How To Clean Cast Iron Grill Grates And Make it Look New

Cast iron is a durable metal yet it can be hard to clean cast iron grill grates when they become dirty. Multiple types of problems are there in cleaning the cast grill, where you need to choose several ways of cleaning the cast.

However, proper care of the cast grill can enhance its durability and help you get a good time with your grilling sessions. Cleaning the cast grill requires several methods that can help to strengthen its clear grilling sessions.

If the cast grill is not clean, the food may stick to the grill, and also rust may appear overtime.

In addition, it can affect the grilling session by affecting the taste of the food. You can choose some basic and advanced cleaning methods to clean the cast grill effectively.

5 Ways To Clean Your Cast Iron Grill Grates

1 ) Use a De-Greaser

Cleaning a cast iron grill is not a complicated process, especially when you are using a degreaser. To clean your grill with a degreaser, you need to soak it into a degreaser.

Then, you have to check the level of degreaser that it is enough to soak the cast grill thoroughly.

The soaking process will take nearly 15-30 minutes, where you have to wait for a while to soak the grill thoroughly. The level of gunk on the grill will take more time if it is higher than the normal one.

While soaking, you can check the grill whether it is wet or dry while being in the degreaser. The solution can leave the utensil due to high temperature, which you can check continuously.

If the grill is drying out, you need to apply more degreaser on it, where you can choose a spray bottle to use more spray on the cast iron grill.

When you find that the grill is soaked into the degreaser for a longer time, you can clean it with some scrub agents.

Use a scrub with steel wool to clean all of your grills, where you can get a perfect clean.

Some cast iron grill grates are sturdy, whereas steel wool scrubs are not enough to clean the grill entirely, and you can choose a non-abrasive sponge to clean your cast iron grill grates with extra cleanliness on the grill.

2 ) Use Salt, Soap And Warm Water

This is one of the best and convenient methods of cleaning the cast iron grills effectively. This method can strip down every rust on the cast grill, which increases with every seasoning.

This process is an effective one, which every griller prefers to clean their cast iron grill grates easily.

To perform this cleaning exercise, you can choose your grills to soak into warm water containing some salt. The salt will react with the rust to remove it quickly and give you a clean cast iron grill.

While the cast grill is in the warm water solution, you can choose a steel wool scrub soaked with enough soap to create a good amount of lather.

Next, scrub the cast grill with the soap and steel wool scrub in the warm water, which can give you a good shine on the cast grill.

Next, clean your grills with a soft hand, which will remove all the unnecessary dirt from the cast iron grill grates.

After cleaning the rust from the grates, let them completely dry because moisture is the big problem in iron grills because it can attract more rust on the grill, which can affect the grill grates.

Use a quick dry method while keeping them in an oven set at a low temperature.

Leave the grill entirely for nearly 30 minutes, which will help you vaporize the moisture fully from the cast iron grill grates. In addition, this process will help you clean the grills effectively, where you can put some oil layer to prepare your grill for the following seasoning.

3 ) Try Ammonia

Ammonia is a natural cleansing agent, which is very powerful in removing rust from the grills. While using ammonia to clean your grill grates, you need to follow some safety measures to protect against any harm to your body.

To avoid any physical injury due to ammonia fumes, you can perform the cleaning outdoors, which will give you a completely safe environment to clean your iron cast grill.

Also, remember to avoid bleach to the ammonia because their reaction is hazardous for the lungs due to toxic fumes released from the solution.

Take some ammonia and pour it into a glass or plastic container. Use some saturated cloth to clean the cast grill and immerse them into the ammonia.

Use rubber gloves to scrub and squeeze the chemical to take it out from the fabric, and keep the cloth a little bit wet to clean the cast iron grates.

Remember to make it slightly moist, and avoid any type of dripping from the material. Pour the cloth into a plastic bag, and put the grill into the bag. Leave the solution for 24 hours in a naturally warm environment.

Now remove the grill from the bag keeping your face away from the bag. Remember to put your face away as posible from the pack because it contains hazardous fumes that can affect your lungs.

Use an alternate cloth to clean the dirt and softened residue from the cast iron grill grates.

4 ) Use Vinegar and Baking Soda

Choose vinegar and baking soda to remove dirt from the cast iron grill grates. Take one on one vinegar and water mixture and put your grates into the solution.

Remember to soak the grates entirely into the solution. Also, adding baking soda to the solution will help you remove some stains from the grill. Combining vinegar and baking soda is the perfect one to clean all the tough stains from the iron cast grill without any injury.

Put your grills into the water-vinegar solution with baking soda for over an hour. It will help you remove the stains from the grills and give you clean and shiny grill grates for your further seasoning.

If you think your kitchen sink is sufficient to clean the grill grates, then use it, or you can use a big plastic bucket that can manage to soak the grill entirely.

Next, you need to put your grills into the solution for a more fabulous time, and after a certain period, remove the grills from the solution and use a steel wool scrub to clean the grills.

Focus on the rusty part more to clean the grills entirely, and slightly rub the scrub on the grills to clean them. You can use a hard hand to clean the rust if it is remaining after the cleaning session.

After cleaning the grills entirely, use clean water to rinse the vinegar from the grills and make sure to remove vinegar from the grills before preparing it for the following seasoning.

5 ) Cast Iron Cleaner

If you haven’t cleaned your grills over a period, the above methods are not entirely suitable for cleaning the grill grates quickly. If your grates are severely in need of cleaning, choosing the cast iron cleaner can be the best additional method to clean your grates.

A surefire way of cleaning the cast iron grates is suitable to clean the grates effectively and without any problems. Cast iron is an agent that helps to remove rusts from the grates after continuous seasonings.

The iron cast remover will remove all the food sticking on the grills and help you get a shiny surface of grates.

The best way to clean the grates with a cast iron cleaner is to get some cleaner, trash bags, and space where you can put the items while the cleaner does its job.

Spray the agent on the grates, and remember to avoid direct contact with the cleaner because it contains some severe chemicals that can affect your eyes and lungs.

After spraying, put your grates into a trash bag and lock it with a zip. Now let them untouched for 48 to 72 hours, remove the grates from the bag and give them a quick wash.

You will find a safe and shiny grate after using a cast iron cleaner.

How To Keep Your Grill Grates From Rusting?

Many grill seasoners can not manage their grill grates to become clean and rust-free after a time. If you have some problems keeping your grill grates rust-free, choose the following methods to give you a safe and clean experience with your grill grates.

Avoid scraping the grates: Grates come with a porcelain enamel that resists rust to make a space on the grates. Using thorny scrub to scrap the grates can cause rust on it, which you can fight by choosing a soft scrubbing that can not remove the enamel from the grates.
Brush the grates: The best method to enhance your grate’s life is using a brush on every seasoning. Pre-heat the grills for 15 minutes with a closed lid, and brush the grates with a steel grill brush, which will stop rust from sticking on the grates.
Avoid citrus with soap: Soap and citrus can cause rust on the grills, which you can avoid by choosing them differently. Instead, soak the grates into hot water to remove stubborn stains and use a mild dish wash to remove them gently. Also, remember to use a soft paper towel or soft cloth to dry the grill grates and resist corrosion to stick on them.
Keep them in a favorable environment: A favorable environment for your grates can enhance their life and resist corrosion. Put your grill grates away from salt water and keep them covered after every wash.

How Do you Keep Food From Sticking To The Grill?

Sticking food is common in every grill session if your BBQ grill grates are not adequately enameled with some agents. Also, some reasons like a partial hot grill and the absence of oil can let food stick on them.

The following ways will let you control the sticky nature of your grates, where you can get a fantastic experience in your grilling sessions.

Clean the grill before every use: Cleaning the grill is the best thing you can do to resist food sticking on the grates more often. Due to the partial clean grills, the carbon and oil residue from the previous session will let the food stick on the BBQ grills.

Use a scrub pad, water, and brush to clean the grills when they are warm enough. If the slates of your BBQ grill are cold, then choose the scrub gently to remove the residue from the grills.

Use a high-smoking point oil: Mostly, our oil needs 400 Fahrenheit to reach its smoking point. A high smoking-point oil will not evaporate soon, which you can choose while grilling your favorite food on the BBQ session.

Don’t pour the oil regularly on the BBQ because it can become a high carbon substance on the grills, leading the food to stick on the grill.

When Should You Spray Oil on The Grill?

Oiling is one of the crucial things in the grilling sessions to keep the grills clean and have a great taste in the food. You can choose to spray oil on the grills while it is hot and cold, where you just have to change the method of oiling to prevent food from sticking.

When the grill is hot enough for the past 15 minutes, take a bunched-up towel into the hot oil ( take peanut oil, Canola, or olive oil to get a good experience).

Do not saturate the towel entirely into the oil, and remember to avoid dripping oil from the towel. Next, put the hot paper towel on the grills and coat them thoroughly to oil the grates. Finally, use an oven mitt to wipe the paper towel from the grates, and you will get an utterly oiled grilling grate.

Using the additional methods of oiling the grates can also give you clean non-sticky grilling grates.

Use a high-heat cooking oil on the cold grills, where you can cover the grates with the high-heat oil while your grates are cold, and remove the excess oil with the help of some paper towel.

After pouring the oil on the grates, light them up until the oil burns and leave the grates altogether. Of course, you can pour some oil on the grates whenever you want, but keeping it the right way can give you relevant results.

Wrapping it up

Getting a clean grill is a dream of every BBQ lover, which you can clean by choosing some of the best methods. BBQ lovers can clean their grills with some chemicals and also some natural things like hot water.

The only thing that matters is the dirt on the grill because grill grates are not evenly clean, which needs some extra things to clean up.

Therefore, BBQ lovers have the best chance to go with some methods that can help them get a clean grill grate that can enhance their grilling experience.

How To Clean Cast Iron Grill Grates And Make it Look New