Cleaning Grates

[Easy]

I read about this idea on one the BBQ sites,and I use it. I bought a water heater pan with the drain in it. Fill with warm water and some Dawn soak scrub with a SOS pad rinse. Drain .
Works great fits my WSM, and Kettle grates.


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[robs2]

The first time your wife asks you how you clean the grates after barbecuing, respond "clean the grates?" with a blank look on your face.

Depending on your wife, they may wind up spic & span after every cook with little to no effort on your part.

LOL!


Holy Grails: anything 1970

[Foster Dahlet]

Sorry guys...I've been busy with well... the usual "holi-daze." Driving, family, driving, family, driving...me crazy. Finally, we made it home for looks to be a quiet New Year. Whew!

I love the water heater pan idea. Also the cut 55 gallon plastic drum is brilliant. I have actually done that before, so glad to know its the perfect size. Thanks everyone for the ideas!

I have to say though, I do love the concept of using the weed torch. My dad uses his weed burner to start his coals. I don't see why it wouldn't cook the grease and crud off of a grate. I'll snag one from Harbor Freight soon!

Thanks again everyone! Happy New Year!

I use a plastic water heater pan....cheap, shallow depth, easy to store.  I put duct tape over the hole in the side of the pan.  For really stubborn rust, you can leave a grate soaking in there for as long as you'd like.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Eastman-26-in-I-D-x-28-in-O-D-Black-Electric-Water-Heater-Pan-60083/205364948?cm_mmc=Shopping%7cTHD%7cG%7c0%7cG-VF-PLA-D26P-WaterHeaters%7c&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImfW8v5C62AIVTyWBCh2hEQsnEAQYAiABEgJKQ_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CNOs1cWQutgCFUJkwQoddGkA9g

[stubblebum]

I wish I would have bought a plastic water heater pan. I don't remember if I saved a dollar or what the reason was that day, but I bought an aluminum water heater pan. Actually, maybe I got it because it was a couple inches bigger than plastic pan they had and I thought it would work better with grates for a 26 inch grill. A few months later it is all bent up and really looks like crap with the residue from oil and grease.

[swamprb]

I've been using the bottom of a poly 55 gallon drum like @vwengguy but use Oxi-Clean on the grates, rotisserie parts and cooling racks.

[vwengguy]

I agree that the water heater pan is a great idea... but... we don't have water heaters here in The Netherlands. And we also don't have the pans here.
The poly 55 gal drum was the best and cheapest thing I could find here. $5.
I use it for cooking grates when I need to clean up a 2nd hand kettle, or deep cleaning of my grates. It also works great for other parts like wheels and ash pans and handles and 18" kettle parts.
For most of my daily cooking grate cleanings my tool of choice is a cedar grate scraper and high heat.



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[baglorious]

Holy thread resurrection, Batman!  I was researching this topic... did a little searching, and found this "All purpose tub for horses":



Available here:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I1M85G/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B000I1M85G&pd_rd_wg=n7IK0&pd_rd_r=Y9J5FVZPAYD4GPG1GGJ8&pd_rd_w=BuU7P

Certainly not cheap... but I like the fact that it is high enough, 10", that you could soak multiple grates, and your WSM water pan, etc., all at the same time.  Rubber as well... so probably durable as all get out.  (I imagine it can withstand being stepped on by a horse.)

The only bummer:  At 25.5 wide... not sure it will fit the 26er grates?  I'm not sure if the 25.5 measurement is near the top (and it is smaller at the bottom), nor whether that's outside diameter, etc.

Probably also available more locally, at a farm supply store?  (Should you have such a thing.  We have such things in Indiana.)

[Transit98]

Ive see those hot water heater pans, might pick one up.

• So it's possible to take off rust and get the grate back to non rust condition? I have a rusty grate and tried scraping with a wire bush but still see rush chunks on all the metal.


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[Foster Dahlet]

Ive see those hot water heater pans, might pick one up.

• So it's possible to take off rust and get the grate back to non rust condition? I have a rusty grate and tried scraping with a wire bush but still see rush chunks on all the metal.


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Yes.  It is possible.  There is a point if diminishing returns though....after time and money involved....sometimes its better to buy a new grate.....depends on how rusty it is.  But, I've gotten really old and rusty grates to look really good again. 

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[Jules V.]

I use either a 55 gallon drum or my kid's old plastic sandbox. Sandbox should handle your RK grates also. All my cooking grates are stainless so soaking it in a tub with soap and water for a week or so  is not an issue.

[dbhost]

I won't use a metal bristle brush. I have a Nylon job with a scrubby and a scraper. I don't use the bristles...

I have on order one of those bristle free brushes that should be arriving today...

I am not really super paranoid, but I am also not into taking stupid risks...

Now for regular / each cook cleanings, I simply heat the grill up and get it good and hot, and then give it a quick scrape with the scraper, and then a scrub with the scrubby pad side of my brush. NO bristles! Call it good. But when it just gets to be too much...

The bottom segment of a plastic barrel is a great idea, but I have been using a heavy duty garbage bag laid over 2x4s to make a frame kind of thing. Sort of like lining a truck bed with a tarp to make a rolling pool... Anyway, put the grate in, soak it extensively with simple green, or other environmentally friendly cleaner, and let it soak. Scrub with a green scrubby pad rinse, rinse again, and then rinse once more...

Rinse down the black gunk from the driveway and throw grate on the grill ready for the next round of major cooks.

[webergirl]

I just got a second hand weber kettle and the grill grate was so rusty and had caked on black grease like it had never been cleaned. I scrubbed it with a steel wool scouring pad and soaked the grill with Oxicleaner without bleach dissolved in hot water and that grill grate now has no rust on it and you can see the metal again.

Oxicleaner is sodium percarbonate, Soda Ash/Sodium Carbonate, and hydrogen peroxide. It's one of the cleaners that beer brewers use for cleaning bottles. Best to use this kind of cleaner than any chemicals on your grill. It rinses off clean. Also, you can try Arm & Hammer Washing soda which is sodium percarbonate and works well too.

[MacEggs]

Does anyone have any good tips or products for cleaning grates?

I mean cleaning outside of the normal "brushing."

When I actually feel like cleaning my grates, I hit them with a Harbor Freight weed burner. 
A few minutes is all it takes ... Give a quick scrape, then spray some PAM on them, and they're ready to go.  YMMV   

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/grilling-bbqing/occasionally-i-will-clean-my-grates/

[dbhost]

I just use a wooden scraper after some high heat.

Just wondering, why make grates clean and shiny when they will just get dirty again?  I could maybe see keeping clean grates on a clean grill for a looker but for a cooker it seems like time wasted.


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Why make your plates, forks, spoons glasses etc... clean when they are just going to get dirty again? I mean really!

Okay that's nasty. I wouldn't expect cooking grates to be able to get as clean as new again, but you should make SOME effort into keeping the crud off of them...

[dbhost]

I just got a second hand weber kettle and the grill grate was so rusty and had caked on black grease like it had never been cleaned. I scrubbed it with a steel wool scouring pad and soaked the grill with Oxicleaner without bleach dissolved in hot water and that grill grate now has no rust on it and you can see the metal again.

Oxicleaner is sodium percarbonate, Soda Ash/Sodium Carbonate, and hydrogen peroxide. It's one of the cleaners that beer brewers use for cleaning bottles. Best to use this kind of cleaner than any chemicals on your grill. It rinses off clean. Also, you can try Arm & Hammer Washing soda which is sodium percarbonate and works well too.

Do you mean Oxiclean? You know the stuff that Billy Mays made famous hawking on TV infomercials?