[wazza]

Thanks Smokey for the tip.

How long does it generally take to powderise the gunk at that temperature?

[Smokey]

Till the rancid smoke stops, Maybe 20mim or half hour.
Yes It will cost in LPG but it is better than oven cleaner.
You could get a big plastic tub and shove all the grills and flavourisor bars in it and spray with caustic oven cleaner.
But you will still need to super heat it all to burn off the chemicals , even after a good rinse.
I do that often .

Then there is pull out everything and scrape down the main drip box, How often you do that depends on what you are letting drip down there.
A super heat will not powder up what is deep down below.

You cannot clean it often enough, so go with your head and spend a few hours every month doing the best you can to give the inside a scrape down, Then a hi heat burn and you will be barbeequing at a safe leve.
Licenced food steak houses have to do it every day after busines, All crud must be cleaned out.
So you need to choose your own level of cleaning.

[wazza]

Thanks for the advice mate- much appreciated.

[wazza]

Thanks for the responses- thought I would give a bit of feedback on what I have been doing to keep the machine clean.

I have had my Weber Spirit E320 for a bit over 5 months and use it a couple of times a week. Its pretty good, but gee, it gets dirty after I do a couple of chickens of a pork roast- steaks aren't too bad.

I decided to clean the barby after every use and I do a quick wipe down of the inside lid and surrounding areas with warm soapy water and a clean rag. This is effective in getting rid of the fat and grease build up inside the hood. I take the grill bars out and the flavouriser bars and put them in the laundry tub with about a quarter cup of cheap diswasher powder- I have been using the ALDI stuff (around $2.20 a packet). I also addd around a quater cup of laundry powder. I then soak all the stuff in the tub with hot water overnight and the next day or after an hour or so, I I have time then, give everything a scrub with a soapy steel wool pad- this takes around 10 minutes. So far everything still looks pretty much like new. I don't want it to end up looking like my old Rinnai which was a death trap it had so much gunk in it.

For the bottom part I find it doesn't get too bad and a good clean around every 3-4 week is ok.

[wazza]

Hi Guys
Just a bit of an update on my old post on bbq cleaning a weber E320 grill bars and flavouriser bars.I have been soaking them overnight in Coles or Woolworths version of Napisan- about $2.50 for 500 grams.Them scrub with steel wool.I found it works quite well as long as the grill bars are in fairly good condition and not too gunky when you start.