Cleaning tips for a super stubborn kettle grill


 
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David B.

TVWBB Fan
Picked up a 22" OTG for $5 on CL. Exterior is in pretty good shape. Interior the grates look to have been cleaned regularly but the actual kettle bowl and lid themselves are very grungy and appear to not have been cleaned for several years. I've used Grease Lightning and Simple Green BBQ Degreaser and still haven't gotten the results I'm wanting. Can you please offer up some tips on what else I can try? The lid appears to have a layer of stubborn caked on carbon-like residue which could be creosote or something similar. Any advice would be appreciated.

Also, after using products like Greased Lightning or Easy-Off BBQ Cleaner and obviously doing the proper rinsing and drying, is it safe to start using the grill right away or do I have to do a burn-off with some charcoal just to be safe?

Thanks in advance for taking the time to look at my thread.
 
David, I use Home depot's Zep Heavt Duty Oven and grill cleaner. Sparyed it on, covered the bowl and the lids individually in large trash bags and let them sit in the sun for 3-4 hours. I the pressure rinsed them. After they dried, I did a 'dry run' burn with all the wents fully open for a soild burn for liek 45 minutes, Worked like a champ. Good luck.
 
Definitely burn off any strong cleaner…at least once! Anything that cleans off grease and smoke buildup doesn't belong in your body - solid, liquid OR gas!
 
Mike Willis said:
Definitely burn off any strong cleaner…at least once! Anything that cleans off grease and smoke buildup doesn't belong in your body - solid, liquid OR gas!
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I agree, that's what I thought as well. That's why I went with the Simple Green stuff at first since it seemed "safer" than some of the other products that seemed to have more toxic chemicals, however, I think that the "stronger" cleaners are the ones that are going to get the job done better than the more biodegradable ones.
 
I recently did a deep cleaning of a WSM using cheap Dollar Store brand oven cleaner. Sprayed it and then left it sit in the sun in a contractor bag. Don't skip the bag or it will just re-dry. Don't ask how I know that. Used a cheap soft scrub sponge with the garden hose. It worked great. The middle section took two treatments.

Might want to take the aluminum parts off first. Oven cleaner messes up their finish but it does not damage them enough to affect function.
 
if its really bad you will need to scrape it off with something thsat a little dull but strong. use ss wool to go at it. i have also gone over the grill with a razor to scrape off the real hard stuff. and no, the razor will not scratch the porcelain. i've seen the junk in the kettles look like black glass. this is why i now clean my kettles or sj's etc after every 2-3 cooks. sooooo much easier that way. this also oncludes the grates which i sometimes clean more often.
 
During one of my gasser restorations, there was a "sandpaper" like texture that cleaning products wouldn't touch. It laughed at SOS pads & steel wool.
I fought fire with fire and used a piece of sandpaper. Worked amazingly well. Only lightly sanded as I was afraid of the porcelain, but that stuff is quite durable.
 
I use the Zep in the trash bags also. Just be very sure to rinse it completely off. I usually will even go over it afterwards with a scrubbrush and just some lite soapy water just to be sure that all the oven cleaner is gone.

Russ
 
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