Hey team KJ,
I need your help here.
I bought a KJ3 back in December 2024. Been using it daily since then.
For the past months, there's been some black flakes falling off the inner upper dome on the food. I was advised by the customer support here in Australia to do a clean burn to get rid of the creosote. Which I did, except that it didn't change things much, it simply exacerbated the flaking.
Long story short: where it has flaked off it's quite smooth like almost glassy, while where it hasn't flaked off yet it's quite rough like sandpaper.
I'm a bit flabbergasted here. Any ideas please?
Cheers
by SuitCool
7 Comments
How hot was your clean burn?
Scrub it with a stiff brush.
I have the exact stuff same under my dome. Also tried a clean burn several times but it’s still there.
I have a stiff round head nylon bristle brush that I use for that surface, probably once a year. Do it while it’s still warm. It’ll come off. These seem handy. I’ve never used one a drill… but now I kinda wanna.
https://a.co/d/bEeppsz
Mine is the same. It’s layers of smoke, ash, grease build up inside the lid as the fire burns. The ceramic is fine. I use an old fashioned straw hand broom to sweep mine out when it starts to flake like that.
Easy peasy. I like the straw brooms because if a bristle falls out into the coal, it’s not going to hurt anything. I don’t use plastic inside the grill. I don’t really use wire brushes either. They don’t reach as well as the hand broom.
Wow I’ve never really seen a build up that looks like peeling paint. At first I thought that was the powder coat from the top vent in your hand.
I buy a cheap brush from the dollar store that’s used to scrub dishes. Each time I do a burn I give all the exposed ceramics a scrub and vacuum up the dust.
The advice to use a wire bristle brush is not good. Use stiff nylon or natural bristles. Ceramic is hard, yes, but the surface can be abraded. Might not matter is the life of the joe but there is no reason to remove surface grains. Has any8ne suggested a schedule for clean burning that will avoid this issue?