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September 24th, 2014, 12:17 pm
#1
* Abilene ** Abilene *
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  • Joined: September 23rd, 2014, 6:22 pm
  • Posts: 4
  • Location: Williamson County Tennessee

I am needing to clean the inside of my Yoder YS640 and am looking for suggestions on the best "Citrus" cleaner. The manual states to use a Citrus cleaner. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks

Tom

Yoder 640 on Comp Cart
Traeger Texas
September 24th, 2014, 1:23 pm
#2
* Kingman ** Kingman *
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  • Joined: August 25th, 2014, 10:28 am
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I can't remember the brand I have, but I bought it at Home Depot and it works fine. Think most any citrus-based grill cleaner will fit the bill. Lowes, HD and most decent grill/BBQ stores carry it up here.

Reminds me...I've got to clean mine too.... :(


Herb--just got me thinking... :idea:

Will a vinegar and water solution work just as well as the citrus-based cleaner, without doing any harm to the smoker? Likely very similar in composition to a citrus based cleaner I would think. Cheaper and easier too...

Thx

TJ

September 24th, 2014, 2:14 pm
#3
* Abilene ** Abilene *
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  • Joined: August 23rd, 2014, 10:21 am
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  • Location: Mile High, waiting patiently for my YS640 Comp Cart :)

Being new to smokers as I am, don't you want all that stuff on the inside of a smoker? Or do you want to clean them? Isn't that the reason you coat the inside with oil and do a smoker full of bacon to put a layer of soot and grease on the inside?

Anxiously waiting my new YS640 Silver Comp cart
September 24th, 2014, 2:58 pm
#4
* Kingman ** Kingman *
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  • Joined: August 25th, 2014, 10:28 am
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I'll defer to the pros at Yoder for the official reply, but here's my take.

I did the burn-in, rub down and bacon drill as instructed in the manual too. After 2 years of smoking everything under the sun, and sometimes having it stuffed so full of butts or briskets or other animal parts, I have a pretty good coating of--the only word I can come up with is--stuff. Gunk. Because of the positive pressure of air flow in pellet cookers (fans), it's virtually impossible to avoid having some ash and soot floating around the smoker, attaching or sticking to the side walls and top of the smoker that is being coated in steam and airborne fat every time you cook. As it heats and cools and then dries and then gets another layer from the next cook, and so on and so on, you can get quite a build up over time.

I can tell it's time to clean mine because I can see a good layer of gunk and I'm now starting to get a bit of flaking on the top of the cooker (from the inside). It's not too bad yet, but it's enough that I want to clean it off so it doesn't flake off on any food during new cooks. I also notice quite a build-up in the grease runs too and I don't want them to back up or get blocked. Underneath the heat diffuser, there's also a good amount of buildup on the floor of the smoker in certain areas (mostly between the variable damper frames) that doesn't come out when I vacuum the inside out w/ my shop vac, and I'm pretty certain that it's because there is some grease that's bound to the ash from the firebox that has made quite a piece of homegrown pressboard. I have never had a grease/ash fire in my smoker so far, but I certainly don't want to give it a chance...

So, for all those reasons, at least for me...time to clean.

Look forward to hearing Herb's reply as well.

TJ

September 24th, 2014, 3:13 pm
#5
* Abilene ** Abilene *
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  • Joined: August 23rd, 2014, 10:21 am
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  • Location: Mile High, waiting patiently for my YS640 Comp Cart :)

Good answer, makes sense to me and thanks for the reply

Just found this in the Operations Instructions

"Use a citrus based cleaning solution to clean the entire inside of the body. This
will control grease build-up and the possibilities of flare-ups."

Anxiously waiting my new YS640 Silver Comp cart
September 24th, 2014, 4:30 pm
#6
* Cheyenne ** Cheyenne *
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  • Joined: August 20th, 2014, 4:08 pm
  • Posts: 65
  • Location: Dayton, OH

A nicely seasoned cooker is a good thing but you don't want to have too much build up. On my big cooker, I scrape all the crustys and grease out after each cook but in 6 years I have only done a comprehensive cleaning to where it was like new, once.

As long as you keep all the big stuff cleaned out of the bottom of the cooker and off the diverter plate and keep the walls wiped down of any excess grease, you should be good.

Mike
Eagle River Barbecue

YS640 Comp Cart
Stumps Platinum 5
September 24th, 2014, 7:36 pm
#7
* Kingman ** Kingman *
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  • Joined: August 15th, 2014, 9:55 am
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I've had my YS640 for a little over a year and only use it to cook for myself, friends and family.
So far the only time I have used a citrus cleaner was to clean around the lid before attaching a nomex strip to help seal up the lid. Otherwise it's a wire brush and a putty knife.

Mike
2 - YS640 Silver Competition Carts

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