How to properly care for your Grill

Maintaining a clean BBQ isn’t complicated when you’re well equipped!  Today I’m going to talk about several really great products that not only make the process easier but speed it up. The best part (besides a shiny new BBQ when you’re done )?

All of these incredible products are available at House of BBQ Experts and at really affordable prices.  (Be assured, I’ll also teach you how to deep clean your BBQ, so it’s clean as can be. )

Before I dive into the subject, I’d like to take a moment to talk about the five signs you’re really overdue for a new BBQ (because there’s only so much my secret tricks can achieve ) :

1. The paint on your BBQ is peeling off and falling onto your meat.
2. Your BBQ’s cookbox is as wonky as a Twist-O-Max.
3. The burners on your BBQ have fallen to the bottom.
4. Your BBQ’s lid makes so much noise when you lift it that it annoys the neighbors.
5. The grates on your BBQ are so damaged that you have to cut your ribs in half to cook them in the indirect heat zone.

If your BBQ has developed one or all of these symptoms, the products I’m about to show you probably won’t save it, but they can help it survive in the meantime… Maybe.

The first item on the list is the House of BBQ Experts Degreaser. This product strips off just about everything (I even use it to wash my car mags and bathroom shower)! It’s simple to use—just follow the directions on the back. But to summarize: spray it on your BBQ, let it sit for 2-3 minutes and rinse it off with a pressure washer or hose.

Once your BBQ is well degreased, use the House of BBQ Experts Shine Restorer to make it glisten. Another locally made product, only this one is so effective that I suggest you wear sunglasses after to avoid hurting your eyes—your BBQ is going to SPAR-KLE!

Otherwise, to clean the inside of your BBQ more thoroughly, I recommend this Napoleon Gas Grill Cleaning Toolset (I should point out, however, that you don’t need a Napoleon brand BBQ to use it). This handy kit is great because it contains four accessories:

– A “hook” (orifice cleaner) to unclog the burners

– A ‘’scraper’’ to thoroughly scrape off the fat accumulated in the cookbox or lid

– A venturi brush to clean the inside of the burner (very effective for removing spider webs, for example)

– A slanted cleaning brush with a grill scraper to clean the grates.

Note that these accessories will give equally good results whether your BBQ is powered by propane, charcoal or electricity.

As for the grates, you can clean them using the House of BBQ Experts wooden scraper to ensure no bristles are left behind when scrubbing. I personally like the bristles, but a scraper is great to have on hand to keep your BBQ grates clean.

Another option is to use the Terminator of brushes, the House of BBQ Experts Grill Daddy Pro!  Made in the USA and extra durable, it’s very easy to use: pour water inside, heat up the BBQ, and when it’s nice and hot, scrub the grates with the brush. Seriously, you’ll feel like you have brand new grates afterwards—it’s incredible! Whether your BBQ grates are made of cast iron, steel, or porcelain enamel steel, they ALL deserve to be cleaned with a Grill Daddy. (By the way, this brush sells like hot cakes, so it’s not always easy to score one). BUT we are working hard with the manufacturer to make them more available… !!!!

If you have a charcoal BBQ, then you know the grease pan easily gets dirty. So, I encourage you to change it out from time to time.

Lastly, if you have a propane BBQ, I recommend using aluminum pans to collect the grease. On top of being efficient, they are incredibly easy to replace once their job is done.

Additionally, if you have a propane BBQ, Napoleon’s Burner Maintenance kit is great at unclogging and cleaning your BBQ burners (if the four accessories I mentioned earlier don’t pique your interest, this is a good option to consider instead).

Otherwise, if your BBQ (regardless of fuel type) hasn’t been lit in a while (and you’re still a little afraid to open it in case of rust, squirrels, bugs and other fun surprises), GrillGrate panels can literally save your BBQ’s life. This is quite the secret I’m sharing because we definitely don’t talk about these panels enough—precisely because they’re so effective that we’d risk lower BBQ sales if we talked about them too much.  After installing these cast aluminum grates onto your BBQ, they absorb the heat and distribute it evenly over the entire cooking surface. The panels are reversible, so you’ll be able to easily cook and/or fry shrimp, vegetables and even eggs whether you use the “grill”  or “griddle” side. As you can imagine, these panels are a great way to rejuvenate your BBQ.

As we all know, parts in a BBQ can get a little warped or deformed. If you have a charcoal BBQ with little “wings”^[a] at the bottom (to empty out the ash easier), they have a tendency to lose their shape, especially if they are made of aluminium and your BBQ is an entry-level model. If this happens to you, you can easily change them out with our spare parts (available in our stores).

Grates are another piece that, over time, tend to bend, break or rust. If your grates have one or more of these features, well, it’s about time to change them. If you have a charcoal BBQ, I even recommend replacing the grate with the House of BBQ Experts grate, which is made from 304 stainless steel, doesn’t oxidize, doesn’t rust and stays beautiful. Like all other House of BBQ Experts products, this grill is of the highest quality, so you can use it for a long time.

It’s also likely that your charcoal BBQ’s bottom grate needs some love as well, which is why—if it’s in good shape—I recommend getting a second one and placing it on top to form an X-shaped grill. This way, the larger charcoal pieces won’t fall to the bottom of your BBQ, making it easier to clean.

Lastly, the Napoleon mat and the House of BBQ Experts mats are great for protecting your patio from dripping grease and rounding out your BBQ area in style. The House of BBQ Experts mats are even available in different sizes, so you can ensure a perfect fit no matter what type of BBQ you have.

That said, I can hear you thinking, “JP, these products are all nice, but how do we use them?” I was just getting to that! To properly clean your BBQ, I recommend you follow these steps:

1. Remove the grates from your BBQ and scrub them with a brush (I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: this works really, really, really well with the Grill Daddy Steam Brush—I can’t recommend it enough!).
2. Once that’s done, use the Napoleon cookbox scraper to clean the carbon residue off your BBQ body^[b] and lid. Use it to scrape off the fat stuck on your BBQ’s deflectors as well.
3. The next steps are especially important if you have a propane BBQ. In fact, after cleaning them well, soak your BBQ’s deflectors and grates in a container filled with hot water and House of BBQ Experts Degreaser (pour half the bottle of Degreaser and add the same amount of water to the container). I then recommend you be patient and let the mixture work its magic.
4. While you wait, use the rest of the Degreaser in the bottle to clean your BBQ inside (lid, tank, burner, etc.) and out. Let the product set for 2-3 minutes, then rinse it off thoroughly.
5. Rinse the deflectors and grates in the tray, then put them back in the BBQ.
6. Take in your beautifully clean BBQ!

That’s it! Just use my cleaning tips, and your BBQ area will be unrecognizable!

Happy BBQ cleaning to all! 

P.S. To watch me show off these products live, click here.