Do you deep clean your propane grill?

[Army 1911]

I decided to deep clean my grill. The burners and sear plates need replacing and the cross-over tube too. The temp gage hasn't worked for at least 3 years. It was 900 buck Napoleon LeX grill and has sat outside on the patio for 10 years. It is our primary cook stove grill oven. The other is the microwave.



So I ordered OEM parts from Amazon. Then watched some video on deep cleaning.

All parts came in today and I started cleaning today. One of the videos said to use Gillette Foamy shave cream.

Let me tell you that stuff really works. It is going to take a couple sessions to get the grill grates down to stainless steel. 10 years of grime, grease, dust and whatnot came off the exterior with very little effort.

Tomorrow I'll take off the parts I'm replacing and clean the inside of the grill cabinet. Will also give the grates another cleaning.

My take on this is the foamy cream really works well and without too much effort.

The foamy should work on all grates except cast iron. Try it. You'll thank me later.

 

[Wudidiz]

When mine gets ready to clean I buy a new one. Maybe every 10 years. I never heard of cleaning a grill. Maybe I’ve been doin it wrong.

 

[Sam7sf]

I reworked my grill after it had sat for so long. You can really only rework so much until gas holes become too clogged. Gotta open em up again. A paper clip works great. Then several stores have food grade cleaners for the rest of the grill.

 

[studenygreg]

I need to. Shit keeps catching fire lol

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[General Zod]

Propane? Grill? You speak strangely and your words confuse me.

I do clean the charcoal ashes out of my grill on a regular basis, and of course I clean the grill gates. The propane forge, however ,pretty much takes care of itself.

 

[Havok1]

I’ve had mine for about 7 years. I have cast iron grates and the little infrared grates below them. I scrape/brush the cast iron before each cook every once in a while scrape the others and wipe off the outside with a paper towel. Beyond that I just replaced the cast iron grates and have replaced the igniter twice. I don’t really need to do anything else with it.

 

[baboon]

I'll let a good hot fire rip in the kamado if I think it getting to greasy. It really is the best way to clean the grates.

 

[no2gates]

I clean the grates after each cooking with a wire brush. It gets sterilized before each cooking when I turn that puppy on high to preheat it.
Early each spring, I take it apart and give it a cleaning with the brush and vacuum the crap out of it.
I've had this one for about 6 years now. Replaced the igniters about 2 years ago.

 

[Army 1911]

Ordinarily I brush the grates after cooking and again before the next as they heat up. But after years of meat, they are pretty bad. Burnt on grease and stuff. New grates are $150 and I don't want to spend the money

I will say this grill has lasted 3 times longer than my others which average about 3.5 years. I use this grill almost every day.

I hope to get another 5 years out of it.

 

[Brains]

I clean mine when it .. uh ... doesn't need propane to stay lit

I've got a Weber Genesis, nothing too fancy but I'm happy that parts are available. The previous grill my brother had gifted me (don't remember the brand) and we used it a TON until I just couldn't find replacement parts for it. Say what you will about gas, but the convenience wins for me. I'm not a good cook anyway.

 

[Dawico]

I just preheat it and take the brush to the grates. Fire works well to sanitize it.

Cleaned one years back then just got it dirty again. It's like firearms. Just going to get it dirty again so why bother?

 

[Mowingmaniac 24/7]

My wife takes care of that...

 

[BBL]

Maybe it's a question you should be asking Hank Hill. I am sure he will have a nice speech for you.

FWIW, I used to clean our previous propane grills every few years because the build-up of food acids would simply eat away all the internals and it sucks having to buy a new burner or diffuser plate every 5 years. I eventually gave up on propane because of the hassle and the lack of good taste.
We grill on wood now and I am never going back.
Every maybe 5 years, I buy a new grate for a few bucks and I keep grilling. No hassle with tanks, no trouble with igniters, no expensive replacement parts. Just plain ol' good taste of grilled meat.

 

[SA_Steve]

I clean mine when it .. uh ... doesn't need propane to stay lit

I've got a Weber Genesis, nothing too fancy but I'm happy that parts are available. The previous grill my brother had gifted me (don't remember the brand) and we used it a TON until I just couldn't find replacement parts for it. Say what you will about gas, but the convenience wins for me. I'm not a good cook anyway.

Got the same one. I think it was at least double the price of the more common ones the same or bigger.
The electric igniter lasted a couple months but the 3rd party amazon $30 replacement is still going strong 2 years later. Took mine off the deck and gave it a good cleaning at the start of summer. Looks like it will be good for another couple years before another cleaning.

 

[Mowingmaniac 24/7]

BBL,

I completely agree, no doubt, grilling (not bbq-ing) using wood results in wonderful flavor, but it's still a PITA to get the (Weber in my case) ready. Plus, I'm relatively lazy...

Propane grilling is SO much more convenient, no, not as good, but not bad either...

 

[BBL]

BBL,

I completely agree, no doubt, grilling (not bbq-ing) using wood results in wonderful flavor, but it's still a PITA to get the (Weber in my case) ready. Plus, I'm relatively lazy...

Propane grilling is SO much more convenient, no, not as good, but not bad either...

You're not wrong there. It does take a few minutes of prep to build the fire but I somehow don't mind and enjoy it.
I understand that propane is big on convenience but I guess I'd rather have flavor. And our pecan tree drops dead branches often enough that we have that good flavor to add to the meat.
Is your mouth watering yet?

 

[Army 1911]

You're not wrong there. It does take a few minutes of prep to build the fire but I somehow don't mind and enjoy it.
I understand that propane is big on convenience but I guess I'd rather have flavor. And our pecan tree drops dead branches often enough that we have that good flavor to add to the meat.
Is your mouth watering yet?

But would you do it every day just to heat water, or cook eggs for breakfast, grilled cheese for lunch? My propane grill is used as our primary stove and oven because my wife lfe the stove on one time and melted a pot. She actually burned the water she was boiling. She forgets and goes to do something else. I disconnected our stove.

So out of self defense, I use do the cooking. She is allowed to use the microwave but she caught that on fire recently....well the popcorn in it flamed. Miocrowave still worked but every thing smelled like burnt popcorn.

So at our house, if it isn't cooked in the microwave, it's cooked on the grill. I have even baked cakes in that sucker.

 

[oldag]

I never deep clean the charcoal grill. Just dump the ashes periodically. Wire brush the grill.

 

[Mowingmaniac 24/7]

BBL,

Yes, pecan is THE wood for great grilling or bbq-ing.

But, as I dodder along in my creaking fk-ing old age, I just can't go thru the pain of prep...propane, propane, they tell me it'll kill me, they just don't say when...

On today's menu: Cold sandwiches...our AC died a week ago and we're still waiting for repair/relief....

 

[BBL]

A/C died? Dang. Have you started a thread about it here? Lots of knowledgeable people here, plus I am an electrician too if it's a problem with electrons cycling through y'all's wires.

As for grilling, we grilled last night, naturally, for the holiday. I prepped the fire, got it burning hot and made 4 yummy burgers, two juicy rare garlic suckers (for myself and my buddy) and two burnt patties ("well done" for the wife and the other wife). The wife enjoyed chewing on her dry hard patty while we kept wiping the juice off our chins.
Dang, I made myself hungry again!