Rusty and Crusty are all about healthy grilling and the importance of maintaining your grill and keeping it clean. One the most common and traditional ways to clean your grill grates before and after every use is with a grill brush. This post is not about what type of grill brush to use. We’ll discuss what’s the best grill brush to use in a different post. If you’re looking for a grill brush, do a quick search online and you will find a zillion different types of grill brushes all claiming to be the best in removing the burnt-on food particles on your grates.
As a professional grill cleaning company, we have conversations with our customers on a daily basis describing how to care for their grill and helping them understand that taking good care of your grill and keeping it clean is an integral part of good grill maintenance. However, we see many grill owners still using a grill brush that in some cases is downright nasty looking.
A grill brush is fine to use, but, is your grill brush doing more harm than good?
Healthy grilling starts with a clean grill. A clean grill includes clean grates, which in my opinion is probably the most important part of the grill to keep clean! There’s nothing worse than opening the lid of your grill and finding burnt chunks of food from who knows when, mold or debris and dirt from the yard sitting on top of the grates.
Food buildup can cause some unforeseen issues on the grates of your grill. If that food buildup has been there for a while, it can not only impact the taste of anything else you grill but the acids in the marinades will begin to erode the grates causing rust and damage. Contrary to common belief, the thought that “Burning it off” somehow “sterilizes” the grill and burns off anything nasty is simply not accurate. Grilling on dirty grates is not only unsanitary and a bit gross, but it’s also unhealthy to eat old, charred food that has been stuck to your grates. Old crusty food can mold, can be very harmful if ingested and can even attract rodents and bugs – our food remains are a nice, free meal for them.
When you're using an old dirty grill brush packed full of grease to clean your grill grates you are essentially smearing all that moldy, bug infested, rodent ingested grease right back onto your grates before you put your food down.
Most people (including myself) leave their grill brush hanging off the side of their grill where it’s always accessible or sitting inside a drawer or inside the cabinet below. If you’re concerned about the health of your grill you should look at the condition of your grill brush. Most brushes we see sitting at a customer’s grill tend to be a wire brush. On top of that, quite a few seem to have multiple grill brushes. What we find interesting is there always seems to be a grill brush sitting next to the grill that is old, bristles half the size they should be, smashed and folded over and packed full of grease, First of all, That’s gross! Throw the darn thing away especially if you have another grill brush to use! Think about this. When you’re using an old dirty brush packed full of grease to clean your grates you are essentially smearing all that moldy, bug infested, rodent ingested grease right back onto your grates before you put your food down. Does that sound tantalizing and yummy to you?
The problem with grill brushes is they are not cared for, properly cleaned (if at all) and thrown away when they get old and worn down.
A grill brush is not intended to be a life-long product. They do have a short life span, they will break down and need to be replaced – in some cases on a yearly basis. Even if you decide to replace your brush on a yearly basis, caring for your grill brush is easier than you think.
How do you care for your grill brush? Do you keep your brush till someone forces you to throw it away or do you purchase a new brush every year?
What fears or concerns do you have with grill brushes?
Tell us in the comments below.
Husband, Father, grill cleaning visionary. Founder of The Grill Cleaning Superstore and Prestige BBQ and Oven Cleaning, a Denver based professional Grill Cleaning Company since 2012.
