Greased Lightning - How clean does it get the grates?


 
G

GreggP

TVWBB Fan
I've been scrubbing my grates by hand for way too long. I picked up a bottle of Greased Lightning and I want to do the garbage bag trick.

How long should I let the grates sit? At full strength?

How clean will the grates get? I like them shiny.

Thanks!
 
Getting them shiny is a lot of work. I did that the first couple of times with the WSM but with two grates, it took way to much time. Plus, with their size, it’s difficult to find a place to wash off. When washing, it seemed like the “greasy splatters” would get all over the clothes and kitchen. Now I just put the grates into the gas bbq, let it get to 400 – 500 degrees and spray them with Pam. The “leftovers” on the grates flame up and burn off; I then just wire brush off the grates, wipe the grates off with an oiled paper towel, and then they’re ready to go for the next time. Probably takes 2- 3 minutes of my time to do it this way. . Another way is to put the grates directly over the charcoal ring when finished and do the same thing. You won’t get them shiny with this method, but it is much easier and something to think about.
 
I store the cooker indoors, so the less food residue (carbonized or not) that I have, the better.

Will this stuff actually get the grates shiny?
 
Interesting method... for me, we've soaked em, scrubbed em and still have found that they are not as clean as I want them. We've even soaked em and put them in the dishwasher which works reasonably well. But now after working at it, I think the sheen is gone and there are tiny rust spots showing up on the welded joints - ugh.

All this aside however, I gotta try the put em on the gas grill method - see the results.
 
I happened to find a handy sale a couple of months ago. Those round circle sleds that stores sell. Target had a stack of them for 50 cents a piece. Grates fit in it nicely.

I set the grates in there and spray heavily with the greased lightning. I have this scrub bud that is like steel wool but is made of stainless. I do a light scrub of the real heavy spots and spray again and let sit for 10 minutes. Then I bring them in and put them in a sink of soapy water. I then scrub again with my scrub bud. It gets off the smoke coloration that deposits on the rack but doesn't do a great job of getting it out of the nooks where the wires meet the outside circle and the center cross piece. I should probobly get a wire brush just for that.

I am a month short of having my smoker 2 years and the top rack does already have some pits and a bit of rust. The bottom rack has lots of pits and is quite rusty. I am ready to replace the bottom one. I don't know but it sure seems to me like the bottom one isn't plated as heavily as the top one. I don't use the bottom rack nearly as much as the top. All things being equal the top should wear out first. IMHO
 
It depends on how dirty your grates are. If they are really bad you're going to do some scrubbing no matter what you use. That or your going to eat right through the plating and rust will develop. If it works like easy-off a few hours in a plastic bag is good, I've gone up to a day in the bag with easy-off.
I've since found that my small pressure washer does the best job (1500 psi). I just lay the grates on concrete, use a brick to hold them down, and blast the crud off. Works great.
 
I've found that the el cheapo grill cleaner you get at Wally World ($1 per can) works much better then the EZ Off.
 
I smoked some back ribs yesterday, for about 5 hours.

The grates weren't the dirtiest I've seen, but they were tinted and the areas that had come in contact with the ribs were coated in the glaze.

I put the grate into a garbage bag and SOAKED the thing with Greased Lightning (it's cheap enough). As the stuff hit the grates, the smoke started dissolving. Resprayed a couple of times, let it sit a few hours, and used soap and water in the sink for about 3 minutes to get the rest of the goo off. Looks like it ate a little of the finish, but meh.

Great stuff! I'll be using this all the time now. Thanks for the input.
 
At the end of every cook I remove the water pan and open the vents all the way. The next day I'll hit the grates with a grill brush and they come up pretty clean. They're not shiny, but they've been well-used and have earned their discoloration.
 
I use greased lightning. Works well. I worry about shine on my grates about as much as the shine on the inside of the center section.
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I just clean them to get the crud off so the fuzzies don't start to grow.
 
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