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How to clean a charcoal grill grate?

How to clean a charcoal grill grate? Step by Step Guide

Charcoal grills offer the optimal outdoor cooking experience, imparting a delicious smoky taste to every item you barbecue. However, the drawback lies in their tendency to accumulate dirt, necessitating regular upkeep to maintain their condition. Are you interested in discovering the methods for cleaning a charcoal grill grate? If the answer is affirmative, then this blog post is designed with you in mind – continue reading.

How to Clean a Charcoal Grill Grate?

Here is how you can clean your charcoal grill grate:

1- Get the Cleaning Supplies Ready

The first thing you need to do is prepare your cleaning supplies. You will want a small wire brush and some soapy water or grill cleaner spray, depending on the type of grate that you have. It’s best if you follow whatever directions are provided by the manufacturer for proper use. If it doesn’t say how to use it, mix some warm water with a few drops of dishwashing liquid in a pail.

Also, make sure that you wear gloves and safety goggles to protect yourself from any chemicals or falling metal pieces while cleaning your grates.

2- Burn it Down

The next step is to burn down the grill grate. This will loosen any stuck-on residue or rust so you can easily remove it with your wire brush before cleaning.

Make sure that there aren’t any sparks coming from the fire and let it get nice and hot, about 500 degrees Fahrenheit, for a few minutes until all of the bars start to turn black. Do not put any food on the grill while burning down since it will contaminate your future cooking area.

3- Soak the Grills

Once the fire has burned down, you can let it cool off and then soak your grill grates in some warm water. Let them sit for about an hour before cleaning to make sure that the rust is softened up as much as possible.

It’s also a good idea to take this time to clean out any ashes from inside of your grill. You can use a wet cloth or grill brush to get rid of all the ash from your firebox so that it is clean and ready for cooking after you have finished with your grates.

Now, if there were only some way to keep them cleaner in-between times when you need to do this task, we could recommend a product like the BBQ Grill Mat.

4- Use Vaccum to Clean inside of Firebox

With the grill bars and flavorizer bars removed, the firebox interior is laid bare and ready to be cleaned. Put an empty bucket beneath the firebox near the grease tray opening to catch the soapy water and remove debris. Scrub any caked-on gunk from inside the firebox using a plastic putty knife.

Finally, use a wet/dry vacuum, either full-size or portable, such as Milwaukee’s M18 hand vac to collect any loose debris. You shouldn’t feel guilty about utilizing a wet/dry vac to clean out the junk accumulated in your grill since they are mostly workshop equipment. After the firebox is clean, rinse it thoroughly.

5- Scrub Everything

Now that your grill is clean, you will want to scrub all surfaces with a wire brush. Pay close attention to areas where residue might be hiding, such as under the flavorizer bars or around rivets in the metal grates.

After this step is finished, rinse any soapy water off of your barbecue grate and let it dry out for an hour.

Once it has dried, you can put your grill grate back onto the grill and start cooking!

Finish by reassembling clean parts of the grill or burner assembly upon which food will be cooked, such as a firebox after grease tray is removed in case charcoal grills are used with removable ash catcher under-grate.

Other ways to clean Charcoal Grill Grate

1- The Hack

One of the best things about this method is that you do not need a grill brush or any other specific grilling tools to clean your charcoal grill. Generally, ball up a sheet of strong aluminum foil, and then this ball can be used to scrub the grill grates.

After the cleaning of the grates, remove any debris present at the bottom of the grill. If you have an ash catcher vacant it. Checking the ash catcher before the grilling is very important to know about its capability. A Putty knife is being used to dislodge any stubborn gunk.

2- The Traditional Way (With a Twist)

We need dish detergent, hot water, and a heavy-duty magic eraser sponge in this method. First of all, mix up both dish detergents with hot water. An eraser sponge is being dipped into the solution, and it will be used for scrubbing the grates. Eraser sponge has an abrasive surface, and most people like to use it for the shiny and clean surface of grates. At last, dip the towel into a soapy water solution and clean the remaining surface.

3- The High-Tech Way

Grillbot Automatic Grill-Cleaning Robot is the favorite method for those who use robot vacuums. The whole procedure of the battery-operated grill cleaning system is done by simply pushing off a button. There are three rotating brushes present in the high-tech grilling tool. These brushes scrape off the gunk present on the grates. The speed of robots cleaning time can be varied from 10 minutes speed clean to 30 minutes deep clean. When The cleaning is being completed, it will beep. You can also know about it by its pretty loud sound during working.

Do I have to clean my grill grate?

While you don’t have to do this every time you cook, it is highly recommended since most grates get dirty over time. If you don’t clean your grill grate, the food cooked on it will start to taste off and can even be unhealthy if not cleaned properly.

Whether or not you want to learn about how to clean a charcoal grill grate is up to you and depends on whether or not yours needs maintenance. But since most grates get dirty, it would be good to learn the basics to clean grill grates.

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