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As summer season approaches, barbecue owners throughout the country will likely look forward to firing up their outdoor grills. Spending a warm evening in the yard with good friends and family members and a grill full of tasty food is among life's simple delights. Keeping your BBQ tidy, however, is not. It makes sense, then, to ensure that you understand the best and quickest means to get your grill grate tidy so time can be spent capitalizing on the great weather, instead of toiling over the BBQ. The technique described below will work with a gas grill, charcoal grill, rotisserie grill or infrared grill.
There are two things to consider when cleaning your barbecue: the ideal cleaning tool and the ideal cleaning technique. The ideal tool would be an excellent quality, heavy duty wire grill brush. There are a myriad of brushes on offer, however if you understand exactly what you are looking for the selection narrows down dramatically. Possibly the most vital point is deciding on one that won't cause any kind of damage to your grill grate, particularly if you have a costly Weber or Char-Broil BBQ. It is usually believed that the best choice is a brass bristle grill brush, as brass is softer and for that reason won't scratch your grates, and that stainless steel bristle grill brushes should be steered clear of. This is not necessarily true, however. While some stainless steel grill brushes might damage grates, particularly the much more delicate porcelain coated grill grates, many won't. The benefit of stainless steel brushes is that they clean a lot more effectively and last longer because of their stiffer and more resilient bristles. Therefore, the ideal brush would be a stainless steel grill brush which scratches neither porcelain enamel coated nor cast iron grill grates.
The next point to consider when deciding on a brush is the brush design. Most traditional brush heads consist of a wood or plastic block, into which a series of bristles are embedded, all pointing the exact same way. While a brush of this style is good for cleaning the center of the grate, it will be unable to properly clean the sides and corners of the grate. A far superior design is one being composed of a twisted wire frame, from which bristles protrude in all directions. This enables the user to hold the brush at any kind of angle without losing contact between the bristles and the grate. This, in turn, means that the user is easily able to clean all areas of the gril.
Lastly, you should look for a brush with a stiff, lengthy handle. This allows you to clean the grill when it is hot, without needing to fret that you might burn your arms. The perfect length is 17 to 18 inches, unless you have an extremely sizable BBQ. In that instance an even longer handled brush might be more suitable. Keep in mind that the longer the handle, the less force will be applied through the brush and on to the grate.
Now you have decided on an appropriate brush, you want to ensure that you use it in the most efficient way. 2 things will make your grill cleaning experience a lot easier: water and heat. A hot grill is far easier to clean compared to a cold one, so before cleaning allow the grate to get nice and hot. The other key component is water, not on the grate, but on the brush. Fill a vessel with water and keep it by the grill. Once the grill is hot, soak the brush in the water to get the bristles wet and begin cleaning. The combination of water, heat and an excellent brush will make even the most persistent charred on food come off in seconds.
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