How Do I Clean My Gas Grill?

It is now springtime and that means grilling season has officially arrived!

While people cook outside year round, there is nothing like firing up the grill on warm spring and summer evenings and enjoying great food and drinks with your family and friends. Of course, you can’t cook out if your grill isn’t properly maintained and cleaning it both before and after you use it is a key part of that maintenance.

You can go to any hardware store and find a lot of grill cleaning kits and various tools. But there are some simple, inexpensive ways to accomplish the same goal – and you may even have some of these things at your home already. With many homeowners these days preferring the ease and efficiency of gas grills over charcoal or electric, here are some useful tips on cleaning your grill at home. All you will need are a few items and some elbow grease:

1. Fire up the grill and close the lid. Let it come up to temperature to fully heat up the grates. Then shut it off and let it cool. While it’s still warm, use a basic wire brush and a bucket of warm water and dish soap and scrub the grates clean. This will remove any food particles and built up char.
2. To be completely thorough, you can remove the grates and soak them in a bucket(s) of warm water and dish soap for an hour or so. This will break up the greasy residue on the grates and allow the liquid to deep clean the surfaces. Once you remove the grates from the bucket and rinse them, give them another quick brushing.
3. While the grates are off, use a shop-vac or your vacuum cleaner attachment inside the grill to suck up any ash and food particles that have fallen through the grates. This will remove any obstructions, improve air flow and maximize the burners’ efficiency.
4. For a nice finishing touch, use a soft cloth and a can of stainless steel cleaner. This will give the grill some additional polish and it looks great - especially if the outside of your grill has a stainless steel finish.

These are just a few basic tips to help you prepare – and maintain – your gas grill all year long. For more information or additional outdoor grilling tips, give us a call.