Want to learn how to clean ash out of a charcoal grill? When you use a charcoal or kamado style grill, ash is inevitable. Ash is a natural byproduct of charcoal briquettes or lump charcoal as the fuel gets burned down. The best way to clean ash from your grill and prevent buildup is constant maintenance. While cleaning ash can be messy, it’s not a very difficult task, and will ensure that your next cook burns clean, and you have a great tasting cookout. When cleaning out our Big Green Egg, we loving using the ash tool that’s built for Kamado grills. It fits perfectly through in-take vents and allows you to remove any ash and debris.
Why is it Important to Clean an Ash Filled Grill?
The primary reason to keep your grill ash free, is due to the impact that it can have on airflow. If there’s too much ash buildup, it can reduce the efficiency of your grill by blocking the airflow, this leads to make it difficult to light your grill, or get it to the desired temperature. We often hear Big Green Egg owners having difficulty reaching higher temperatures, and this is one of the primary reasons. The ash is either built up near the intake valve, or there’s too much ash between the lump charcoal to reignite. One easy way to solve this problem is with the Kick Ash basket. Simply shake and have all your ash hit the ash pan for easy removal.
If you’ve taken the easy way out, and not cleaned your grill in a while, there’s also the possibility of the ash being kicked up, and having an ash coating on your meal. This is one of the worst ways to ruin a meal, especially with the price of meat these days! When you clean a grill with too much ash, you may also be removing other substances that were left behind during your previous cooking session. Grease, drippings, burnt ends of food are all common byproducts of outdoor grilling, and they can be difficult to remove if left for an extended period of time.
How to Clean Ash from a Charcoal Grill
Cleaning charcoal grills can be messy, but it’s something any one can do, and it doesn’t take much of your time. Depending on the type of grill you have, it can be as simple as removing the grill grate, and accessing the ash at the bottom of the grill. One common technique is to use the shovel from a fireplace kit. You could also use any type of shovel – even a beach shovel. Time to start digging! Simply capture the ash and dispose of it in a garbage bag. If you’re in the backyard and have a good place to dump ash, you can also dump it directly behind the shed or even into garden beds. Believe it or not, one of the main nutrients in ash is calcium which can be a great way to add nutrients to your soil. You’ll also find potassium, magnesium and phosphorus in smaller quantities. Note, the ash can also increase soil pH. So keep this in mind depending on what you supplements your garden needs.
If you’re looking for a more quick, easy and gruff approach, you can also wheel your charcoal grill over to your disposal site. Since charcoal grills are fairly light, you can simply dump the grill out and dispose of any remnant ash or charcoal briquettes. Learn how to put out a charcoal grill, prior to cleaning your grill.
How to Remove Ash From Big Green Egg or Kamado Joe
If you have a Big Green Egg or a Kamado Joe, you’ll be very familiar that these are heavy grills and cannot be easily flipped over to remove the ash. The good news is that each of these grills are similarly designed and have a designated area where you can remove the ash from the lower vent. One of the first accessories that we bought was the Ash Tool. This specially designed tool fits directly into the ash pan allowing you to pull out remaining ash. We will put a small garbage bag lined trash can beneath the grill and continue fishing out any of the ash before our next grilling or smoking session. Check out our top 5 grilling accessories.
The ash basket can be a challenge, especially if you have leftover pieces of charcoal in the grill that you have to sift through. One pro tip, if you’re planning on cleaning out your grill, rather than snuffing out the fire after your last meal, simply allow the fire to completely burn out by leaving the vents open. This will allow all of the lump charcoal to burn out, avoiding the problem of having to work around the existing lump charcoal.
Another tool that helps with this is the Kick Ash Basket. This accessory fits both Big Green Egg and Kamado Joe grills. Instead of having to do a complete burn out, you can shake the ash in the basket, that will fall into the ash pan, leaving you with your remaining unused lump. One the ash has fallen, use the Ash Tool to remove the ash from the ashpan.
Removing Ash from a Grill with a Vacuum
You may have had the brilliant idea of getting out your wet dry vac and going to down on your charcoal or kamado grill. While this is a clever idea, it’s actually a terrible idea! The filters on any traditional vacuum are not fine enough to filter out the ash. If you start vacuuming ash with a standard vacuum, the ash will shoot out the exhaust leaving you with a bigger mess than you began with. The same holds true with an indoor fireplace, where the consequences are even higher!
But there has to be a a way to vacuum ash, right? There absolutely is, but you have to make sure that the vacuum is designed for ash. The Snow Joe Ash Vacuum was specifically designed for this with a special filter that ensures that your ash stays in the collection basket. Note, do not use this vacuum, or clean any ash while the grill is hot! You will start a fire. Before cleaning any ash out of your grill, please ensure the coals are completely out. As a general rule of thumb, wait until at least one day after your last cook.
Conclusion
There are lots of different ways to remove ash from your charcoal grill. It can be using a shovel you have laying around the house, simply dumping it over, or buying specialty tools for the Big Green Egg and Kamado Joe. If you have some extra cash lying around, and you’re looking for an easy way to remove ash, we can’t recommend the Snow Joe Ash Vacuum enough. In minutes you’ll have a clean grill ready for your next meal.
Suggested Post: What To Do If You Run Out of Lump Charcoal.