Hi folks,
Not sure if this is the right thread to post this. After a year or so of no roasting I just pulled out my Behmor again. I was surprised at how filthy I had left it. So I followed the cleaning instructions and did the inside of the "muffler," the fan blades, and all of the stainless surfaces in and out.
Joe Behm says to use "Simple Green," which I'm sure works pretty well. But based on a tip from Cook's Illustrated I used "Method all purpose natural surface cleaner" instead. Cook's recently ran a comparison of cleaning products and Method took the honors. This product is not petroleum based and is marketed as "green." The main criterion for the Cook's Illustrated analysis was performance, regardless of environmental impact, and they compared both petroleum-based and others side by side. So it surprised me to see that this product outperformed the others, including the ones you might think would be more effective due to their nastiness, and also including Simple Green. Method has since become my default degreaser, and it did wonders with the baked on coffee oils and soot inside my Behmor.
Just passing this along. Apparently Method has a number of products. The one Cook's reviewed was purple, so that is the one I am using. I don't know anything about the other versions.
-Paul