Q120 Care Questions

I've had my Weber Q120 for a few weeks now I am still a bit confused with some of the cleaning and care procedures. I'll try to organize my post.

1) Brushing technique. I haven't done a thorough cleaning yet. What I have been doing is to do a short burn off at the end of a cook and brush the grates with a brush. I found I need to brush quite a few strokes and brush pretty hard to get it remotely clean. Am I doing this right?

2) Cleaning the Griddle. I bought a Weber griddle which is also porcelain enamel cast iron. Unlike the grates, Weber doesn't recommend cleaning the griddle with soap and water. Any tips on cleaning the griddle?

3) Metal tools. Is it perfectly safe to use metal tools on both the grates and the griddle?

4) Seasoning/Oiling. Is it better to use oil or lard for oiling/seasoning the grates? Is it better to oil the grates when it's cold or when it's hot?

Thanks for the help. I'll probably have more quesions later.

not sure if its correct or not but i just lightly brush at the end of a cook. no burn off as its just a waste of gas. i will spray pam on the grate especially on any dry area. after the initial warm up is when i clean the grate. then i either spray with pam or oil with a paper towel using regular vegi oil. sometimes i will give the whole grate a good scrubbing but stay away from soap and water. if it gets really junking then soap may be needed but after that make sure you keep it well oiled. metal utensils are ok to use. just don' get to aggressive with them. tongs are yer best friend.

Do you add oil while the grate is heating, or after it's hot?

Yesterday I let my Q200 run on high for about 10 minutes and then I added some Canola oil with a paper towel (canola has a high smoke point). The oil smoked off immediately. Is this smoking expected, or was my grate too hot for oiling?

Sorry to jump on Howard's thread, hopefully the answer benefits both of us.

yea, put it on when its hot. yes, it will smoke. some have suggested to put oil on the meat instead. i usually put it on both if possible. no need for the oil to be dripping off of everything though.

Most the time,just brushing before and after a cook while the grill is still hot is ok and will get rid of most gunk.Every now and then I take off the grill grate and with a soft plastic cake icing spatula, i just scrap all the loose gunk inside the bowl down to the hole into the drip tray and dispose of tray.
I will then tape up the burner tube with some wide tape but not too sticky so water won't get into the holes and hit with a high pressure cleaner. The griddle I have as well and all i do is have a paint scraper blade (wide) and scrap off all the built up gunk while it's cold because all fat should be a little solified, after scraping off what you can, heat it up for 20 minutes, scrape some more, then with a paper towel give it a good wipe..the temp should burn off any bacteria...i've been doing this with a q120 & 220 for 5 yrs now and never had a problem.You can also get the griddle hot and then poor some boiling water on the griddle and any old oil and grease on the griddle with be on the surface of the water and can be soaked up good absorbant paper towels. Yes..metal tools are ok with the griddle and the grill bars.Keep grill bars coated with some oil before it cools down, you'll always have a well seasoned grill.

Cheers

Davo

Thanks for the advice. A question pertaining to seasoning/oiling the grates. Is something like canola oil just as good as lard? should I apply oil to the grates after every cook and before every cook when the grates are hot?

Hi there Howard,
I use rice bran oil in a spray can and give it a light spray when it's still warm.You can use canola,or any other vegetable oil but avoid using olive oil because when you reheat the grill again for the preheat and it gets too hot, Olive oil can become very bitter and pass that onto your foods.
The weber grill grates are supposed to be porcelin coated so they shouldn't rust anyway, i've had the Q120 for 4 years and the Q220 for 1.5 years and often don't bother oiling the grill after the cook, just give it a bit of a quick clean (sometimes) a brisk brushing of the grill grate and close the lid...never had a problem with rust or other issues and I cook on my Q's about 4-5 days per week all year round.

Cheers

Davo

Hi Davo. Let me pick your brain a little bit more. I tried grilling chicken wings on my griddle (previously tried straight on the grates and also aluminum foil). Unfortunately, the chicken skin stuck and it was mighty difficult to clean. What I did was use an old plastic spatula I had around and scraped like mad. Is there an easier way? Use the brass brush? I guess my griddle isn't perfectly seasoned yet or something.

G'day there Howard,

There might've been a few things here, if you gave your food grates a good brushing before cooking, best to give the grates a nice coating first, I find it the easiest by putting some vegetable/canola/grapeseed or ricebran oil in a shallow dish, slice an onion in half crossways,tick a fork in the end of the onion and with the open end dip into oil and rub the oiled onion all over the grates when reasonably hot, it'll smoke a bit but that will subside in a while and the onion will glide very smoothly over the grate surface..yeah, a bit of a waste of half an onion but better than paper towel in my books. Wait till the smoke has eased and then lightly brush on some oil onto your chicken wings, turn down gas control to 2 marks below Hi (that's the sweet spot with these grills) and place wings on the grate, they shouldn't stick, and if they do tend to stick, the grate may yet to be hot enough or the chicken wing surface not hot enough for release so just wait a bit longer and check every few minutes.As soon as the wings have let go, you can pretty much keep turning them till done.
Usually any meat that sticks is because the meat surface isn't hot enough and is not ready to let go.You can use a metal spatula underneath the food to try and prise it off but if it looks like tearing,stop untill it's ready to release. The Q120 is a great little grill but like any grill, it's important for the preheat stage or 10-15 minutes and after a few cooks,the grates become seasoned and still are after you've given them a decent brushing.

Heres another suggestion, buy one of those teflon grill sheets which you can lay straight on the food grate of the Q (don't do this with larger grills) and you can still get some grill marks but it kinda softens the heat a bit and you won't get the sticking problem....it's like using a soft griddle..they are a great grilling tool for using when you want high heat but not the full charring effect...you won't damage the sheet by having it on the grill grates of the weber Q models, i've been using one for 2 years now and they are great..try it and see.
Hope this helps somehow.

Cheers

Davo