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Grill Cleaning

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Using tinyfish's method, a 3/8" wrench, I can get exactly 98.3% of all crud off my grill grates.  For the next cook, my grills will be heated to at least 230 degrees. Whatever gremlins were left on my grates are sizzled to a crispy goodness that even the most refined pallet couldn't taste. Satan himself, or in the case of some ex-wives, herself, doesn't clean their grills spotless after each use. Don't ask how I know. 

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I'm reading an old spreadsheet in NYC; I can't go out to the garage to double-check.

 

My notes say that the lip on a 50cm paella pan is 19.8" in diameter. I believe that this is my go-to pan for more than four people. It fits in my KK, and once I sawed the handles off I could even close the lid.

 

A 42cm fits easily, handles and all, and is also a size one wants around. Sawing the handles off a 50cm is not for the faint of heart. I suppose there are people here with lab lasers or welding equipment who could make short work of this, but it would be a multi-day project with a Swiss army knife. My tool set is somewhere in the middle, and it took me twenty minutes.

 

Forget enamel unless you want to feel like the seventh occupant of a trailer park home. Carbon steel is next least expensive, and can actually be seasoned. One could well be happier going with stainless steel and cleaning completely each time. Paella is an aggressive cooking process, and I have my doubts that many people can season a pan well enough to survive paella cooking. I have books that actually praise the flavor from a carbon steel pan, alluding in flowery terms to the seasoning coming off into the food, which suggests that no one is managing to actually season their pans. Forget the recent web craze involving flaxseed oil; they got hung up on the single concept of polymerization, at the expense of all else. Flaxseed oil works on rough cast iron, but peels off smooth metal. True seasoning is many, many cycles of fat such as lard, cooking starches, and high heats. Think very thin coats of lard at 600 F till the smoking stops. The goal is the black crud on a fifty year old cake pan that won't come off for love or money. An after dinner KK fire is ideal for seasoning; go hot enough without reaching the self-cleaning oven stage, which also strips the seasoning.

 

As I said, one can also go stainless steel.

 

I ordered four bags of Fideo Pasta for Traditional Fideua yesterday, from La Tienda to take advantage of a sale. I prefer pasta to rice, for both risotto and paella. So do the Catalans.

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I wish I could buy one of those shallow trays designed to sit under a water heater.  Would be perfect to soak grates overnight.  I have some stuff to clean my stainless tanks I use to ferment my vodka wash.. It brings SS back too. All brewing/distilling places have it along with a rinse for it too..

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8 hours ago, DennisLinkletter said:

I wish I could buy one of those shallow trays designed to sit under a water heater.  Would be perfect to soak grates overnight.  I have some stuff to clean my stainless tanks I use to ferment my vodka wash.. It brings SS back too. All brewing/distilling places have it along with a rinse for it too..

You could use a garbage bag over a wood form. Think fish pond liner.

Edited by bryan
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Here are a few methods I have used, all seem to work well enough...

1.  My weber gasser is big enough to fit my 23" and 22" grates inside.  I crank it up, lay the KK grates on the top of the weber grates and carbonize everything so that it easily brushes off when transferred back to the KK.  Not an option for everyone, I know.

2.  Pizza cook - I just preheat the KK to 550F for about an hour and all is good and easy to clean.

3.  Overnight soak - I have a shallow Rubbermaid tub that is big enough to soak the grates.

4.  Elbow Grease - Using a combination of grill floss and a wad of aluminum foil, clean grates by hand.

 

High temp is the easiest.

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When I want to wash my grill, I put it in a metal hot water heater pan (inexpensive at box stores, figure out how to plug hole) to soak. The absolute best instrument for scrubbing the grates is then a scrubbing pad found in the painting section of a hardware store. Much tougher than any kitchen scrubbie.

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After reading this thread, I want to point out that you DO NOT want to use a PBW soak in an aluminum container, such as a water heater pan. PBW does not get along with aluminum, although OxyClean does. You could line an aluminum pan with a large plastic garbage liner or sheet of plastic though and use PBW.

Depending on your grill size, you might be able to find a plastic potting tray at your garden supply store or nursery that will fit your grills and work with most any cleaner. I have one that's 24 inches wide and 6 inches deep that looks like it was used under a half-barrel planter or for a large root ball. If you have a Big Bad 32 then my only suggestion is looking for a pet wading pool at your local pet supply store. The ones I've seen are about 3 feet wide and 6 inches deep.

I'll mention again that PBW is an awesome cleaner but it's super expensive for large volume soaks ($10 for 1 pound, $30 for 4 pounds or $55 for 8 pounds locally). I bought a 5 gallon bucket of it for $185 for my brewery use but I still don't use it for soaking kettles or fermenters - just parts and hop sacks. OxyClean requires more concentration and a longer soak but it's far less expensive. I've seen OxyClean for as little as $40 for 30 pounds in restaurant supply stores.

Hope that helps!

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I've got TheBeast, a KK BB 32.  His grates are an nice ebony black.  I run my grill floss over every bar of the grate after a high temp burn.  After everything has cooled down, I then take a Char-Grill nylon brush to each grate.  I've never had any complaints from guests.  I've also never had a grill that has gleaming grates other than when I get a new grill.  Is there something I'm missing or something that I'm not knowing>  Am I risking my health with my ebony grates?

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I have tried many ways to keep my grates clean even putting them in an industrial cleaner specifically designed for stainless steel oven grates .that worked great until my next cook lol I just use a mixture of vinegar and water now spray it on when they are cold and use aluminum foil to scrub them with or do a pizza cook then a high heat clean if you mix some vinegar with some baking soda and let them rest in a container over night that does the job as well I would refrain from using anything that may put pits or groves in the steel as they will only get baked in crud

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

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I have to say...

Robert recommended the grill floss to me and it does an amazing job at cleaning the grill.

My regular routine now is to start the grill and let the grease get warmed up a bit.

Then I use the floss from right to left and then from left to right.  This removes the heavy stuff from top and bottom of the slats of the grates.  

Then I wipe down with some paper towel, removing any wet grease on the grills

I then use my trusty weber t brush for a final scrub not really needed but what the heck

 

The grill floss is the real deal

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On June 9, 2016 at 0:50 AM, CeramicChef said:

I've got TheeEast, a KK BB 32.  His grates are an nice ebony black.  I run my grill flow over every bar of the grate after a high temp burn.  After everything has cooled down, I then take a Char-Grill nylon brush to each grate.  I've never had any complaints from guests.  I've also never had a grill that has gleaming grates other than when I get a new grill.  Is there something I'm missing or something that I'm not knowing>  Am I risking my health with my ebony grates?

I don’t think there’s a health issue. The only problem I can see is if you’re grilling something with a tendency to stick, like fish, you might want to clean the black stuff off the grates. If you’re not having a problem with sticking, however, don’t mess with success. ^_^

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