Throw out your wire brushes!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Michael_in_TX]

I'm a generally low-risk individual to begin with, so if there is an easy alternative, I just don't take the risk. What has worked for me on my PBC and Weber Kettle is just to use wadded up heavy-duty aluminum foil and scrape it down as best I can while it is still hot (and wearing welder's gloves, of course).

Every few cooks, I'll place the grates in an aluminum water heater drain pan and let them soak for a bit in water and dawn. I then scrub then with one or two SOS pads. Seems to work out very well.

(Curiously, I never have needed to use foil on my Chimp's grate. I clean that in the sink with just an SOS pad. Obviously the ease of cleaning is due to what I cook on there vs what gets cooked on the PBC and Kettle.)

[Panhead John]

Not that y’all need it but, I’m proof that the threat of grill brush wires is very real. Maybe 7 or 8 years ago I had just finished some burgers on the grill. About halfway through my burger I felt a sharp and sudden pain on the roof of my mouth, back towards my throat. Couldn’t figure out what the hell was wrong, every time I chewed, it was a sharp pain again. I couldn’t see anything looking in the mirror but I could feel it with my fingers. It was a wire bristle from my grill brush! I tried to get it out myself with some tweezers but couldn’t do it. After a few minutes of freaking out I went to a neighbor’s house and he was able to see it and pull it out. Scared the crap out of me. I can only imagine how much worse it could have been if I had swallowed it.

[fzxdoc]

Scary story. Imagine if that had happened to a guest. Yikes.

I figured no one was going to get punctured on my watch, so tossed the wire brushes several years ago.

K.

[jfmorris]

FYI, here is a helical brush that I've had for 10-12 years, and it has held up. Does it clean as well as a bristle brush? Maybe not, but it sure doesn't put bristles off either. it gets the job done well enough with no risk.

21" Double Helix Bristle Free BBQ Brush | Brushtechbrushes

They have a few other similar models with single and dual heads.

[fzxdoc]

You're right, Jim, the helical brushes, 2 of them, from GGs rusted almost immediately. So I gave up on them. Now I just shape the foil to fit the GG slots and they clean up really nicely.

Kathryn

[jfmorris]

fzxdoc for some reason the GG website now shows "new and improved" for their brush, but I also burned through 2 of them and won't get burned again unless they reassure me they changed the stainless supplier.

[Santamarina]

This is the only type of scraper I’ve used on my grill for probably 5 years.

Not only safer, but I’ve found it works better as it’s grooves are formed by your grill, thus ensuring a perfect fit!

[jfmorris]

I've thought of one of those, but would need one for each grill, since the grates are different... and not gonna help much on expanded metal grates...

[tamidw]

I stopped using wire brushes years ago after finding wire bristles in some chicken fajitas that I had made. We found the wire as we were eating the fajitas. Tossed the food and brushes out and haven’t bought one since.