Grate Burn Off Cleaning Method...


 
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Preston Davenport

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Hey all,

I have been doing the grate cleaning thing with a brillo or SOS pad and soapy water. One set of grates are still shiny after about 6 months and my other set of grates are still shiny after 2 years.

But it is really messy and really time consuming on cleanup. I know a lot of folks just lay the grates on the charcoal ring or gas grill and roast them them and then brush them with a wire brush.

My question is - do you wind up with a shiny grate or the dark smoky colored grates? Do you not worry about the dark color or residual smoke colors on the grates if that dark color occurs?

I am looking for a method to do my cleanup without spending almost a half hour scrubbing the grates...any suggestions? I of course did a search on the forum here and read Chris's cleanup tips...but would like some fresh new comments from the gang here...

Regards,
PrestonD
 
When you burn off the grates, the shiny finish is lost and the grates develop a dull, gray finish. I prefer to wash my grates after each use to retain the shiny finish, but I think most people just burn them off.

Regards,
Chris
 
All my grates are now not shiny. If I don't lay them over the charcoal ring I hit them with a 250K
BTU brush burner until they glow red and the stuff
cremates and falls off. These things are smokers. The racks in our mobiles are not shiny, the inside of my WSM's are not shiny, the outside of my WSM's need a little cleaning, my charcoal ring is dirty, I don't clean the inside of the bottom of the WSM until it shines. I don't think these things work any better if the grill are not shiny. I figure 250,000 btu will kill anything bad and by hitting it with a brush after, all the remaining inorganic matter falls off.

I would rather spend my time doing something else rather than keeping the inside of these things spotless.
 
I do the same thing as Preston and Chris, spend about 30 minutes after every cook scrubbing my grates with an SOS pad and soapy water to get all the food particles and smoke stain off of them. It is time consuming and I wish I knew of a better method to get them clean. I figured that by getting them shiny after every cook and spraying with Pam before I cook that the food will not stick to the grates. Maybe its overkill. I am considering cleaning the grates with 409 which should cut right through the smoke and grease and then just wash the 409 off with soapy water to cut down on the time it takes to get the grates clean.

Does the brown smoke stain cause food to stick and is simply cleaning off the food chucks good enough? I also own a Little Chief smoker that is about 30 years old and just simply knock off the big chucks and stick those original grates in the dishwasher and not worry about the smoke stain. I've just been more anal with my WSM grates.
 
Why do you guys bother to clean the racks until they shine? I don't see how this would improve the cook at all. I simply place the racks on top of the charcoal grate when I'm done. When I pack the WSM for storage the next day, the grates are free of burnt on food chunks and free of any microcritters that can't stand a good sear.
 
I'm with ya, Ed!!

I have also learned to respect how others do things.

Me, I have never, ever cleaned my WSM(over 6 years now), except for a quick brushing inside the dome when it starts to flake. I do the same thing with the grates that you do. Still competing and winning ribbons so taste is obviously not affected by my cleaning habits.

Have never had a pronblem with things sticking, but I do all my smoking at 225? so simply not hot enough to cause food to stick.

Finally, I am always amazed at how adamant some can be when it comes to using briqs vs. hardwood charcoal...these same folks will not hesitate to douse their grates in chemicals just so they are shiny!

BTW...NOT speaking of anyone on this website..it's my neighbor! LOL
 
My garage laundry sink is 2 feet from the hot water heater closet, so the water from it's tap is extremely hot. I fill the sink to cover the grates and come back an hour later. A vegetable brush gets off the loosened gunk and a grill scrubber pad brightens them up. Then towel dry. 3 minutes tops.
 
I soak my grates and water pan in soapy water for a while (often overnight) and then they clean up very easily. I use a cut down plastic 55 gallon barrel (12" tall) to soak them in. I also use a high prussure sprayer (4 gallons per minute- 3500 psi ) that works great, particularly if they have been soaked.
Frank
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ed Jones:
[qb]Why do you guys bother to clean the racks until they shine?[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I guess the main reason I do it is because I prefer them to look shiny. I used to burn them off after use, but when I got a replacement set of grates I decided to try to keep them looking nicer. I also don't run my oven racks through the self-cleaning oven cycle, so they still look shiny, too. I like shiny things, I guess!

Also, my WSM lives outside in the rain, as I have no patio cover on my house. I noticed that when I left the grates inside the cooker for storage, they rusted pretty quickly. So when I got the replacements, I started removing all the grates from the WSM after each cook and storing them in a cabinet in the garage where they stay dry. Since I don't want to put dirty grates in the cabinet, I wash the cooking grates and dry them, brush off the charcoal grate well, then store them away.

I realize I'm inconsistent on this point. I don't bother to wash the grates in my gas grill after each use. Of course, I love my WSM a lot more than my gas grill! /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Regards,
Chris
 
Well, I'm a convert to the burn off grate cleaning method. Thus far, I've used the SOS pad soapy water, and LOTS of elbow grease method. My grates have been nice and shiny, like new, but it took 20 messy minutes of scrubbing. /infopop/emoticons/icon_mad.gif However, I decided to try the burn off method. I put the grates on top of the charcoal ring after my allnight butt cook, but my remaining coals didn't last long enough to do a proper burn off. So I put the grates on my gas grill on high for about 15 minutes, then used a grill brush and called it good. They are no longer shiny, but it was FAR LESS mess and work. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif I won't go back.
 
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