Austin XL Grease Draining Issue

[chumanga]

So I usually do 2 cooks a week of the same things with steaks mixed in, pork butt, chicken thighs, and hamburgers. Total grill on time each cook is about 4 hours, and of course the pork drips the most fat. Before this grill I had a smaller traeger, and I would constantly need to empty the grease bucket. I have only needed to empty this one once, it doesnt ever really drain, the passages just get all junked up and the grease never makes it to the bucket... and when I end up with a fire, Ill pull everything out and scrape the junk off and vacuum everything out and get a few more weeks out of it before needing to clean again.

Is this typical? I would prefer to clean as little as possible, I rarely needed to clean the traeger.

I was thinking of raising the pellet box side an inch or 2 to help? Anyone tried this?

I have the plate that covers the air gap near the temp probe, the drip pan is on the tabs, I also have the meat box that goes over the fire pot to distribute the heat more evenly, and I never open the sear cover.

Thanks

 

[Cowboy1955]

Welcome from east Texas to the group !
Is it setting level ?

 

[chumanga]

Well wouldnt ya know!! It is not as level as I thought it was!! its about a 1/2" out with a 2' level so maybe needs to come up a full inch to get it level

 

[chumanga]

do they typically drain fairly well?

 

[Cowboy1955]

do they typically drain fairly well?

Yes they do

 

[Sparky]

Welcome to the club from Mesquite,Texas

 

[sparkyv]

I do a high temp burnout after my cook. YMMV.

 

[Ol' Smokey]

I do a high temp burnout after my cook. YMMV.

This is what i do. After a cook, i crank the heat all the way up. I let it run while i take the meat in the house and do whatever. Then i empty the hopper and let grill run, cover closed until it starts dropping temp. Then i turn temp down to 225 (really not nessesary, but i do) until temp reading drops to around 250. Then i turn temp to off, open the lid, and let it run until it shuts itself off. Any grease build up either burns off or runs off during the high temp auger clean out....

Then i just vacuum out everything, prime the pot with a handful of pellets and cover it until next time...

I also let it sit between cooks unpluged....

 

[sparkyv]

Yup, this can solve the grease buildup, chumanga.
I slsi vacuum the unit after aound three or four long cooks to keep the ash down and the grease troughs free-flowing. It works well, and Bob's your uncle.

Any grease build up either burns off or runs off during the high temp auger clean out....

 

[bobissmokin]

Welcome! Keep it level. Keep it clean! I clean after every cook! That's not the fun part!!

 

[Mike From R.I.]

Welcome from Rhode Island.