I'm new as well, I did smoke some ribs in mine the other day and did foil the box lid and put foil on the bottom, making a hole for the drain hole on the bottom. There wasn't a lot of drippings on the top of the box or the bottom of the smoker chamber but what was there was all cleaned up by pulling out the foil. Seems like a good idea. My buddies tell me don't clean the top or sides, but the bottom you will want to. Hope this helps.