Ok, you’ve used your Ceramic Kamado BBQ once or twice or maybe more. Then it’s high time you cleaned your bill. We have a number of useful tips for this.

The Grill Bill Kamado is made to stand outside at all times, in all weathers. And if you follow the instructions below, you can enjoy your Grill Bill kamado for life.

Grill Bill Kamado; the easiest kamado to clean

Because our Grill Bill has a smooth design, and no weird pits, our kamado is super easy to clean. Just a wipe over it, and done. So no fiddling around with dents and holes where dirt gets stuck that is difficult to clean.

1. Ash

Regularly remove the ash at the bottom of your Grill Bill kamado with an ashpook or ash drawer, this promotes airflow and the temperature is better controlled. Always leave a small layer of ash, this makes controlling the kamado easier. Only remove the ash tray when the kamado has cooled down completely.

2. Food scraps

After barbecuing, always remove all food residues from the grill with a wire brush.

Keep the side tables clean to avoid mildew. Lubricate occasionally with vegetable oil or furniture oil for outdoors, so they remain beautiful longer. If you like a bit of weathering then just cleaning it is enough.

3. Fire box and ring

After 10/15 barbecues briefly remove the firebox and fire ring and wipe the kamado clean, try to leave a small layer of ash as in step 1.

4. Clean burning

If your Grill Bill kamado is really dirty, you can burn it clean; this works as follows:

1. Fill the kamado to the edge of the fire ring with charcoal and light your kamado
2. Let the temperature rise to 180 degrees, now place the heat deflector and grill rack. Maybe your grill riser is dirty too, then replace that too.
3. Leave all vents open and let the temperature rise to a maximum of 250 degrees! (Make sure your dome thermometer deviates 20 to 30 degrees from the temp. at grid level.) Now let your kamado burn completely for about 30 minutes.
4. Now close all the vents and let your kamado cool down, it is now completely clean again of food, and grease residue. When you’re done, just wipe it down and you’re done.

Disclaimer: The purpose of clean-burning is
not to make the kamado turn completely white again
on the inside. The purpose of clean-burning is that you burn fat residue, creaming food particles and bacteria. You will have to make peace with the fact that the kamado will never be as it came out of the box.

Pro Tip: The black soot layer absorbs more heat and that makes the kamado work finer and better and finer. So the more you use your Grill Bill, the easier it goes. And the more often you burn the kamado “clean” the trickier it can get. We give as a tip that for this reason it is best to burn clean only when the grate is very dirty and/or make this a periodic maintenance job.

5. STAINLESS STEEL

Stainless steel does not mean that rust cannot develop. If rust appears, remove it with a cloth or sponge. Buy a can of silicone spray and spray these parts regularly with vaseline. Prevention is better than cure right?

6. Vent

Ventilate your kamado well, especially if you use the rain cover. This way moisture and mold have less chance to accumulate in the kamado.

If you don’t use your Grill Bill for a while and you don’t have a porch. Then put the sidetables in the shed

7. Rain cover

Do you use a rain cover? Then make sure the kamado is clean and dry before covering it. Open the ventilation sliders well so that the kamado can continue to air out. If you are not going to use your Grill Bill for an extended period of time, we recommend taking the boards off and setting them aside.

8. Springs and bolts

During periodic maintenance, it is important to check the hinge and bolts carefully. Retighten any loose bolts (including those on the top vent, at the very top), and check the hinge. Here you can see how tuning works.

Dont’s

1. Never use cleaning agents to clean the inside.
2. Clean firing does not have to be on cremate setting, a temperature of 250 max 280 degrees is fine.
3. Build up the temperature slowly, this way any moisture can escape instead of expanding. Stoking too quickly causes damage to the kamado because the moisture expands too quickly. Preferably 45 min at 100 degrees, then slowly increase the temperature, especially in cold and damp weather.

Bonus tip: Good to know

If you always work with the same ‘clean kamado’, then at some point you know exactly how to adjust your vents to get a certain temperature, and how fast that is. If you work one time with a clean and then with a dirty kamado the temperature can react differently each time.

Any other tips?

Also read the Grill Bill user tips