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How do yall clean your Kettle grill grates?

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    How do yall clean your Kettle grill grates?

    I've been doing a lot of direct (or at least direct plus indirect) grilling on my 22" Weber Kettle recently. If a cook requires a direct portion, I get much better results than on my PBC. (And I love my PBC.)

    But...wow....cleaning the grill grate is such a pain. Primarily as, I suppose, is that I can't fit the grate into my kitchen sink (whereas I can fit the 18" PBC grate in there).

    So I try to scrape down the kettle grate with a ball of aluminum foil after the cook before the coals die down too much. Then before the next cook, I'll place it in a large galvanized circular metal tub outside filled with water and a generous amount of Dawn dishwashing soap and let it soak for an hour.

    I then run down the bars of the grate with an SOS pad (steel wool). I try to get most of the stuff off the underside of the grate, but I really focus on the top and sides, obviously.

    My aim is to get "food stuffs" and grease off. The carbonized bits, which are accumulating over time (especially on the bottom side) I tend to just leave.

    I just want a clean grate; I'm not looking for restoring to factory condition, as it were, nor to the level that some of our Youtube stars take theirs. (I honestly think Steven Raichlen uses a brand new grate for every shot and maybe he does lol.)

    How do yall do yours?

    #2
    When I fire up the grill and get it to temp, I wire brush the grate and put the meat on. It's sterile from the heat and if anything is left on it only adds to the flavor. Not had a bad issue.

    Comment


    • smokin fool
      smokin fool commented
      Editing a comment
      +1 additionally I'll ball up some tin foil and clean the grill, then some olive oil on a paper towel grill wipe
      Once the cook is done will do the same tin foil rub to semi prepare for next cook

    #3
    Power Washer. Wipe down with paper towel, but most times I expect grill marks just placing meat on the grate. Then I have to get good crust to cover up the "first" grill marks. That really brings out the flavor.

    Comment


      #4
      Originally posted by Jerod Broussard View Post
      Power Washer. Wipe down with paper towel, but most times I expect grill marks just placing meat on the grate. Then I have to get good crust to cover up the "first" grill marks. That really brings out the flavor.
      Power washer? Seriously? Actually that sounds easier than what I am doing.....especially in the heat of the summer....

      Comment


      • Jerod Broussard
        Jerod Broussard commented
        Editing a comment
        Yeah, and it was really for my pellet grill grates. But man that is sooooo much better than all the other crap I was doing.

      #5
      I'm more in the Joetee camp- scrape good, heat it good, call it good. Every once in a while I will use an old credit card to scrape gunk inside & under the grates and such, maybe once a year or less I will use dish soap and a brush to clean even better. I don't powerwash or do anything too fancy.

      Comment


        #6
        I use one of these when I want to scrape the grate. But most of the time I just set a 13" ss grate on top of the 22" grate and put whatever on that. Something like a rack of ribs is too big, so I don't use it then.
        The 13 incher easily fits in the sink. If the baked on stuff is really bad I will use the weed puller. Otherwise I use a green scouring pad with soap and hot water.

        Comment


          #7
          I fire up my gasser and let the high heat clean it off.

          Comment


            #8
            I rinse the grates under hot running water and brush it with a wire brush on both sides. This gets rid of 90% of the gunk in short time.
            I then use steel wool on both sides, one ‘bar’ at a time to get rid of the rest. This avoids buildup over time.

            note: only applies to kettles. My offsets? Just use a wire brush.

            Comment


            • Huskee
              Huskee commented
              Editing a comment
              I too am far less picky with the offset. I attribute it to full blown laziness and justify it saying things like "it's bigger so it doesn't get cruddy as fast".

            #9
            Cleaned???
            Mind. Blown.

            Comment


            • Razor
              Razor commented
              Editing a comment
              I’m with you. "New heat" is the perfect cleaner/sanitizer.

            • Mr. Bones
              Mr. Bones commented
              Editing a comment
              RustyHaines go to Home Depot, Menards, etc., git yerself a Water Heater Drip Pan

              Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeezey lol

            • RustyHaines
              RustyHaines commented
              Editing a comment
              Thanks Bonsey. Been calling it/looking for the wrong thing all along.

            #10

            I use a large galvanized tube with hot water and the whole bottle of ammonia when soaking the interior grates. Then brush and rinse.

            Comment


              #11
              On the grate side I just let them heat up and sanitize themselves on next use. I’ll use the spatula to get any big stuff stuck in the valleys. On the flat side I let them get to temp and then wet down one of those heavy duty shop blue paper towels you can find at Costco or Sam’s Club.

              You have to be careful. Too much cleaning and you can damage the anodizing on them. Dig around here and you’ll find where that has happened to others.
              Last edited by Razor; October 18, 2020, 09:06 AM.

              Comment


                #12
                After light cooks, a wire brush + the heat of the grill is fine. If they need a good thorough cleaning, I have this: it’s called a Grilltastic, and it works great.

                Click image for larger version

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                Comment


                  #13
                  I scrub them with a wire brush after I use them, and then again before I use them, and then with oiled paper towels to the remove the black soot. Also, I only use Stainless grates.

                  Comment


                  • Attjack
                    Attjack commented
                    Editing a comment
                    I make sure to occasionally flip the grate too so I can scrub the underside cling ons.

                  • Attjack
                    Attjack commented
                    Editing a comment
                    If you dip your wire brush in water and scrub a hot grate it'll steam clean the grate and the brush.

                  #14
                  I picked up a CharGon tool on Amazon on the recommendation of someone on here. It does a nice job of getting even the hardest crud off, and allows you to get in between and underneath without removing the grate.

                  Comment


                  • N227GB
                    N227GB commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Same here, although since using GrillGrates in the WSJ I've not had to do much with the wire grates anymore.

                  • Michael_in_TX
                    Michael_in_TX commented
                    Editing a comment
                    I've looked at that one. I shied away from it as you have to do one bar at a time, but them my foil method is requiring washing the grates, so just a little extra time spent after the cook may absolutely be worth it.

                  • Steve R.
                    Steve R. commented
                    Editing a comment
                    It's a bit labor intensive, Michael_in_TX. But I use it mainly on the areas with the heaviest buildup, and a grill brush on the rest.

                  #15
                  I usually scrape off the grates while the grill is still hot. I also clean them further when cooking for guests or when needed. I heat them, scrape with aluminum foil, wipe them with the blue paper towels, and lightly oil them with veggie oil. This doesn’t get them back to squeaky shiny clean but they are cleaner than the Mr. Bones method. 😀
                  I also use stainless steel grates for my kettle and drum.

                  Comment

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