How To Clean A Traeger

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by Chef Jason from 5280 Culinary

We cook a lot on our Traeger Grills and now the time has come to dome some cleaning.  The key to a long-lasting grill is regular cleaning and maintenance.  This keep the grill free from ash, grease and allows you to keep an eye on the condition of your grill from top to bottom.

How To Clean A Traeger

Print Traeger Cleaning Tips Here

Cleaning Tips

  1. When to clean your grill
    1. I clean mine every 3-5 cooks, more often if I’m cooking higher fat foods
  2. Steps to clean your Traeger Ironwood 885
    1. Make sure grill is cool and unplugged
    2. Open Pellet hopper lid, place 5 gallon bucket under the back pellet door and drain pellets into a bucket. Save for re-use
    3. Open Traeger lid and using a grill brush scrub the top of the grates
      1. Turn grates over and scrub the underside (which is now the top) of the grates
      2. BE CARFEUL not to hit the temperature probe with the grates while turning them over
    4. Remove the grates and set aside
    5. Asses the amount of soot or particulate on the inside of the barrel
      1. Lightly scrape with the paint tool
      2. Use the paint tool to get around the edges of the grill and into the corners

Push all crumbs into the bottom of the barrel

  1. Remove the drip tray, remove the foil or foil liners and asses for any stuck on food/debris
  2. Brush off the heat shield and remove
  3. Brush off lower heat shield and remove *(only if very deep cleaning, will need a screwdriver)*
  4. Check all edges and corners of the grill for debris and scrape into the lower barrel
  5. Check the drip trough for any debris and scrape into the grease bucket
    1. Re line drip tray with new liners or foil
  6. Once all cleaning from top to bottom has been done, plug in the Vacuum
  7. Vacuum out the entire inside of the grill including the ledges and corners
  8. Vacuum out the fire pot and a little bit into the auger
  9. Vacuum out the hopper to remove any excess sawdust, vacuum out down into the auger as well
  10. Verify inside barrel is clean and all parts/bolts are tight and everything is in working order
  11. Rebuild the grill from the bottom up starting with the lower heat shield, upper heat shield, drip tray with fresh liners or foil, bottom grate and top grate
  12. Refill pellet hopper with pellets
  13. Using the Traeger Grill cleaner, spray all sides as heavy as needed, allow to soak for 1 minute and wipe down the grill from top to bottom. Spot clean again if heavier cleaning is needed.  I wipe down the sides of the grill and legs as well
  14. Remove the grease bucket and change out the foil liner and clean the bucket if needed
  15. Plug grill in (good time to check the cord), Turn on the grill, turn to 200 degrees and ignite. Once grill reaches 200 degrees, verify operation and place grill back into shutdown mode
    1. You can skip this part and wait until your next cook to do it

 Grills / Grill Gear Used

For more tips, go to Tips.acehardware.com

Published: 3/2/2020