Easy way to clean grates

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gt2003

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Aug 8, 2007
224
10
I was having trouble getting my grill grates clean on both sides. Then I remembered, I read somewhere to put them in a self-cleaning oven on the "clean" cycle. I scraped and brushed both sides prior to putting them in the oven. They turned out great. Just an idea to save some arms and shoulders. Hope this helps, Greg
 
Remember Greg, if your grates are cast iron they will need to be re-seasoned following their cleaning in the oven.
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I run all of my cast iron through the self cleaning cycle in my oven when I get some really dirty CI from the flea mkt. or garage sales and re-season at 425 to 450 degrees in the oven to get them into useable condition. It works great if you don't mind re-seasoning.

When I clean my CI Dutch ovens I always clean them warm. It makes cleaning very easy because the pores in the iron let go of the food particles. You only need to warm it up to about 200 to 250 degrees then use HOT water and cider vinegar and scrub with a brush. Return to the heat for 15 to 30 minutes at 250 degrees to dry all the moisture out of the CI. PRESTO!
 
Great idear so took my grates to the oven cleaner and she told me to take and well ya'll probley know the rest of the story.
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I brush my grates as clean as I can get. Then spray REAL good with oven cleaner. Place grates in heavy duty garbage bag and tie closed. Let set for a couple days remove and spray off with water hose. Real easy and effective.
 
DO GRATES GET CLEANED? Not usually, hehehe. I just thought that since I was in the process of rebuilding my grill that i should give it a 100% effort. There were a few places where the grease would build up and I couldn't get it with the brush.

Results of the oven cleaning were amazing. Everything just brushed away with no problems at all. There were a few rusted spots that I got after with a wire brush. Once that was done, I sprayed on some cooking oil and put them in the oven at 425 for a while. They look brand new now and are ready for me when I finally get this thing rebuilt. I should have the parts this week. The rebuild won't take but about 30 minutes or so. Good grilling to come!!!
 
All I do is brush them clean and oil them while they are still hot. The cast iron takes the oil and is ready for the next cook. Even fish wont stick.
My 2 cents, eh.
 
Mine had some areas that had thick grease and junk in them that wouldn't burn off with regular grilling and brushing. That's the only reason I had to get more aggressive. I doubt I'll have to repeat for a few more years but wanted to at least give everyone the info if they run into the same problem I had. Good luck to all, Greg
 
I just scrape mine off with the bottom of an empty beer can. Plenty of them when grilling. The ring around the bottom gets in between the grates pretty good.
 
Most times i brush mine good after cooking, then again once smoker is warmed up before putting meat in.
Generally once a year i'll take them off and clean thoroughly by scraping and using a wire brush in a drill. Takes me about 30 minutes and the drill does most of the work
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That brings up a funny memory from a few years ago,
I used to have a real problem with salmon skin sticking to the racks when I was smoking a batch of salmon. I didn't want the skin anyway and it was easier to lift the meat off the skin leaving it stuck to the rack. I had all the racks leaning against my retaining wall behind my house fully intending to clean them the following morning. During the night I was visited by a family of raccoons who pretty much did the whole job for me. When I got up there wasn't a speck of salmon skin stuck on any of the racks! After that I made a practice of leaving them for the raccoons to clean then clean washed them afterward.
 
I grew up in a small town in NE Kansas and my dad used to grill all of the time. He would always brag about how, after grilling, he would lay his grate down in the grass and by morning the dew and the grass had cleaned it spotless.

That was until one night, he discovered that all the neighborhood dogs would come around with tongues working to clean his grate for him!

So much for the magical dew...
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