About the BBQ brushes and the metal wires....

[realdocBBQ]

I was at a local restaurant the other day, having breakfast with my wife.

I found a METAL SHAVING in my food. This was on my toast plate, luckily not mixed in with my gravy or something, or I'd have never seen it, likely. Reminded me of the regular discussions we have about the bristle brushes. I gotta get rid of mine - I keep putting it off and telling myself how expensive the reasonably good options are - but... not compared to the hospital bill I would have ended up with from eating that metal shaving. Holy f***!


I showed it to the waitress (is that still a politically correct term? Probably not....) and she was mortified, took it back to show the kitchen. She said she thought it might have come from the rolling conveyor off the toaster. I dunno, all I know is I am glad as hell I saw that thing. Holy carp.

Anyways - one more vote for the, "Get rid of your bristle brushes!" crowd. I was on board with it all along, but just hadn't been smart enough yet to truly take my own advice.

I'm gonna do it.

[Smoker_Boy]

What are some good alternatives??

[Smoker_Boy]

I think the foil would work best in my pellet grill.
Pellet grills struggle somewhat with reaching elevated temperatures quickly and would lose a lot of heat using the steam device that STEbbq posted.

[texastweeter]

Wadded up foil dipped in water

[Locotech]

I took a cedar shim and marked the size and width of the grate grooves and cut the shim to fit the grates.

[bbqLuv]

They need replacing, metal brushes they do. Part of maintenance it is.
I also wipe the grates and grill off after cleaning. I read someplace this should be done so I do.

[captainlee]

I use a wire brush on the smoker rack but when finished wipe it off with wet and dry paper towels. I do take a good look when completed. I know the issues with wire brushes but they work best for cleanup and I've never had an issue.

[GolfGeezer]

Crumpled aluminum foil. Works on every kind of grate and even the flat side of GrillGrates. You can shape it to get at the areas between regular grates, and never have to worry about getting it on your food.

[STEbbq]

I did use foil when doing my last clean out. It works excellent as well.

[Oak Smoke]

I use a flat scraper followed by one of the brushes that the wires are in circles. They’re not perfect but close. By the time I finish with the scraper there’s not much for the brush to do anyway.

[texastweeter]

I don't believe you, come show me on mine

[Oak Smoke]

It will have to be after Christmas. After that it looks like I can get some free time. Good grief I got so far behind with the wife sick for 7 months. She’s doing great now.

[smokenoob]

I need to find a stainless one 🙄
Gulf Coast eats galvanized….

[STEbbq]

You know, Meathead has one of these too!

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/other-aa/955537-zero-credit-s-official-grill-rescue-brush-review-accept-no-substitutes

[MsTwiggy]

Me too! The grill rescue brush is great!! 🔥🔥🐿️

[captainlee]

I have a grill rescue for the flat top and Summit, it works great. The issue with the smoker is that it doesn't get hot enough and by the time I get to cleaning it's already cool.

[realdocBBQ]

I finally did it - I just ordered. We'll see how it goes.

[Steve R.]

It's really hard to beat the CharGon tool, which has no bristles at all. It will outlive you and all your grills.

[STEbbq]

I had one of these and found it useless. Does it only work on certain types of grates?

[Steve R.]

STEbbq, I have had 2 (lost the first one) and they were fabulous for the round rod grates, like those on Weber grills. It's probably useless for anything else.

[realdocBBQ]

Yeah, of all my grills, this tool could work on my Weber kettle and the lower rack of my Yoder. Everything else - Yoder upper rack and both offsets - is all expanded metal. If I went with bar stock it would work, but that would be a LOT of scraping individual rods in a grate. May be good for small grills with bar stock grates.

[Alan Brice]

Haha, just saw the ad of the hottie in a bikini cleaning her grill. Does she cook bacon nekked?

[texastweeter]

Been there, done that, got the scar to prove it. Wanna see it?

[realdocBBQ]

Saw that too - they also have some muscular dude with his shirt off to pander to... some other demographics. They have a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor on that site, I noticed a few things that made me laugh.

[RichieB]

I do use a bristle brush when still hot. I also have a silicon one which then use when the grill is cool. Finally, a close visual inspection and using a rubber glove to go over. I have a couple of bristle free, wire brushes. IMO they don't do a good as job as the bristle ones.

[DaveD]

After reading the scary stories here, I changed my approach. I still use the wire brushes first, to get the macro loose and mostly scrubbed off, then finish with the wadded up foil so that a bristled brush is no longer the last thing used. But that CharGon tool looks interesting, might check that out too.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

I use my wire brush and just wipe my grate clean with a damp paper towel after, one of these days I'll try foil

[Troutman]

I didn't realize you had to clean your grates