Sand in the bottom of a CG

Has anyone ever lined the bottom of thier cooking chamber with foil then sand or dry clay?

Yes, I've done this using a foil pan full of sand. However, there's a less messy idea: buy a couple of firebricks or even regular bricks from your local home center or fireplace store and wrap them in foil. They hold heat very well.

okay,actually I was wondering if this would make cleaning up the drippings any easier.

I think cleaning greasy bricks is easier than cleaning greasy sand ...

phillyjazz wrote:

I think cleaning greasy bricks is easier than cleaning greasy sand ...

Yeah - it sure is. Mainly because it's easy to wrap bricks in foil to keep the grease off. Wrapping a pile of sand in foil is a whole lot tougher...

LOL,. ....point made,this is why I ask,I figured somebody has probably tried it.Just how long has some of you on this board been doing this.You have an answer for everything so far..

phillyjazz wrote:

I think cleaning greasy bricks is easier than cleaning greasy sand ...

With my bi-focals, I don't know if I could see those tiny little grains to be able to pick them up and wipe them off. I could probably see the bricks okay.

RaidersoftheLostGrill wrote:

phillyjazz wrote:

I think cleaning greasy bricks is easier than cleaning greasy sand ...

With my bi-focals, I don't know if I could see those tiny little grains to be able to pick them up and wipe them off. I could probably see the bricks okay.

First, ya get yourself some little tiny tweezers. And then some little tiny paper towels. And a whole lot of time... and a couple of those jewelers' lenses... so your eyes look like

Seriously, though, I've been using foil wrapped around a couple regular bricks, and it's been working just fine.

I don't know that lining the MC with foil and a layer of sand would make things easier, as now you not only have to remove the foil, but a layer of greasy sand as well. Plus there may be an issue with possible flammability of the sand after it has soaked up the grease since the CG will no longer be draining it.

Lining the MC would certainly help, just poke a hole where the drain is in the bottom of the chamber. Then use the foil wrapped bricks which if placed right will still have a channel underneath them for grease to drain from.

For my CG, I have a small plastic dustpan I use to scrape off the gunk that builds up in the bottom of the MC and a plastic scraper to help "sweep" the stuff into the dustpan. The scrapings stay in the walled dustpan and I can just dump them in the trash. You don't want anything too hard to scrape the inside of the MC with, as you could scrape off the seasoning built up there and leave spots open to rust, so plastic works just fine.

Def_Munky wrote:

For my CG, I have a small plastic dustpan I use to scrape off the gunk that builds up in the bottom of the MC and a plastic scraper to help "sweep" the stuff into the dustpan. The scrapings stay in the walled dustpan and I can just dump them in the trash. You don't want anything too hard to scrape the inside of the MC with, as you could scrape off the seasoning built up there and leave spots open to rust, so plastic works just fine.

I use a similar method. I have a couple of those plastic scrapers and I use a small one and a large one for cleaning the MC. But before I start scraping I'll dust the MC with a bit of sawdust from the shop. The sawdust absorbs the grease very well so all I need to do is sweep or vacuum up the scrapings after that. Normally I just use my Shop Vac as it's the one closest to the grill, and it's quicker than sweeping it up.