the fastest way to clean your grill

chadinsc

Well-known member
Messages
1,177
Location
upstate south carolina
Grill(s) owned
  1. Bull
just passing along my findings. i have scrubbed for hrs with bar keepers friend and it works great but often times leaves white paste stuck in places. simple green works good also for a quick clean. but i believe i finally figured out the ultimate way to do it guys. its so easy also. just get a bucket of warm water and dawn dish soap and a blue non scratch dish sponge. scrub it down with a damp sponge like you would a dishes and wipe it dry with a old towel. super fast and makes it look like new with nothing left behind.
 
I use LA's Awesome on the outside for cleaning. Bar Keepers friend for scrubbing, and Stainless cleaner for general wipe downs.
 
I am certainly no expert and look forward to hearing the responses to your thread. Also, could you be a little more specific about which part of the Bull you are cleaning? The interior of the top lid can be power washed as long as you don’t get the feed mechanism wet. Probably better to remove it but then you may have alignment issues. (Make sure you mark it with something that won’t get washed away. But then you loose all that great seasoning.) I use an onion if the grates are hot or power sprayer when cool for the grates and they come out looking brand new. I would also be careful using any cleaner that contains chlorides including BKF. They (chlorides) will break down the protective coating and/or plating on the center chromed metal in the front lower tray area and over time may show signs of corrosion/rusting. Cleaning the “drip” marks on those surfaces has been discussed on this site many times and when I called RT, they didn’t have a recommendation for the “seasoning” look so I typically don’t try to sand it clean out of fear of inducing latent corrosion possibilities. Similarly, I would be cautious using anything strong on the painted surfaces. They can also dull the original paint shine resulting in either streaks or a dull finish (think anything black should be handled with care). For painted surfaces, I treat it like my car’s finish and use a mild soap/water combination and rinse well. Here are my “go to” products as I have many devices and try to consolidate on the few that works best for the areas I am targeting. I also use the stainless steel cleaner on the hinges and as a final cleaner for all stanless steel areas. It contains oil and acts as a layer of protection from corrosion. Don’t forget the underside, that‘s where the corrosion monsters love to hide.

Regards,
Smokezilla

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I would also be careful using any cleaner that contains chlorides including BKF. They (chlorides) will break down the protective coating and/or plating on the center chromed metal in the front lower tray area and over time may show signs of corrosion/rusting.

What Bar Keeper’s Friend (BKF) has chlorine in it? I just ask, because I haven’t seen any that does.
 
I am certainly no expert and look forward to hearing the responses to your thread. Also, could you be a little more specific about which part of the Bull you are cleaning? The interior of the top lid can be power washed as long as you don’t get the feed mechanism wet. Probably better to remove it but then you may have alignment issues. (Make sure you mark it with something that won’t get washed away. But then you loose all that great seasoning.) I use an onion if the grates are hot or power sprayer when cool for the grates and they come out looking brand new. I would also be careful using any cleaner that contains chlorides including BKF. They (chlorides) will break down the protective coating and/or plating on the center chromed metal in the front lower tray area and over time may show signs of corrosion/rusting. Cleaning the “drip” marks on those surfaces has been discussed on this site many times and when I called RT, they didn’t have a recommendation for the “seasoning” look so I typically don’t try to sand it clean out of fear of inducing latent corrosion possibilities. Similarly, I would be cautious using anything strong on the painted surfaces. They can also dull the original paint shine resulting in either streaks or a dull finish (think anything black should be handled with care). For painted surfaces, I treat it like my car’s finish and use a mild soap/water combination and rinse well. Here are my “go to” products as I have many devices and try to consolidate on the few that works best for the areas I am targeting. I also use the stainless steel cleaner on the hinges and as a final cleaner for all stanless steel areas. It contains oil and acts as a layer of protection from corrosion. Don’t forget the underside, that‘s where the corrosion monsters love to hide.

Regards,
Smokezilla

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i use the soapy water and sponge on the exterior only. all i ever do to the interior is brush the grates and occasionally put the grates in the dishwasher. i also use a paint scraper to remove the black junk from the inside once it begins to fall off the grill and onto my food. i clean the ash out about every 500lbs of pellets. i change the foil anytime it’s extra nasty or anytime im going to cook high temps
 
Great question. Technically, not chlorides [CL. Group 17 (Vlla)] as we typically know from a chemical/element perspective but a variant that can still be corrosive. (See below). Interestingly, in the aerospace industry, it is a great rust remover but we don’t use it on anything that is flight or safety critical or used in a space application. One of my friends used BKF on his RT700‘s chromed lower panel and it looked great. Unfortunately, less than a year later he was getting spotting that subsequently led to a light film or discoloration and finally, yellow corrosive deposits. Chlorides (or their equivalent) with time + temperature = possible corrosion. After his experience, I stopped using anything but water and a sponge. I don’t know if it was his scotchbrite pad or the BKF but I am suspicious of both and would rather have the “battle scars” of honest use versus the agony of a pristine cooker that requires additional servicing. On the non-coated surfaces (e.g., front panel, side tray, horns, etc), I use the SS Cleaner as it is not harsh on those surfaces.

According to the 2015 material safety data sheet, the ingredients are feldspar, linear sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (DDBSA) and oxalic acid.

The main ingredient in Bar Keepers Friend is oxalic acid. Although it occurs naturally in some plants and vegetables, such as chives and rhubarb, it is considered toxic. You must use caution with this ingredient because it has caustic (corrosive) properties. That said, oxalic acid is 100% water-soluble.

Perhaps a chemist or metallurgist can on this site can help with my education. When discussing this with RT, one of their representative led me to believe there is a coating applied to that particular surface as opposed to bare treated metal, but I don’t know if/what it is.

I look forward to getting smarter.
 
Great question. Technically, not chlorides [CL. Group 17 (Vlla)] as we typically know from a chemical/element perspective but a variant that can still be corrosive. (See below). Interestingly, in the aerospace industry, it is a great rust remover but we don’t use it on anything that is flight or safety critical or used in a space application. One of my friends used BKF on his RT700‘s chromed lower panel and it looked great. Unfortunately, less than a year later he was getting spotting that subsequently led to a light film or discoloration and finally, yellow corrosive deposits. Chlorides (or their equivalent) with time + temperature = possible corrosion. After his experience, I stopped using anything but water and a sponge. I don’t know if it was his scotchbrite pad or the BKF but I am suspicious of both and would rather have the “battle scars” of honest use versus the agony of a pristine cooker that requires additional servicing. On the non-coated surfaces (e.g., front panel, side tray, horns, etc), I use the SS Cleaner as it is not harsh on those surfaces.

According to the 2015 material safety data sheet, the ingredients are feldspar, linear sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (DDBSA) and oxalic acid.

The main ingredient in Bar Keepers Friend is oxalic acid. Although it occurs naturally in some plants and vegetables, such as chives and rhubarb, it is considered toxic. You must use caution with this ingredient because it has caustic (corrosive) properties. That said, oxalic acid is 100% water-soluble.

Perhaps a chemist or metallurgist can on this site can help with my education. When discussing this with RT, one of their representative led me to believe there is a coating applied to that particular surface as opposed to bare treated metal, but I don’t know if/what it is.

I look forward to getting smarter.
BKF has been used for decades in restaurants, bars, etc for cleaning stainless steel counters, pot and pans, etc. I would say it’s proven safe to use on SS grills.
 
Great question. Technically, not chlorides [CL. Group 17 (Vlla)] as we typically know from a chemical/element perspective but a variant that can still be corrosive. (See below). Interestingly, in the aerospace industry, it is a great rust remover but we don’t use it on anything that is flight or safety critical or used in a space application. One of my friends used BKF on his RT700‘s chromed lower panel and it looked great. Unfortunately, less than a year later he was getting spotting that subsequently led to a light film or discoloration and finally, yellow corrosive deposits. Chlorides (or their equivalent) with time + temperature = possible corrosion. After his experience, I stopped using anything but water and a sponge. I don’t know if it was his scotchbrite pad or the BKF but I am suspicious of both and would rather have the “battle scars” of honest use versus the agony of a pristine cooker that requires additional servicing. On the non-coated surfaces (e.g., front panel, side tray, horns, etc), I use the SS Cleaner as it is not harsh on those surfaces.

According to the 2015 material safety data sheet, the ingredients are feldspar, linear sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (DDBSA) and oxalic acid.

The main ingredient in Bar Keepers Friend is oxalic acid. Although it occurs naturally in some plants and vegetables, such as chives and rhubarb, it is considered toxic. You must use caution with this ingredient because it has caustic (corrosive) properties. That said, oxalic acid is 100% water-soluble.

Perhaps a chemist or metallurgist can on this site can help with my education. When discussing this with RT, one of their representative led me to believe there is a coating applied to that particular surface as opposed to bare treated metal, but I don’t know if/what it is.

I look forward to getting smarter.
Interesting information about the potential for corrosion, especially since Recteq always recommended Cameo, which uses sulfamic acid- an acid with similar characteristics. I’d love to talk with one of the RT people to get their take on this.

Thank you for clarifying what you meant by chlorides. In my world, if it doesn’t have a chlorine anion, it’s not a chloride 😁.

Thank you, @chadinsc for letting us know what you discovered!
 
I realize BKF has its purpose and qualities. During college, I worked in fast food and other food related businesses and we swore by it. Being on the east coast in the Carolinas not far from the ocean we blamed the corrosion/rust on the environment even though we scrubbed and washed everything very well after application to ensure we could pass FDA and other inspections. It wasn’t until I moved to the West Coast blocks from the ocean that I started being suspicious. I would use it on untreated metal (typically a 300 series family of steel) and by the time I came back in town from a business trip of 4-5 weeks I would see slight discoloration. Perhaps I didn’t clean off the residue, but it was on bike, car, and motorcycle parts that were washed thoroughly afterwards. At the military installations and in industry, we would use Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) and Trichlorethelene to strip parts and any rust and they were banned many years ago due to the harsh impact. Please let me know what your process would be. I don’t like to use rust inhibitors as they are also hard on the environment.
 
You are supposed to clean a smoker? Who knew? :ROFLMAO: Now, I do clean the parts that touch the food, but for the rest of the grill, I just call it “patina.”:rolleyes:
Jim…
You sound like me. I thought that was flavorizing grease. But I guess we’re a long way from a 50 gallon drum cut in half with some old fencing for grates. Who new a grill could cost $15,000 (my Lynx) with an additional $3,000 for the cart. They call that progress, I guess.
 
I am curious about what you guys think works best to clean grease stains on the exterior stainless steel. I’ve tried Bar Keeper’s Friend but it didn’t do anything at all.

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Jim…
You sound like me. I thought that was flavorizing grease. But I guess we’re a long way from a 50 gallon drum cut in half with some old fencing for grates. Who new a grill could cost $15,000 (my Lynx) with an additional $3,000 for the cart. They call that progress, I guess.
any chance we can see a picture of the 18k grill!!! i bet thats a sweet rig. hows it work?
 
I am curious about what you guys think works best to clean grease stains on the exterior stainless steel. I’ve tried Bar Keeper’s Friend but it didn’t do anything at all.

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i would seriously give dish soap/ water and a sponge a try. with the blue non scratch scrub pads. i bet that area will look great in 5min
 
I am curious about what you guys think works best to clean grease stains on the exterior stainless steel. I’ve tried Bar Keeper’s Friend but it didn’t do anything at all.

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I have heard that a 50-50 solution of white vinegar and warm water is a decent cleaner for smokers. I have no first-hand experience with it, however. :rolleyes:
 
I’ve tried Bar Keeper’s Friend but it didn’t do anything at all.
Before I added the Lavalock tape to my lid, my grill front looked like yours. I used the liquid Barkeepers Friend on a blue Scotchbrite sponge that got most of the gunk. Then I used some denatured alcohol that I was using to prep the lid for the Lavalock and it did a decent job of dissolving the rest of the "spots/stains" although it took a bit for the solvent to do its thing. I went back after that with more Barkeepers Friend and after sealing the lid, I've never had to revisit this job.
 
It wasn’t until I moved to the West Coast blocks from the ocean that I started being suspicious. I would use it on untreated metal (typically a 300 series family of steel) and by the time I came back in town from a business trip of 4-5 weeks I would see slight discoloration. Perhaps I didn’t clean off the residue, but it was on bike, car, and motorcycle parts that were washed thoroughly afterwards.
BKF strips the protective layer off of stainless and leaves it naked. It is vulnerable during that time like any other metal, while it is rebuilding its protective layer. So I guess the salt-air got to the metal before it could heal from the BKF treatment. I used it on all my brewing equipment - a lot. But there's no salt air around here, so everything worked as expected on my equipment.
 
It’s really not that special. If you look up Lynx Grills, you will see their highly overpriced units. One of its claims to fame is that the sear burner can hit 1100F in 8 minutes and I also have a separate side burner sear station that does that same (highly recommended so you don’t have to disrupt the normal cook). It can hold temperatures within 5 degrees in almost any weather and sips fuel. It also comes with the infrared rear burner, a 3 speed rotisserie, dual lights and a cover *that is $300 by itself) and a bunch of other stuff. Lynx targets the higher end cooking systems for restaurants and professionals. This is my model but it has been modified to add the side searing station and I ordered the accessory regular ceramic burners that I swap out for low and slow cooking. They recently merged with Viking (another well recognized professional cooking company). I was surprised because they are acutally reducing their prices now that they moved from California to the Southeast (Georgia, I think). But now I have to pay shipping when I used to do a local pick up at their West Coast factory. I typically like to by American Made products but you unfortunately, have to pay to be a patriot. I try to put my money where my mouth is. Right now there prices are probably the best I have seen in a while. They are shedding inventory for the fall/winter season. If you shop around, your local dealer will probably price match anything you find. The pictures are some of my grills. As you can see, I don’t like the built-in configurations because I am always changing things around and hit the road occasionally to test my skills. FYI, the Lynx is next to the Bull, the Kenmore Elite next to the Lynx was actually made by Lynx under contract with Sears but was 1/5th the price. In the far background is ”PigPen” my blackstone. Missing are my Weber kettle, New Braunsfel vertical stick burner and a couple other units that I cycle in and out depending on what I need to cook.

Great question I hope I answered it.
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https://www.lynxgrills.com/products...ident-infrared-burners-and-rotisserie-l36atrf

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Before I added the Lavalock tape to my lid, my grill front looked like yours. I used the liquid Barkeepers Friend on a blue Scotchbrite sponge that got most of the gunk. Then I used some denatured alcohol that I was using to prep the lid for the Lavalock and it did a decent job of dissolving the rest of the "spots/stains" although it took a bit for the solvent to do its thing. I went back after that with more Barkeepers Friend and after sealing the lid, I've never had to revisit this job.
That sounds very familiar. The Lavalock has really reduced the need for significant cleaning.
 

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