How can I clean up some filthy Cast Aluminum GrillGrates (TM), the brand name aluminum cooking godsends?? HELP PLEASE!!

[HawkerXP]

Welcome to the Pit!

[GolfGeezer]

GrillGrate.com has a whole page on cleaning with several videos. One is the use of Simple Green. Look for the video titled "Spring Cleaning".

https://www.grillgrate.com/care-and-cleaning/

[Oak Smoke]

After seeing it do miracles on range brass, I've been using a mixture of Lemishine and Dawn ultra to soak things in. It is amazing! I don't own grill grates, but I'd give it a try.

[EubieQ]

I'm not sure if it's approved by the manufacturer, but I accidentally found an easy way to clean them. Place a cast iron griddle on top for, let's say, a reverse sear of a tri-tip or some strip steaks...Mmmmm. I usually let the griddle heat up for ~15-20min prior to the sear. After dinner (long after) when the griddle is cool enough to remove, voila! I have nice clean grill grates. Not spotless, mind you, but certainly much, much cleaner than before dinner. Please note that I use them on my gasser mostly, which is where the reverse sear usually takes place, not over lump, but I can't imagine it would make much difference as long as it's good heat.

[jfmorris]

Grillgrates recommends against using cast iron on top of the aluminum grates - it can cause them to warp due to trapped heat reaching temps above what is safe for aluminum, and due to the difference in temperature rise/fall rate in the two metals. Glad it is working for you, but I put my original Weber grates back when using cast iron on my gasser.