Cleaning Cooking Grates


 

Mark Waco

New member
Your video was informative I also found when doing a self clean for the oven my grates for the WSM 22, kettle 22, kettle 18 all get cleaned at one time then I soap and water, wipe down with olive oil.
Hope this helps.
Mark/Waco
 
My self-cleaning oven really stinks up the kitchen. I can't imagine what would happen if I threw in a dirty, greasy WSM cooking grate, too!

It should also be noted that oven manufacturers want you to use the self-cleaning cycle only for cleaning the oven cavity and certain (not all) oven parts.
 
oven manufacturers want you to use the self-cleaning cycle only for cleaning the oven cavity and certain (not all) oven parts.

Yes; our owners manual states that the oven grates must be removed, as they are not designed to sustain that cleaning cycle.
 
Last run, I did the brother in law built water heater pan unit.
Took the lid off, set the pan in place, added a couple of quarts of warm water with a shot of dish soap. Then let the temperature drop, all vents closed, until next morning. Wirebrush, rinsed and dried in the sun, not quite like new but pretty clean and less mess than I’d expected.
 
You have to clean them? :)

:D:coolkettle::wsm:

Well...….I do like the reply, but.

I tend to apply BBQ sauce, it has sugar and who knows what else. Great breeding ground for bacteria. The day after a smoke comes the chore of cleaning the smoker. Elbow grease, steel wool, soap & water are used. The cooking grates are cleaned here.

For those that pay attention to the little details, look at the color of the grate after a smoke. Starting with a clean (shiny?) grate, a person can judge if the amount of wood added to the smoke was enough, too little, too much. YMMV

Craig,H in La Pine
 
I clean my smoker grates, spray with Pam or duck fat for easier cleanup and food release, even though I prefer a few pieces of Smokey goodness to stick, for sampling purposes of course.
I only do my grill grates when I have had a real sticky disaster, I figure anything that can live through a 400 degree preheat there, is welcome to kill me!
 
My son showed me a neat trick for cleaning the food grates on a kettle. After the cook, while the grill is still hot, he uses a large piece of aluminum foil to cover the grate, then shuts the kettle vents. The residual heat pretty much bakes everything left on the cooking grate to charcoal. It is very easy to brush the grates clean after the kettle is up to temperature on the next cook. Oil the grates and you are "good to go".

You can also use the Kettle to clean the WSM grates. Just put the grates on top of the food grates of the kettle, cover with aluminum foil, then shut the kettle vents. Really makes for an easy clean up.

Save the aluminum foil as it lasts for many, many cleaning cycles...

FWIW
Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
To clean the food grill, I remove the center chamber, set the grill upside down over the fire ring and put the lid on the bottom section and the next day use a steel brush to clean the grill. looks clean enough to me.
 
I have a newer GE stove and im afraid to run the self clean mode for fear of frying the electronics. The last oven I had was never the same after one self clean mode. I know the newer ones are much improved but man thats hot. Anyone else ever have this issue?
 
I used to clean them, even bought a hot water heater pan for the task.
But now I pretty much just throw the grate on the Genisis set on high for a few minutes then brush it off with a stainless steel grill brush.
No one has died yet, so it must be okay.
 
I don't clean any of my grill grates. Maybe I'm a heathen, but it's just a good wire brush scrub when they are hot for me.
 

 

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