Cleaning product to clean your grill & grates?


 
I'll take a closer look tonight, but I think I've scrubbed it down to metal. If you look closely at the picture, the rods with the pores look a tad thinner than the rods on the right, no?

The CV is a 36" as well. The cooking surface is 34" x 21". The OEM grates are 22"x20.5" + 12" x 20.5".

Do you mind sharing how much you paid for your grates from RCPlaneBuyer? Do you have an email for RCPlaneBuyer?
 
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Thanks Bruce.

I did a search on this forum and found one of your post with the Craigslist link. I sent him an email. No mention of eBay :D
 
I am really late to this party, but looking at the pictures of your stainless grates they really don’t look all that bad to me. Not photo opp looks, but certainly very useable. Maybe you could try sanding them with relatively fine grit? If money is not a big object, you can’t go wrong with Dave Santana/rcplanebuyer. You will be amazed at the quality of his workmanship.

KETTLE STAINLESS GRATES
Mentioning a Dave, I would also point out to those of you with Weber kettles that there is a guy named Mark Baron in TN who sells on his website KillaGrilla.com and also some on Etsy.com. He makes kettle grill grates that remind me of rcplanebuyer gas grill grates. Mark makes one design with a single, but larger, fold up tray (perfect for Slow N Sear or Smokenator). I just found out he also makes a grate for the vintage 26 kettles that are not the same size as the current version. I am really excited about this since I recently finally got my first 26 inch kettle, a vintage flat-top. His stainless grate will bring this grill back to life and up to a whole new level. A lot like Dave’s quality does for our Genesis and what he did for Larry’s Wolf. I have used one of the KillaGrilla 22” grates and can say that it is the real deal and easy to maintain.
 
On the closeup where it looks like bare metal it looks nice and smooth. My Summit grates look a little like this unless I really work to get them to bare steel. I honestly think it's just a thick carbon build up. As 300 series stainless is pretty much indestructible. Even in the presence of acids. Have you simply put a magnet on one of the grates to check it out? The other possibility is they may be mild steel porcelain coated like what Viking does. And perhaps the porcelain is damaged? I would put a magnet to it as the most common SS grill companies use for really high quality product is 300 series which is very high in nickle and non magnetic
Also I am a little uncomfortable posting the cost of my grates. As it may be misleading. First there was much custom work for him as there were no "specs" I could simply send him as Wolf uses cast iron grates for my model, so these are a strictly one off proposition. Second I am a repeat customer so he may have been a little more "gentle" with me :D I will say this though. It was a sizeable investment. I could have bought many used Webers (I mean a whole herd) for what they cost me. But because every piece of that grill is 304SS even the cart and it's frame I felt comfortable making the investment in it because I know it will most likely end up being what they bury me in
 
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Larry, no worries. I was only trying to get an idea what the cost might be. We made contact and Dave gave me a price for the entire grill surface. I’m still undecided on what to do with the grates. I’m going to get some cleaning product and attack them again and see if I can make them more presentable.

The rods with the pores looks thinner than the smooth rods. That’s why I think those pores are not build up, and I’ve scrubbed down to bare metal. I’ll give it the magnet test. CV says all their grills are constructed of 304 SS, down to the nuts and bolts.

If I replace them I might want to do partial SS and have a section with GrillGrates - 2 11.75” x 20.5” sections in SS and a 10.5” section with GG.

So I should not use steel wool pads, not even the fine 0000, on the exterior surface of the grill?
 
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Anthony:
Even stainless steel will corrode after a while. Especially the cheaper versions. The rods you have are fine for grilling. You can always take an angle grinder with wire cup brush to them and that will clean them as good as anything. But, just a good clean up with kitchen grade steel wool should be fine.

What model of grill are you working on? If it is a Weber, then #0000 steel wool and something like Simple green will clean up the outside. A razor blade scraper and a little heavier steel wool with simple green will clean up the inside.
 
Anthony@TO said:
Larry, no worries. I was only trying to get an idea what the cost might be. We made contact and Dave gave me a price for the entire grill surface. I’m still undecided on what to do with the grates. I’m going to get some cleaning product and attack them again and see if I can make them more presentable.

The rods with the pores looks thinner than the smooth rods. That’s why I think those pores are not build up, and I’ve scrubbed down to bare metal. I’ll give it the magnet test. CV says all their grills are constructed of 304 SS, down to the nuts and bolts.

If I replace them I might want to do partial SS and have a section with GrillGrates - 2 11.75” x 20.5” sections in SS and a 10.5” section with GG.

So I should not use steel wool pads, not even the fine 0000, on the exterior surface of the grill?
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Just a question did you heat the grill up get it to 500 for 15 minutes or so then take you grill brush to them? If you are going to buy a few sections of grill grates why bother with new grates, if they pass the magnet test clean them up the best you can I agree with a few others they do not look that bad.

I would use bar keepers friend on the outside make a paste rub it on and clean off with a cloth, rub in the direction of the grain if you you use a circular motion your going to see the swirl marks. Just do a section where you really can't notice it to see how it comes out really good stuff and cheap.
 
Bruce said:
Anthony:
Even stainless steel will corrode after a while. Especially the cheaper versions. The rods you have are fine for grilling. You can always take an angle grinder with wire cup brush to them and that will clean them as good as anything. But, just a good clean up with kitchen grade steel wool should be fine.

What model of grill are you working on? If it is a Weber, then #0000 steel wool and something like Simple green will clean up the outside. A razor blade scraper and a little heavier steel wool with simple green will clean up the inside.
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Bruce,
It’s a Crown Verity mobile grill. I posted up a few pics in the previous page of this thread. It’s constructed of 304 SS, so I need some cleaning product to clean up the exterior surface. I think the previous owner never had it covered so it’s kind of dull. I want to make it shine again.

For the interior I’ll need a product that green/non toxic.

I can’t believe everyone think the grates are ok. I guess I’m too picky :D You guys are looking at the 3 rods on the left side of the picture?
 
Brian B Atlanta said:
Just a question did you heat the grill up get it to 500 for 15 minutes or so then take you grill brush to them? If you are going to buy a few sections of grill grates why bother with new grates, if they pass the magnet test clean them up the best you can I agree with a few others they do not look that bad.

I would use bar keepers friend on the outside make a paste rub it on and clean off with a cloth, rub in the direction of the grain if you you use a circular motion your going to see the swirl marks. Just do a section where you really can't notice it to see how it comes out really good stuff and cheap.
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I took one section and had it in the Weber for maybe 10 mins at 500, then took a wire brush to it. The other day I scrubbed it with a kitchen steel pad with baking powder and vinegar mixture. That picture shows the final result. I may give it another go tomorrow.

Man, the rehab stuff is a lot more work then I expected :p
 
LOL: Tony, if you want to clean them down to bare metal, an angle grinder with a wire cup brush will do it. A lot easier than scrubbing with various pads and cleaners and more effective as well. I agree, refurbing grills is a lot of work.

Those grates certainly look serviceable to me. Are they new, NOPE, but they will cook just as good as a similar new set.
 
I am totally with Bruce on this one 10 dollar angle grinder 5 bucks for the wire brush at Harbor Freight however why bother as you said you were going to buy a few sections of grill grates. so are you going to spend 140 for RC's stuff or whatever it costs then another 60 for a few panels when your grates look fine to me and others just leave them alone and be done with it. Buy your grill grate sections going to get a few myself not intending to cover the whole grill surface and I want to use them on my performer also.

Great thing about the restores do what you want, spend what you want not for me to say hey spend 140 for RC's stuff then drop another 60 bucks for the grill grate sections and its not for me to say what you should do either by the way. Yes most of us are anal but it will pass. ;)
 
Brian B Atlanta said:
I am totally with Bruce on this one 10 dollar angle grinder 5 bucks for the wire brush at Harbor Freight however why bother as you said you were going to buy a few sections of grill grates. so are you going to spend 140 for RC's stuff or whatever it costs then another 60 for a few panels when your grates look fine to me and others just leave them alone and be done with it. Buy your grill grate sections going to get a few myself not intending to cover the whole grill surface and I want to use them on my performer also.

Great thing about the restores do what you want, spend what you want not for me to say hey spend 140 for RC's stuff then drop another 60 bucks for the grill grate sections and its not for me to say what you should do either by the way. Yes most of us are anal but it will pass. ;)
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I’ll look into an angle grinder but they cost $50-$60 in my local stores, and that’s on the cheap end. I guess I’ll clean them up best I can and see how they perform before looking for replacements.

Grates from RC will cost a lot more cuz the size I need is not what he normally makes so he needs to make a new plate. There is also the extra cost to ship them to Canada. There is a workaround for the shipping but a little troublesome.
 
Do you have a Harbor Freight anywhere near you. You can get one for under $10 and a wire cup brush is about 5
 
I think you're getting ahead of yourself. As for steel wool on the exterior. No way no matter how fine it is. Again, it leaves microscopic bits behind and you'll have these little orange rust spots all over the grill and it will be uuuuuuuuugly. Use a good cleaner and scotch brite pads. You can use oven cleaner too with no harm to the steel. Use it on the grates too for that matter. BTW I have never seen stainless "pit" I still think you're looking either at baked on carbon or not true stainless grates. Again I am not there and cannot see and touch in person so it's hard to judge. As for replacing sections with grill grates please don't start that argument again. Invest your time in learning how to use your new grill properly and work with it instead of the "easy" way out. There is nothing they can do that (I take that back) if used on a el cheapo grill they can make it seem like a high quality grill. But if you have a high quality grill with really good grates there is no need to use it/them.
I don't know what the BTU output is on the CV grill but if it's anything like my Wolf you can make it hot enough to melt the flesh off your arms when you open it. At that point the sear is not dependent on grates you will get a true Maillard reaction on the meat surface and grill marks will be just conversation points LOL.
So first and foremost, do a magnet test on the current grates. If they pass just use them. If they don't and you really feel you want RC's grates have him make what you need. If you look at my postings you'll see I have even tighter spacing than he normally makes. It costed me about $30 more but IMO worth every penny given what I was already paying for the grates. I am VERY happy with the choice I made and I would never sully it with anything less.
It's too bad though that the CV does no have a rotisserie burner. though if it's like the Wolf in how huge it is front to back you can put 2 or 3 birds in there or a very large roast i.e. prime rib from front to back and use indirect and get nearly the same effect.
Again though no steel wool. Believe me you'll kick yourself. Also if it's made like my Wolf it will never "shine" as it is a brushed finish not high gloss
 
Bruce: No Habor Freight in my area. Only HD, Lowes and Canadian Tire lol

Larry: I did the magnet test. It does not stick to the grates for the most part, but in certain sections it does stick ever so slightly. Other parts of the grill, it does the same... most parts it does not stick and certain parts it sticks ever so slightly. I’m not sure I’m making sense lol. But the magnet does not pull towards the steel like it does on the Weber S330, even with the cover on.

The BTU is rated at 15000 per burner. There are 5 burners on this 36” unit so it definitely has more output than the S330.

It’s raining in my area so I won’t be able to work on it today.
 
A magnet is slightly drawn to 300 series stainless but will not actually "stick" because after all there is some "iron" content in it otherwise high quality cookware i.e. All Clad which is solid 304SS would not work on an induction range (but it does) so there is "some" magnetism there. Honestly I would just clean those grates up and grill away
 
The rain stopped for a while late evening yesterday so I was able to get out and work on it for a bit. I used EZ Strip All Purpose Remover on that section of the grate and I'm sure I've stripped it down to bare metal and those are definitely pores/pits on the grates.

The exterior finish is a #4, so it's a brushed finish. I won't be using any steel wool pads the surface. I'll try the EZ Strip and one of those green kitchen sponge and see if I can remove the yellowish/brownish oxidation on top of the lid.

A friend is going to lend me an angle grinder this weekend. I'll use it for those tough spots on the inside. Should I use a wire brush wheel or should I get something similar to the polycarbide wheel from Harbor Freight? The wire brush seems very abrasive. I don't want to grind a hole through the metal. lol

Thanks for all the help, gentlemen!! Much appreciated!!
 
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