Project Update #7: The Ultimate BBQ Grill Cleaning Brush

[JohnF]

7 Fathers day update Posted by The Boys at Grillin' and Chillin' (Creator) For backers only

Hello Fellow Grillinators! To all the Fathers we wish you an awesome weekend full of Grillin' and Chillin'! Quick project update for everyone... Unfortunately we do not have any Grillinator brushes ready to ship. We are currently waiting for our production run samples which are hopefully somewhere at about 20,000 feet over the pacific ocean on a Fedex plane. Assuming the quality on these is good, then we will roll to production very quickly and get your units on the way according your backer level. Next week we'll send an email with pictures of and results from the testing of our production run samples. That's it for now, enjoy your weekend! Sincerely, The Grillinator Boys

[Spinaker]

What exactly is the "Grillinator" ? JohnF

[DWCowles]

Sounds like grill brushes to me

[JohnF]

http://grillinator.com/products/grillinator-brush-the-grill-brush-on-steroids

[CeramicChef]

I will never use a metal bristle brush on my grills. People ingest broken metal bristles all the time. There is absolutely no way to keep the bristles from breaking off. Some stick to the grates, get picked up by the food, and end up being swallowed. There is never a good outcome to this. the health of my family, friends, and guests is too important to me. It only takes one bristle to ruin a gathering.

I use a Grill Floss and a Char-Griller stiff nylon brush to keep my grates clean.

[fuzzydaddy]

Thanks for sharing what you use. I'm going to look at both of these.

[theroc]

I wonder how this will work on GrillGrates?

[Harry]

I have several grill brushes/scrapers. I no longer use my straight metal bristle brush on hot grills as the pad holding the bristles has melted on one end over time; I had started using my woven scrub pad one. It started coming apart today, and I didn't have a replacement pad available. SO, here I am at AR to check out what you all recommend and, well, here you are, too. Grillinator's website says it won't be available until late August, they hope. Amazon says GrillFloss is on back order. Maybe I'll use crumpled foil for awhile and also use Carbona oven rack cleaner more than just at the start of winter. Maybe if I use the brushes only a few times before replacing - like, once a Summer month OR once every ten sessions, whichever comes first.

Whatever, thank you all for making me think about this.

[fuzzydaddy]

FYI - The GrillFloss website grillfloss.com says they are sold out, but have a link at the top of their website for The Grommet where they appear to be in stock. Edit to add that Amazon was checked first and they are out of stock.

[CeramicChef]

Try Amazon.

[Harry]

fuzz - thx.

[Harry]

The GrillFloss (& a spare scraper) arrived today. I also reread Meathead's "Cleaning Your Grill Grates" at http://amazingribs.com/BBQ_buyers_gu..._cleaning.html which is a good idea for people like me who can't remember squat.

[DWCowles]

I cleaned all of my grills and smokers with a wire brush than I go back over them with a nylon brush just in case a wire did broke off.

[ribeyeguy]

Hmm, maybe I'm un-hygenic but I just put my grates over high heat every now and then. It burns everything off and any residue left behind is sanitary and can be wiped off with a paper towel.

[Jerod Broussard]

20,000 seems pretty low for a jet liner. I'd be humming at 35,000

[BigBear]

I've read enough about people going to the emergency room after ingesting metal bristles to make a believer out of me. Now all I use on my grates is the CharGon. Only $20 and works great, without the worry. A recommended product on this site.

[fzxdoc]

Now you guys have me nervous, especially since I just bought 3 Weber bristle type brushes. After once finding bristles*, I now replace bristle brushes once a year, following Weber's recommendation. One gets Meathead's Gold Medal on this page.

I've never seen a bristle on my SS grates on my gasser. They might just fall through. *But I did see them last year on the GrillGrates on my gasser and was very alarmed. I followed Meathead's recommendation and bought a 1 inch long-bristle wire brush from the hardware store for cleaning out those channels. Plus I blow them out and inspect each one after they're cool.

Where we live there are bears who like to visit decks that have grills with dirty grates on them. (If my mother-in-law was a bear, she'd be this type. Just kidding.) It's not that they're checking for cleanliness, though. Apparently the smell of the burned-on BBQ bits lures them. So I'm very picky about setting the timer after each cook and letting the fire rip. After 10 minutes I scrub the grates clean.

Kathryn

[CeramicChef]

Meathead Maniacs - Here is a link to a recent synopsis of a Medically Peer Reviewed journal article dealing with the whole subject of metal bristle ingestion. Note at the end go the article that the numbers reported in this article are though to be under reported.

Here is an Amazon Link to Grill Floss. I really like this tool and use it all the time for my grills.

Finally, here is an Amazon Link to the Char-Broil grill brush I use.

Lastly, I always do about a 30 minute high temp (bout 550F) cleaning run at the end of every cook. It carbonizes everything on the grill. Then the next day, after everything has cooled, I hot the grates with the Grill Floss and then the nylon brush.

Dadgummit all anyway! First off, I apologize for not using the link from The Pit to Amazon. Secondly, I apologize for seemingly having hijacked this thread.

[billg71]

CeramicChef, since we're hijacking: according to this site http://www.struckbylightning.org/new...incidentdb.cfm there have been 2,843 people struck by lightning since 2009. That's an average of 568 incidents/year.

Compare that to the incidents reported in your link at 121 incidents/year.

So you're 4.7 times(give or take a digit or two to the right of a decimal point) more likely to be struck by lightning than injured by a stray grill brush bristle.

Just trying to put things in perspective. I don't go standing in the river waving my carbon-fiber stick during a thunderstorm, just like I throw out old brushes and wipe down my grills with a handful of paper towels after scrubbing. A little common sense goes a long way. But I like my fly rods and grill brushes, they do a good job for the purpose they're designed for. I'm not about to abandon either one.

Just to put things in perspective, there were 32,675 fatalities and 2,340,000 injuries in auto accidents in 2014 according to the NTSB. Compare those numbers to the 121/year average of grill brush injuries or even the 568 folks struck by lightning and I'd venture to say you're a bit past the "statistically insignificant" point. That doesn't mean that it doesn't matter if you're 1 of the 121 but when you consider that the current US population is more than 300,000,000 you'd have to be extremely unlucky to get s bristle stuck in your throat.

Take reasonable precautions and there's nothing to worry about.

[DWCowles]

I'm with you billg71 about the common sense. It's very rare nowadays

[CeramicChef]

Here's the flaw in your reasoning: you can't control lightening strikes. It's completely random. However, bristles in the food you cook on your grill is completely under your control. The ability to throw numbers against the wall doesn't make your "statistics" comparables in any sense.

[JohnF]

Wiping the grill and inspection of grill will go a long way in preventing this problem, If there is a wire there it will catch n the rag.