by Todd Raubenolt

Created on: May 31, 2009

In any kitchen, cleanliness is critical to producing safe and tasty food. Think of your gas grill as an outdoor extension of your kitchen. You wouldn't dream of cooking in a dirty kitchen and you shouldn't treat your grill any differently. Fortunately for us grillers, most of the clean up is taken care of by the heat and flames of the grill. If you do it right, every grilling session can be like running the self clean cycle on your kitchen oven. But wait, before you even light that first burner, there are a few things you need to do.

At the beginning of grilling season (or at least once a year if you grill year round) you should do a general cleaning of the entire grill. You should remove all the grates scrape any dried on drippings off of the side of the firebox. You should look for signs of corrosion or weakness in your grates while they are out of the grill. You may choose to scrub down your grates thoroughly, but that is not necessary if you take the steps outlined later. Now is the time to do a thorough examination of your burners. This includes cleaning them up with a brush and clearing out any plugs with a pin. Look for any corrosion around the gas holes that could lead to rapid gas escape and hot spots. You should also carefully examine the gas hoses and connections, using soapy water while the gas is turned on and burners off to expose any leaks. Take a moment to check your fuel vent tubes for cobwebs and brush them out if found. Now is also the time to replace any parts as necessary.

Periodically throughout the grilling season you should perform some general cleaning of your grill. This includes regularly emptying the grease catch. The accumulation of drippings in this catch will depend in large part on what you are cooking on the grill, so it is wise to check it after every couple of grilling sessions. You should also periodically wipe down the outside of the grill as well as cleaning out your underneath cabinet if your grill is so equipped. If it has been a week or more since your last grill session, make sure no critters have tried to take up residence in your equipment.

The cooking grate is what you will spend the most time cleaning. Fortunately for grillers, heat takes care of most of this for us. Many grillers simply don't take advantage of this fact and spend way too much time and elbow grease brushing and scrubbing their grates prior to every grilling session. Often what they end up doing is scraping away all the seasoning you want cooked into the cooking grate. To clean the grill properly, all you have to do is let the grill get to full temperature for 5-10 minutes prior to cooking. Prior to placing food on the grill, use a stiff wire brush to clear off any ash remaining from your prior cooking session. It is also a good idea to repeat this process after you have finished cooking. Simply leave the gas on for another 10 minutes, then again use your stiff wire brush to scrape off any ash remaining. Any more cleaning than this is unnecessary.

Your grill is a fairly low maintenance cooking appliance, but you do need to invest some time to ensure it is in proper working order as well as set up to maximize grilling performance. Doing so will ensure that you will produce tasty food for your family and friends all summer long.

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