Caring for the grill

[spinsheet]

I have a Weber Gold Kettle grill and was wondering how I should care for it. Should I pull the greats out of it and scrub it down every now and then? Warm soapy water? Should I get a cover for it? If I cover it can I then let it sit outside all year? I live in MD so we have pretty hot summers and the winters can get cold with snow and ice.

I see that after a few BBQ there is some BBQ that kind of got cooked on the bottom part of the kettle. I would like this one to last as long as possible, what do you guys suggest?

[dledmo]

Brush the grates clean every time, let the grill get hot then scrape away the remnants of the previous cook. How often do you use it? If rarely during the winter then cover it. If you have extensive grime on the bottom of your kettle feel free to wash it out. As long as it doesn't develop eyes and start plotting against you, don't worry about it that much. If there is a lot of funk you may be applying too much sauce or whatever to drip down overly much. Just the juices of the meat shouldn't create excessive build up.

[bbquzz]

I usually cook indirect so have a drip pan to catch that "Stuff," Diedmo hit it on the head. I usually take a brush to the inside of the lid to get rid of flakes that may fall on your food.

[Nick Prochilo]

What they said!

[spinsheet]

I would assume more of a nylon brush and not a wire brush? Would want to take off the enamel (if indeed it is enamel on the grill).

[bbquzz]

I have this heavy duty nylon bristle brush that I think is a wallpaper paste brush, it works great. I rinse it out with some dish soap every once in a while. I have a cheap plastic putty knife I use if I need to scrape and "Gunk" from the bowl.

[Bob In Fla.]

Nobody told me I was supposed to clean mine...

BOB

[Tri Tip]

I usto wipe the outside down wiht Fantastic when it was warm. Kept er shiny. Iside just brush the ash out after each use scrape the grill with a good grill brush when its hot. That's it. Oh I kept mine covered to keep the water out.

[Max]

All of these are great ideas, I normally dont clean mine but every 3 uses, but then again I dont have alot of build up. Most of the things can be found at your local hardware store, Home Depot, or Lowes. I think I may be going there to get me one of those brushes like bbquzz was talking about. I noticed today I ahve alittle flaking on my lid.. :P

[Nick Prochilo]

What's this cleaning you all are talking about? Fire it up, when it comes to temp, wire brush the grates and start cooking. All that grease thats left behind after the cook keeps the grates from getting any rust!

[firefly]

What dledmo said. Yea, I just let the grill warm up for about 10 min. Then take a brass brush to the grate. The stuff that comes off is like soot. There are some stickies around the rest of the grill but that does not bother anything.

Every once in a while, I make sure I look at the grates. Over time the ash will build up and cling to the grill. I take a sharper edged tool and scrape that off because I know it insulates the grate and that you don't want. You want the grate hot. So give it a good scraping every once in a while.