bosco Posted November 7, 2016 Report Share Posted November 7, 2016 Well I went to my local brew shop today and picked up 1 lb of PBW by 5 star at 18.00 CAD. I then went to the local dollar store and purchased a bottle of Dawn dish soap for ... well 1.00 CAD. Drove to the USA and hit the Home Depot. Fought my urge to pick up more lump charcoal and came back home. I took one grill from the 23 and 32 and placed them in a bin and the same for the other bin. I have one grate from each grill to make this a fair experience. Filled 20 gallons of hot water in each. I added 1.5 cups of dawn to the one on the left and 1.5 cups of PBW to the one on the right. I plan on soaking these for 24 hours so I will remove them at 2 pm tomorrow. I want dawn to win because it is cheaper but have a feeling the PBW will be the lucky lady. Anyways let's have some fun with this and see what happens. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinyfish Posted November 7, 2016 Report Share Posted November 7, 2016 I'm hoping Dawn wins too. Where did you get the soaking bins? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted November 7, 2016 Report Share Posted November 7, 2016 7 minutes ago, tinyfish said: I'm hoping Dawn wins too. Where did you get the soaking bins? Those are cement mixing tubs. You should be able to get them at any large hardware store. @bosco great experiment. Can't wait to see the results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosco Posted November 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2016 10 minutes ago, tinyfish said: I'm hoping Dawn wins too. Where did you get the soaking bins? I got them at Home Depot in buffalo. They don't seem to sell them in Canada for some reason. They were only 12.98 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted November 7, 2016 Report Share Posted November 7, 2016 Thanks for doing this experiment, Bosco. PBW is very good on proteins/organics, while Dawn's forte is grease. Will be interesting to see the outcome. Yeah, PBW is pricey, but it's a specialty cleaner. On the upside, you don't use much - 1 Tbl per gallon of water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosco Posted November 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2016 The guy at the brew store suggested 2 tbsp per gallon for the BBQ grease but I stuck with 1 tbsp per gallon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Pearson Posted November 7, 2016 Report Share Posted November 7, 2016 I wonder what would happen if you mix the two. One for Grease and one for protein? Just saying? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosco Posted November 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2016 Interesting stuff. The dawn is wiping clean a lot easier than the PBW from the test pieces I just did. However the water with the dawn is warmer still which I attribute to the layer of bubbles? And the water is fairly clear. The PBW is not wipe clean yet on the test piece however the water is very dark brown. You can hardly see the grates. So im not sure what one the winner will be but I'll be honest so far I am tilting in favour of dawn. Thank you JonB on an upside a friend on the guru highly recommended oxy clean free (green lid). He has been using it for years and loves it. He cleans his BBQ accessories with it. It is also 8.95 for 3.5 lbs opposed to the 18.00 for 1 lb of PBW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted November 7, 2016 Report Share Posted November 7, 2016 Patiently waiting for the final results. Might be willing to try this every now and again but not if it takes more than 24 hours. Over 24 hours and I'd have to plan a special meal to - God forgive me - cook inside - LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosco Posted November 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2016 (edited) I'm likely going to have to cut it short as I need to cook tomorrow to lol. The brew store said over night so 12 hours. If I clean in morning that will be 18 hours. I'm really interested in seeing what way I will go from now on. Bruce mentioned doing the oxy clean and dawn combo. I bet that would be killer Edited November 7, 2016 by bosco 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted November 8, 2016 Report Share Posted November 8, 2016 My experience with PBW and soaking the roti basket and grates was everything just wiped off with a sponge - zero elbow grease. Which is great, given all those nooks and crannies in there. I also find that 4 - 8 hours is plenty of soaking time. As far as I know, there's no safety issue with mixing them. It might be the best of both worlds, because with PBW, if there's a lot of grease, a film forms on the surface of the water, which the Dawn might break up. Not a major issue, since you have to rinse everything off anyway. It's just that your hands get slimy/greasy reaching in to pull the grates out. I'll look around for oxyclean with the green lid (no fragrance?) and give that a whirl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosco Posted November 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2016 Yes tony fragrance free. It is the bottoms side of my grates giving me trouble. They grease is packed on hard. I'll let it go over night and maybe re soak them after dinner tomorrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosco Posted November 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2016 (edited) 7 hours in and I just lifted a grate out from each. The water with the dawn is clean and the PBW is black the dawn grate wipes clean with zero effort the PBW I have to scrub clean and it still leaves black residue in spots. I have a winner! Edited November 8, 2016 by bosco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted November 8, 2016 Report Share Posted November 8, 2016 So you are saying the dawn is the winner? That's good news. I think I have one of those cement tubs out back without holes in it. Will give this a try as my grates are really black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosco Posted November 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2016 Yeah buddy that dawn is something else. The water is clear and the grates wipe away clean. No chemicals just soap. Hot water and soap is going to be my go to. Indo have the oxy clean now so I may mix like others said until it is gone. That is great news for me as it will be a fraction of the cost for cleaning. I now endorse JonBs recommendation whole heartedly 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosco Posted November 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2016 But wait ..... there's more. Operators are standing by. I got up early to rinse them and noticed that when I sprayed the PBW grates the black stuff just peeled off. No scrubbing nothing. The Dawn is clean but darker. For some reason the grates are not clear of the black gunk like with the PBW. Check out a side by side comparison of the two. I guess I take back what I said earlier. I was a bit premature in my conclusions. see for yourself and determine how you would prefer your grates to look after cleaning. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted November 8, 2016 Report Share Posted November 8, 2016 Those PBW look perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pequod Posted November 8, 2016 Report Share Posted November 8, 2016 I think I'm going to give my cold smoker a PBW bath this weekend. That looks grate! (Not misspelled) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosco Posted November 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2016 @MacKenzie did you ever source PBW? I just found a store online from Ohio that has it relatively cheap. I may order the 8lb jug for 54.99 US. that works out to be about 9.50 a lb CAD opposed to the 18 I paid here yesterday. They also have a 50 lb for 199. Just not sure that I need that much lol @HalfSmoke I see what you did there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted November 8, 2016 Report Share Posted November 8, 2016 Still interested in the oxy fresh option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
