Mandatory Gas Grill Maintenance Tips
Oil it up. Use a pair of long handled tongs and paper towel to apply vegetable oil to your grill grates before each use. The oil will prevent food from sticking to the grates too much. Be sure to apply the oil once the grates are hot.
After each use, while the grates are still hot, use your long handled stiff wire brush to scrape off any residual food. Itâs like brushing your teeth, if your teeth were made of metal and your toothbrush was extremely abrasive.
Torch food drippings between uses. If youâre using your grill regularly, once a week you should turn it on high and leave it on for about 15 minutes to burn off any residual food build up, grease and grime.
Invest in a grill cover. The reasoning behind this should be obvious, but the less your grill is exposed to weather, the better. Also grill covers might prevent hypothetical wasps or birds from nesting in your grill between uses.
Safety first. Occasionally check your fuel line for leaks by liberally applying soapy water to all of the propane connectors, valves and line with a sponge or wet rag. Fire up the grill and check for any little bubbles forming in the soap suds. If you see bubbles forming, you may have a gas leak and should replace the problem area, whether it be the hose, valves or connectors.
Note: If youâre storing your grill outside, itâs okay to leave the propane connected but OFF. If your grill is inside, like in a garage or enclosed patio, best to disconnect the gas entirely when not in use.
Vacuum And Wipe Burner Tubes And Lower Cookbox
- Use your shop vacuum to remove any remaining debris from the burner tubes and lower cookbox.
- Spray both the tubes and box with grill cleaner, then use a shop towel to wipe them down thoroughly. This is the time to make them as clean and shiny as possible, so don’t be afraid to use lots of spray and towels.
- Once everything’s sparkling, go ahead and replace the cooking grates.
Simple Methods For How To Clean Grill Grates
When the sun is shining theres nothing better than gathering around your outdoor grill station with family and friends, but food poisoning can easily become an unwelcome guest according to GP and TV doctor, Dr Sarah Jarvis, speaking on behalf of Kärcher .
‘Leaving grills unwashed could lead to harmful bacteria such as campylobacter, salmonella, listeria and some types of E. coli forming. So its imperative to make sure that you know how to clean a BBQ,’ she stresses.
These four different methods for cleaning BBQ grill grates will tackle food debris and grease build up and leave your grates shining.
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How Do I Keep My Grill Clean After Use
The best way to keep your grill clean is to scrape it down with a wire brush after each use. This will remove any food residue or grease that may have built up on the grates. You should also give your grill a deep cleaning once a month. This involves removing the grates, cleaning them with soapy water, and cleaning the inside of the grill with a degreaser.
You can do a few things to prevent your grill from getting too dirty in the first place. First, make sure to oil your grates before each use. This will create a barrier between the food and the grate, making it easier to clean up afterward. Secondly, avoid putting cold foods directly on the hot grates. This can cause sticking and make it harder to clean the grill. Finally, cover your grill when its not in use. This will protect it from the elements and keep it clean for longer.
How To Maintain Your Gas Grill: Before And After Each Us
The greatest danger to the lifespan of your grill is a lack of common maintenance. With the grill set up, following these steps before and after each use will keep your grill maintained and safe.
Regularly practicing these tips will make most of these contaminants wipe away easily, requiring minimal scrubbing.
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Clean Your Grill Grates
Regularly cleaning your grill grates will help them last longer. Resist the impulse to scrub the grates with a grill brush immediately after cooking something. The grease and food residue will stick to the brush, and its unlikely that it will all come off the grate anyhow.
Instead, preheat your grill to 500° 550°F for 15 minutes before you begin to cook. The high heat will scorch any lingering bits of food, and what doesnt turn to ash will be easy to scrape off.
Occasionally, you can get a deeper clean by washing the grates with soap and water. Clean the grates as described above, then allow them to cool completely. Wash the grates in your kitchen sink with some warm soapy water. Determining how often to clean grill grates in this manner is dependent on how often you cook and what you cook. Once every five to ten uses or so is usually sufficient.
How To Maintain Your Outdoor Gas Grill
For many of us, no summer would be complete without the aroma of grilled meats wafting through the backyard. So, then, what are you going to do when you can’t get that old, rusty grill to start?
If you want your outdoor gas grill to last, you need to take care of it. To that point, we’ve created a gas grill maintenance checklist to make this as easy as possible.
This guide covers what steps to take before grilling season, plus how to store your grill properly for the winter. It also explains how to clean your grill throughout the season. Read on to learn all about it.
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Maintaining Your Gas Grill
Theres really not a whole lot you need to do to keep your grill in tip-top shape. Following the few tips below will ensure years and years of successful and safe cooking:
1. Routinely check for propane leaks. On a monthly basis, run some soapy water along the gas line and connections . If you see bubbles form, you know theres a leak, and you either need to tighten the connection or replace the line.
2. Cover your grill. Keep your grill covered when not in use. Most brands make their own covers, which of course have to be bought separately, but theyre well worth it. Protecting your grill from the elements keeps it from rusting and becoming dirtier than it needs to be.
3. Clean it regularly. Beyond the detailed cleaning below which should be done every few months when grilling a lot you should also spot clean it after each use. Brush the grates, and wipe down the exterior with some Windex, and youre good to go. Its also a good idea to turn the grill up to high for 15 minutes once a week or so to burn off some of the excess gunk. Doing this ensures that grime doesnt build up too much, which can happen quicker than you expect it to.
If You Choose To Sauce The Ribs After They Come Off Of The Grill Pay Attention To Your Flavor Balance
As we’ve explained, liquids and sauces aren’t the safest items to cook on an open-flame grill. But if you’re still craving saucy ribs, you can use your sauce of choice as a lacquer or a dipping condiment after the ribs cook through. When making a barbecue sauce, follow Rose’s advice and pay attention to “salt, spice, sweetness, and acid. The salt can come from different types of salt , soy sauce, etc. Spice can come in the form of different types of fresh, dried and powdered chilis/peppers or hot sauces. Sweetness can come from different types of sugar, honey, molasses, juice, fruit, soda, and so on. The acid can come from citrus or vinegar in the barbecue sauce or glaze. The acid will help cut through the fatty-rich mouth feel of the ribs.”
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Clean The Grease Tray And Catch Pan
- Open your grill’s cabinet doors, then carefully pull out the grease tray and catch pan.
- Dump all the loose debris into your garbage can, then spray and wipe both with grill cleaner. Make sure to remove all grease and stains from both the top and bottom of the tray.
- If your grill’s catch pan has a disposable aluminum liner, throw it out. Before installing a replacement, make sure the inside of the catch pan is perfectly clean.
- With all grease-catching components clean, carefully put them back where you found them.
Spring Clean In Late Fall
Once or twice a year, its a good idea to really scrub down your grill, inside and out.
Before beginning any extensive cleaning, always check your users manual for any special tips or cleaning advice.
Heres a list of tools and cleaners you might want to have on hand:
- a wide putty knife
- a mild enzyme cleaner, such as Goo Gone All Natural Grill Cleaner
- powdered dishwasher detergent
After removing all of the interior buildup, scrub down everything inside with your grill brush, give everything a good wash with some mild dish soap and a sponge, and then hose the whole thing down.
While you have the sponge and dish soap out, wash the entire exterior as well. If you have a stainless steel model, make sure to use a cleaner specifically intended for stainless, to keep that smudge-free shine.
Please, never use harsh oven cleaners on the interior of your cookbox, grates, or any cooking surfaces. Yes, it will clean well, but the chance of it leaving noxious chemicals behind is too high.
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How To Clean Your Grill + Tips To Keep It Clean
August 16, 2022 by Kate Talens
Summertime is the best time of year! Not only do we get to enjoy the warm weather and long days, but we also get to grill out with our friends and family. Theres nothing like cooking a juicy burger or steak on the grill. However, if your grill isnt clean, youre not going to get that delicious flavor that youre looking for. In this blog post, we will teach you how to clean your grill and give you tips on keeping it clean!
When The Season Begins
- Clean the burner and tubes.
Make sure the propane tank is turned off. Remove the briquettes and cooking grates, and carefully detach the gas tubes and burner. Clean the tubes with warm, soapy water and towel dry. Wipe the burner clean with a damp cloth. Towel dry the gas ports on the burner, then clean out each one with a toothpick.
- Wash the grill.
First, cover the gas valves with aluminum foil to protect the connections from corrosion. Wash the grill’s interior and exterior surfaces with a long-handled stiff-wire grill brush and warm, soapy water. Rinse thoroughly and towel dry, then reattach the gas tubes and burners.
- Burn off the grease.
During the grill season, briquettes transfer heat to the cooking grates, leaving them coated with grease. Before firing up your grill for the season’s inaugural cookout, flip over the briquettes, close the lid, and heat the grill on high for 15 minutes.
- Clean the cooking grates.
Cool the grill after burning off the grease. Remove the briquettes and cooking grates and scrub the grates with a long-handled stiff-wire grill brush and warm, soapy water. Towel dry, then replace, along with the briquettes.
- Stock fuel levels.
Check and replenish your propane or natural gas supply as necessary. Corroding and rusted tanks should be recycled return your tank to a propane supplier or check local listings online for tank recycling companies.
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Check The Propane Connection
Always check your grills propane connection before starting a new cooking season. To start, reconnect your propane tank and open the valve. Next, brush or spray soapy water onto the connections to check for leaks. Expanding bubbles indicate a leak. Follow this procedure every time you replace a cylinder.
How To Maintain Your Gas Grill: Ongoing Grill Maintenance Through The Season
Besides cleaning the drip pan and brushing the grill grates after each use, a few other items need to be inspected and cleaned from time to time. How often depends on how much you use your grill and what types of food are being cooked.
In general, consistent cleaning of these components once a month is adequate. However, if you are an avid griller and grill burgers and other fatty meats a couple of times per week, your grill will require more maintenance.
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How To Clean A Barbecue Grill
Sarah Aguirre is a housekeeping expert with over 20 years of experience cleaning residentially and commercially. Over that time, she has been writing about tips and tricks for housekeeping and organizing a home for national publications.
The Spruce / Letícia Almeida
- Total Time: 1 hr
Luckily, the time spent maintaining a grill is minimal, and the payback for the effort is enormous. It doesn’t matter if you’re dealing with a top-of-line model or a cheap knockoff: A major seasonal cleaning combined with an every day scrub-down will improve your grill’s cooking performance. A clean grill will cook food better, and it will be free of residue that could possibly contaminate it.
When The Season Ends
- Burn off the grease.
Just as you did at the start of the season, flip over the briquettes, close the lid, and heat the grill on high for 15 minutes. Then let cool.
- Clean the cooking grates.
Remove the briquettes and cooking grates from the grill. Once it has cooled, scrub the grates as above, towel dry, and set aside.
- Clean the burner and tubes.
Turn off the propane tank, and carefully detach the gas tubes and burner. Clean the unit as above, towel dry, and set aside.
- Wash the grill with a long-handled stiff-wire grill brush and warm, soapy water.
Be sure to cover the gas valves with aluminum foil. Rinse thoroughly, towel dry, and reattach the gas tubes and burners.
- Store the grill.
If storing outdoors, protect the grill’s exterior with a vinyl cover and keep the propane tank attached. If storing the grill indoors, disconnect the tank and leave it outside, standing upright, in a shady location away from dryer or furnace vents. Cover the gas line connections on the grill to ward off insects.
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Wipe Down The Exterior
Keep the exterior of your grill clean, too. Wipe up drips and splashes quickly, and use soapy water to clean up surfaces that could be contaminated by bacteria. Be sure to wipe away any moisture quicklyespecially if your grill is stainless steel.
Use an appropriate cleaner to wipe down the lid, knobs, and prep surfaces. If you have a stainless steel grill, use a stainless steel cleaner. If you have a porcelain grill, glass cleaner is a good option. Apply your cleaner with a paper towel or microfiber cloth. Never use harsh cleaners or abrasive pads because these will tarnish or scratch your grills finish.
Start Grilling The Right Way
Before cooking, you should have already taken a look at the manual for your machines specified preheat times and instructions. Consider that there are various kinds of grills, such as gas grills and charcoal grills, and instructions may vary depending on what youre currently using. Take the time to read up about whatever kind of barbecue you have, as techniques will vary depending on what type it is.
For instance, charcoal grills usually need longer times to preheat as opposed to a gas grill. And with charcoal grills, youll need to clean your grill and make sure that there arent any leftover ashes from when you used it last time. On the other hand, gas grills dont take long to heat, so you will only need about 10 minutes to preheat them before cooking.
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Should You Clean Grill Grates After Every Use
Whether you have a built-in BBQ or a freestanding design, cleaning the grill grates doesn’t have to be a weekly chore. ‘Despite what you might think, your BBQ grill grates don’t really need to be cleaned all that often,’ says Ross Bearman, Great Taste Judge and Founder of the BBQ Gifting company, Ross & Ross Gifts . ‘The best trick is simply to use a stiff wire brush straight after the food comes off the grates so nothing sticks and sets on it.’
‘If you open your BBQ after not using it for a while and you find any mold has appeared, then simply set up a fire in the BBQ and place all the grates on top to burn off, then use the stiff brush to clean,’ says Ross.
Using sunflower oil every time you cook your BBQ recipes will prevent burnt food from getting stuck on the BBQ. Once youve finished cooking, rub vegetable oil on the grills to prevent them from going rusty. Dr Sarah says, ‘this is one of my tried and trusted hacks, and it works every time.’
Once youve got your BBQ looking spotless, it can be a good idea to keep it under a cover or BBQ shelter throughout the summer and beyond to reduce cleaning time before each use.
