Cleaning porcelain enameled CI grates


 
M

Mica-No

New member
Hello,
New to this forum. We have Genesis II E-310 at home and this is our second year with the grill. First grates that came with grill from store lasted us 1 year before they started to rust. We got replacement from Weber. Now after 2 times grilling on the new ones I am afraid it will happen again.

First time when we grilled with this new ones we did some burgers, sausages, veggies. Today we did just chicken fillets. I always put full fire on the end of grilling and clean with weber brush. I could see I am not cleaning everything. After some hours I went to heat again and brushed again and it is still not all hard residues away. The chicken btw didn't get stick when we grilled. It was the same with first grates where conclusion was that I used to strong the brush. But brush is the only thing Weber recommends and says it should be enough. So I wonder what we are doing wrong or are people (have seen some cases with friends) just used to eat on old harmful rests of fast burned food. What are your methods to clean porcelain enameled CI grates? Just Weber brush does not work here.
 
Hi Mica,

Welcome !
I'm not sure your climate, but I see you are from Norway. Beautiful country, however if your area is really wet and rainy your rusty grates may be a result of the weather more than how you cook or clean on them.

I have porcelain CI on my E-330 and I just cook on them. I clean the food off, burn them off and cook more.

If I want the grill really, really clean I'll do this: ( and I rarely do this... )

1: get the grill really hot
2: clean it with a wire brush of some sort
3: close the lid and get it up over 450F again
4: "wash the grates with fire and oil" which for me is to take a paper towel and dip it is used oil from the fryer. I use LONG tongs and leather gloves.
A few passes with lots of oil gets a nice clean burn, and then I turn down the grill and wipe down the blackened grates until they look clean.

I rarely do this, but if I want a nice clean grill mark, I'll clean them up this way.

And, I cook onions on the grates a lot to just season them.

All that said, if you live in a wet area with high humidity, you might consider upgrading to stainless steel rod grates.

Skål
 
First off ditch the Weber brush. They're awful. Get a really good brush made in USA from Libman https://libman.com/products?id[]=59
Somewhat expensive, but you will never ever have to worry about bristles in your food, and they clean well. You can buy them on Amazon and some retailers (i.e. our Menards here in the upper midwest). Don't be so worried about "clean". Just get the big stuff off. And last, graduate to a set of quality 304 SS heavy rod type grates. Somewhat large investment but well worth it. Don't fall for ones with skinny wires and large spacing. Get 9mm (3/8") bars and no more than .25 to .3" spacing.
 
Thanks for both answers. The climate shouldn't be problem in our area here. I tried to go with your tips and I do think it helped to get it cleaner. However I still think I have a lot of big stuff on the grates that I don't manage to put down (even with brush when grill is very hot). I attach some photos from yesterday and the day before. Is it normal to have so much black pieces on food? Is this what is called carbon deposits?

The brushes from Libman. I see there are many different. Is it some special you would recommend for porcelain enameled CI grates?
 

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I would never use any type of metal brush or scraper to clean those grates. You risk damaging the coating. Before/after grilling I scrape my cast iron grates with a wooden scraper or use a stiff nylon brush.
 
Your grates are plenty clean already. If you keep them that clean between cooks, then I think you are in the top 10% of grates cleaners.
 
They look perfectly useable to me and your chops look great. I apply a coating of Crisco grill spray before cooking on my cast iron.

If you saw the heavy seasoning build up on the ones used at bbq places, you might be shocked! Yours would look brand new and unused in comparison. Cast iron is supposed to season to black😎.
 
Use the brass bristle Libman. Believe me on this you will not damage the grates. Lots tougher than you think they are. I use the brass Libman on everything. PCI, raw CI, and stainless. Never a lick of trouble.
 
I'm going to also say that your grates are really, really clean. You are, as Bruce said, definitely in the top 10% of grate cleaners!

They will get some deposits of burned oils on them which will blacken. This is a good thing. As long as you clean all of the food particles off, the black deposits create another layer of "non-stick" surface.

When I was a teenager, I worked at an italian deli in NJ and the old man had these two iron frying pans that we made home fries in. I think he had been using them for over 20 years by the time he showed me his technique. If I ever used anything but a wooden spoon in the pan I think I would have been buried under Giants Stadium, and even the wooden spoon was hardly ever used because it was so non-stick that you could flip the potatoes without a utensil and nothing ever stuck. The pans were completely blackened. But, they were cleaned every day. Never with soap, and never scraped, but cleaned out mechanically with a rag to get all of the potato particles out. The blackening of that pan was a hundred times better than any teflon frying pan I've ever used, there was no stick at all. That's what seasoning a pan, or in your case, grill grates, does.
 
LMichaels said:
Use the brass bristle Libman. Believe me on this you will not damage the grates. Lots tougher than you think they are. I use the brass Libman on everything. PCI, raw CI, and stainless. Never a lick of trouble.
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I try to be careful with my costed cast iron (and prefer uncoated like the very first Genesis cast iron grates). However, there are times you need to loosen up stuff, especially between the bars, and that’s where the Libman comes in. I brought mine because of your strong - and justified - recommendations.

I think that it is not really wire brushes that damage coated cast iron. It is the constant expansion and contraction augmented by hot grease, salts, etc. that occur during grilling. If a wire brush chips some off, more than likely it was already failing and would have come off sooner or later anyway.
 
Yeah eventually the porcelain cracks. It basically does not expand contract while the CI does (a lot) so it cracks, begins to flake and then it's all over but the shouting. Just like what happens in the Summit grills
 
Bob Erdman said:
I would never use any type of metal brush or scraper to clean those grates. You risk damaging the coating. Before/after grilling I scrape my cast iron grates with a wooden scraper or use a stiff nylon brush.
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Which wooden scraper or a stiff nylon brush would you recommend?
 
Just like a cast iron pan. No wire brush or metal, only a plastic bristle brush if needed. Hand wash, soap is ok. Real seasoning won’t be affected by a quick soap wash.
 
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