With the weather getting warmer, the barbecue starts to become to focal point of meal time. If it hasn’t had much use since last year or it has been a while between grills, then your barbecue will be in serious need of a clean. If you don’t have all the cleaning tools and products on hand, save a trip to the shops and try one of our cleaning hacks using every day household products. You can thank us later.
Household items you can use to clean your barbeque:
Vinegar
Vinegar works as a cleaning product because it has acetic acid as an ingredient that removes dirt and grime. If you need to clean anything, try vinegar.
You can use vinegar to clean your grill by putting equal parts white vinegar and water into a spray bottle. Spray onto your grill and wait 30 mins, spray again but this time with just straight vinegar and wait another 30 mins before scrubbing clean.
Baking Soda
Wet your grill and then sprinkle the baking powder liberally over the grate. Leave for 10 minutes and then activate it using warm water, and then sponge off the excess.
Baking soda is a mild alkali that helps grease and dirt dissolve, which is especially good for BBQs because it won’t damage the metal coating with scratches.
Beer
This is one of the items you’re less likely to have lying around the house, beer.
If you miraculously have leftover beers from the barbeque, pour some on top of a semi-warm grill and get off any food and grease with a bristle brush and newspaper.
Lemon
When life gives you lemons and salt, what do you do? Clean your barbecue, obviously not make a salt-rimmed margarita…
Try to use larger lemons if possible and cut in half and dip them into salt crystals. Preheat the barbecue, rub and squeeze the lemons over the grill. The salt is your scrubber, the lemon is your cleaning product.
Coffee
Coffee is acidic which helps break down crusted food. Brew a pot of hot coffee and pour it all over the grates and wipe off after a few minutes.
How to effectively clean a BBQ: The basics
Now let’s get the grime and dirt off before the next barbeque party!
(Credit: Evan Wise- Unsplash)Step 1. Always turn off the gas: It will either be on the propane tank or the gas line.
Twist the nozzle into the off position and if there are any leaks or cracking it’s time to replace
Step 2. Clean the cook box: Make sure the barbeque is cooled and then use a scraper to scrape grease towards the drip tray at the bottom of your barbecue.
Lift out the grill pieces and wash the burners and the inside of the barbeque with a metal brush.
Step 3. Wash the hot plates/grills: Place your grill in soapy water or check our substitutes and start scrubbing your heart out, best to use a bristle brush or a specific grill brush
Tip: Clean side to side as opposed to a vertical motion, as it might push all that grime further inside.
Step 4. Clean your drip tray: Make sure it doesn’t need to be replaced, if it’s full of grease, replace it.
Otherwise, use your scraper and scrape off the grease then you BBQ wipes to get off any excess.
Step 5: Line your drip tray: Now that your drip tray is shiny and glowing, line it with aluminium foil and spread the Fat-sorb on.
Despite its identical appearance to kitty litter, this absorbs fat, making the future cleaning process easier.
Step 6: Oil hotplates: Finish by spraying some cooking oil onto the hotplates to avoid rusting later on. Once they’re on you’re ready to grill.
