Cleaning Grill Grates

[vtkess02]

Is it just me, or are these things not the easiest to clean? I've got them on my Weber gasser, and have grilled burgers half a dozen times. The valleys between the grates are full of nasty drippings which are untouched by the GG grate brush I purchased. A paper towel helps, but they're still pretty dirty.

Am I missing something? I know people rave about these things, but there's gotta be an efficient way to keep them clean between cooks, right?

[Donw]

I know what you are talking about and use to power wash them all the time. However for years now I have used them reversed, with the flat side up for 95% of my cooking and the top cleans up easily with a wet rag run over them when hot.

[Rocinante]

I think the hardest part is at the joint of them where they slide into each other. I usually will crank up the heat and let any moist crud burn up. Then I use a small putty knife to ream out the tracks. I will then vacuum up with my bucket head vacuum. Works like a charm.

[Stuey1515]

Just scrape down those suckers where the food contacts and let the heat do it's magic I reckon.
It's not like you're eating burnt bits

[GolfGeezer]

I used to really work at getting the crud out of the valleys of my GGs, mostly using the delivered GG tool. Did that by turning it so that it basically was a like using a scraper. Nowadays, I mostly cook with the flat side up. I did not find that using high heat to "burn off" the stuff with the GGs flipped to the flat side up really did that well, but it does help.

After a few months of heavy use, I put the GGs in a plastic tub with Simple Green. Let them soak for a bunch of hours, and find that a scrubby gets that pretty clean.

[fzxdoc]

I'm another who likes to use my GGs flat side up. While we're eating dinner I turn all burners on high and let the grates ash up for 20-25 minutes, then I hit them with aluminum foil. It cleans nearly everything off. When cool, I wipe down with a wet multipurpose paper towel, which doesn't shred as easily as regular kitchen paper towels, at least for the Viva brand I use.

I still find that even after careful wiping down, some ash still resides in the cracks between the grate sections. Last time I grilled chicken thighs, the thighs picked up stripes of that ash as they cooked. Grrrrr. That's why I prefer using Grill Grate Griddles which I can take and wash in the sink after use, then store them in the cabinet until the next gasser cook. I know those suckers are clean.

When I do use the grate side up on the GGs, (like for BBQ chicken that I don't want to burn all over, just get some charred stripes on), they clean up pretty well with aluminum foil shaped to fit into each channel. I do the same deal--let them get super hot to ash up the leavings for 20-25 minutes while we eat dinner then attack them after dinner with the aluminum foil while still hot. I protect my hands and arms with Kevlar gloves (rated at 900° direct contact and 1200° indirect contact) and kevlar sleeves from Northern Safety:




Kathryn

[Steve R.]

I need that Kevlar sleeve for when I use my Vortex. At some point during a cook, I always forget to not reach over the blazing hot middle of the grill. I had my latest arm hair removal session just yesterday evening.