What's your GrillGrates deep cleaning routine?

[outta_ammo]

Ok, not exactly a Weber topic, but I suspect there are some GrillGrates users here.

[RamaJama]

Commenting because I want to know too

[Jerod Broussard]

I use mine upside down so all it takes is a little scrape. Occasionally I'll remove and knock off any unwanted material, if present, between the ridges.

[Skip]

I mostly use mine upside down too. I just scrape off and wipe off while still hot.

[Alan Brice]

If they do not clean up with high heat n a scrape, dishwasher.

[jfmorris]

Dishwasher detergent and high temps will strip the protective anodizing finish off the aluminum…. It’s a chemical reaction. Might be safe if you don’t use the detergent. Not sure about the rinse argent that is in a compartment in my dishwasher door…

[Alan Brice]

Thanks all. I was unaware. I will be better from now on. See, that is why I love this place!

[Carolyn]

It would be wonderful if you could get aluminum safe dishwasher detergent for residential use. I think the restaurants use it.

[DaveD]

I have yet to deep clean my GrillGrates. Also a minimalist, scrape them down while hot, vacuum out the between-grate material every so often (while cold of course!).

[GolfGeezer]

I mostly use balled up aluminum foil. I also mostly cook on the flat side, but the foil works great on either side. Every once in awhile, I will place them into a tub with Simple Green cleaning solution. Let them soak for a number of hours and then wash/scrub clean.

[outta_ammo]

Thanks to all for the responses! I've been running my 5-panel setup with the left three rails-up, and the right two flat-up over the sear burner.
With everyone here running all flat-up plus the total PITA process of getting all the accumulation out of the valleys on the rails-up panels I may go all flats when I put them back.

[captainlee]

I don't know, may be getting tired of my grill grates. If you don't get them really clean in the valleys you can get small black residue chips on your food. The valleys are a pain to clean. I'll try my standard grate for a while and see if I miss them. I have a griddle so turning them over doesn't matter.

[Le Grill]

This is accurate. I get the black chips occasionally when my deep cleaning lapses. GGs are a pain to clean the valleys! I cook outside because I'm interested in less cleanup compared to cooking inside!!

[fzxdoc]

I easily clean the valleys each time I use my Grill Grates valley side up. I set them up much like you do, outta_ammo , with 2-3 flat sections on one end and 3-4 grate up (valley) sections on the other side. (I have 6 pieces on my gasser)

After I remove the food, I crank all the burners to high for 20-25 minutes. That gets almost everything turned to ash. Then I turn all the burners off, and put on my super duper (1200°indirect/900°direct) High Temp Heat Resistant Gloves. I use a wadded-up ball of aluminum foil on the flat sections. I take a second ball of aluminum foil and shape a thick edge along the side of the wad, so that it slides easily in the troughs (valleys) and that's what I clean the grates-up (valley) sections with. It only takes a couple of minutes and the grates are residue-free. When completely cool the next day, I take them in to the laundry room sink and wash with soap/water. A lot of black powdery stuff comes off of those GGs that look "clean" after the aluminum foil treatment.

I like using grates side (valley side) up especially for chicken where I want dark sear lines for flavor but not the whole surface of the chicken blackened, mostly when grilling marinated or bbq-sauced chicken pieces. And I like grates up on the cool side of the grill (2-zone setup) during the first step of reverse-searing steaks.

Kathryn

[yakima]

K-
I are cornfused by your last paragraph, Do you mean valley side up for chicken, and valley side up on cool side for reverse sear?

No wonder you like the InstaPot. All that cleaning leaves no time to cook!
P

[fzxdoc]

Yes, yakima , I like the grate (valley) side (as opposed to the flat side) up on GGs when cooking chicken pieces and for the first part of reverse searing steaks when they're hibernating on the cooler side of the grill, coming up to temp before I can sear them off on the hot side of the grill on GGs with the flat side up. I just edited that post accordingly. Thanks for helping me to clarify my meaning.

K.

[jfmorris]

I kinda go back and forth in my love/hate for Grillgrates, as they do have a tendency to accumulate crap in the valleys. My normal routine is preheat the grill on high for a few minutes, then brush from front to back, then shovel any remnants out of the valleys using the "Grate tool" spatula, again from front to back. Then finally I'll take a big wad of paper towels lightly oiled, and wipe any residue off the tops of the rails before the food hits the grill.

I find it also easy to pull them off when cool, take them inside to the sink, and rinse/wash any debris off, using a brush that can get down in the grooves.

Is it as easy as cleaning the stock cast iron grates on my Genesis? Probably not. However, I do find keeping STAINLESS grates looking nice and shiny is as much or likely MORE work than keeping a set of Grillgrates clean. I just spent the better part of a lunch hour last week scrubbing my Easyspin and elevated grates for my SNS Deluxe Kamado, and they still don't look as good as I would like. Lots of blackened sooty areas that won't come clean without a lot more work than I have time to put in. And that was after running them through the dishwasher on a pot scrubber cycle, THEN working on them with Brillo pads and soap for another hour.

The payoff with Grillgrates, for me, is in cooking things like bone in chicken (wings, legs, thighs, split chickens, etc), using DIRECT one zone cooking, without worrying about flareups. I cook those type items on the rail side of Grillgrates, and feel that the vaporizing drippings from the valleys also help improve the flavor of grilled items. I even have a set for my Weber kettle, and use those to do full grill one zone direct grilling over charcoal, without worry about flareups.

I have a dedicated griddle, so really don't use the flat side of Grillgrates often anymore, but once that was my goto for smash burgers.

I've got the 4 burner Genesis, and keep 1 of the Weber cast iron grates in most of the time for use with things like skillets or dutch ovens, and then keep 4 Grillgrate panel plus a gap panel covering the area the other 2 Weber grates would cover. The full grill requires 6 panels plus the gap. But the grates and panels I'm not using are always on the shelf under the grill for quick access.

[jfmorris]

You know, there is not a LOT of difference between Grillgrates and the Charbroil "Tru-Infrared" grilling system, except that the Charbroil system puts the food just above the "emitter" plate on a regular cooking grate. I would imagine that those grills accumulate a LOT of burned crap on the emitter plates that requires those grill owners to pull out the grates, pull out the emitter plate, and dump it and possibly wash it off.

Just thought about that and pondered that ALL grills require cleaning. Grillgrates just put the accumulation of debris at the top of the grill, rather than farther down. I find with them in the gas grill, that I rarely ever need to break things down and scrape the flavorizer bars or interior of the grill down, like I had to do several times a year without Grillgrates on the gas grill.

[Carolyn]

I had the Tru-Infrared CharBroil. I loved that the emitter plates kept the flames down, but I hated cleaning the channels of the grill plates.

[jfmorris]

Carolyn agreed! I kinda go back and forth these days on Grillgrates versus regular grates. They keep the mess up top, so I have to do a deep clean less often, but I gotta clean the grates themselves more often. Bah.

[SmokeyGator]

I bought some table busser trays from Sam's Club. When I need to deep clean the grates for my Primo, Weber kettle, or gasser I just put the stuff in the tray, add enough water to cover them up, then dump in some degreaser and let them soak. Then when the water turns black, I take the wire brush to them to knock off whatever is still stuck on, give them a couple dips, then rinse them off with the hose.

The only thing to really be careful with is the cleaner you use. Read the use instructions on the label CAREFULLY. If your grates are aluminum and the cleaner says "do not use on aluminum" then that is not the right cleaner for you. In my case all my grates are either stainless steel (Napoleon gasser and Weber kettle) or coated steel (Primo). So I can use just about anything. I find caustic cleaners work the best. If or when the Primo grates start to have a rust problem (so far they are fine, I bought the thing in 2016) I will replace them with stainless steel. But for now, it ain't broke so I am not attempting to fix it

[GolfGeezer]

Simple green works very well and has no corrosive impact.

[jfmorris]

Yeah - that warning about caustic cleaners and aluminum is why Grillgrates says to NOT put them in a dishwasher. Most dishwasher detergent has caustic agents that tear up aluminum. I kinda screwed up a couple of my grandmas old aluminum pots years ago by putting them in the dishwasher. Ate all the surface anodizing off and discolored the metal, and they had to be re-seasoned, but were never the same.

[fzxdoc]

However, I do find keeping STAINLESS grates looking nice and shiny is as much or likely MORE work than keeping a set of Grillgrates clean. I just spent the better part of a lunch hour last week scrubbing my Easyspin and elevated grates for my SNS Deluxe Kamado, and they still don't look as good as I would like. Lots of blackened sooty areas that won't come clean without a lot more work than I have time to put in. And that was after running them through the dishwasher on a pot scrubber cycle, THEN working on them with Brillo pads and soap for another hour.

That is exactly why I use my PBC as often as possible. I don't grill on the PBC, though--too unwieldy, and unnecessary when I have 3 kettles and a gasser hanging out looking for some action. You can't beat the 5-minute PBC cleanup at the end of a cook.

I absolutely hate cleaning kettle SS grates. I use SOS pads after a grate soak, but they are never pristine after the first cook.

Kathryn

[jfmorris]

Yeah. I read folks who say just to burn the grates off, but that doesn’t seem to do the trick for me. I’ve got a bad taste for burning anything off after the Genesis fire a couple years back.

[DrJimmy2112]

Over the years, I’ve bought a few of the cleaning tools that GrillGrate sells. I still use the metal coiled brush type tool for the valleys. A sharp straight scraper used as a spatula works on the flat side. I’m too busy or lazy so I don’t usually wash them. However, I am intrigued to try the aluminum foil technique with the next day wash up in the slop sink before it gets too cold here.
I am a big fan of GrillGrates on my Weber genesis