The High-Temperature Cleaning Burn
Well, that was unexpected !!
I fired up the Kamado last night to do a quick cook of a store-bought butterflied and deboned chicken. I had planned to do an indirect cook with the deflectors in the low position with a target temperature around 190C [374F]
The butterflied Mango chicken that was planned to have a date with the Kamado.
Everything was on track, I had cleaned the fire bowl and filled it with new lump. As I was limited for time ( after work cook) I lit the Kamado Joe with my Ozito fire starter, still working flawlessly after nearly 12 months.
Got the fire well established and put the deflectors in and within a couple of minutes there was a whole bunch of white smoke pouring out of the top vent. It looked like a steam train and it didn’t smell that good.
Houston we have a problem.
A little bit of investigation and it turns out that the cause of all of the acrid white smoke was the fact that my deflectors were on fire! Now I have never experienced this before and it was a little confronting and surprising.
I think my last low and slow cook was a pork shoulder for pulled pork. For most of my cooks, I include a drip pan or the like on the deflector plates for this exact reason. My aim is to prevent a build-up of oil and grease on the deflectors. In this case, I either forgot or there was a section that was not covered and the deflector plate/s soaked up some of the pork drippings.
Needed a Plan B for Dinner
I already had a decent bed of coals burning so it was as simple as opening both the top and the bottom vents fully and wait for the temperature to head north of 316C [600F]. In this case, it probably took around 10 minutes to climb from 177C [350F] to 316C [600F].
Fortunately, the bed of charcoal was just enough to reach this level as it seemed to plateau out right around 327C [620F].
Leaving the kamado to do its thing at 316C [600F] for around ½ hr worked a treat. 10 min into the high temp burn the billowing smoked stopped and the smell disappeared. I was curious so I opened the dome for a sticky beak and the deflector plates were nice and white – almost like new.
Protip – BURP your kamado when grilling over 149C [300F]
I highly recommend this process at least once every month or so, even if you use a drip tray or foil etc. It seems that there is still a chance that the deflector plates can soak up enough oil and fat and eventually get to a level where they catch fire and churn out an acrid white smoke.
What does the manual say?
The official instructions from Kamado Joe can be found here: https://www.kamadojoe.com/care-maintenance/
Self-Cleaning
- Add charcoal and light it.
- Install the Divide & Conquer main rack with the X-rack in the top position with both panels of the heat deflector on the X-rack.
- Open the top and bottom air vents fully and let the temperature inside the grill rise to 600°F (315°C) with the dome lid closed.
- Hold the temperature at around 600°F (315°C) for 15-20 minutes.
- Close the bottom vent fully and wait another 15-20 minutes to close the top vent.
This process will burn off any unwanted residue from the inside of your grill. Before cooking again, brush the cooking grate with a standard grill brush. B Use a soft bristle brush on the ceramics to remove any residue. Your heat deflector plates should also be free of burned on residue after this process. Brush them down with a soft bristle brush after cleaning. When your heat deflectors get dirty during normal use, flip them over with the dirty side down for the next cook and the heat from the fire will self-clean that side of the deflector plate.
I was too annoyed to take before photos, but here is a couple of the after photos. Was very impressed with how clean the ceramic turned out. You don’t actually realise how “dirty” they are until they are clean again.
For the record, the chicken turned out ok, but it could have been 1000% better if it was done in the Kamado.
Till next time Joe On !!!
