Propane grill newbie

We have had our townhouse for 2 years now and finally after working on the inside ( the previous owner rented it out to several families who trashed the place ) I decided to get a gas grill for the back patio.
I bought a small 2 burner LP grill from Lowes, a Master Forge to be exact. I was wondering how ofter should I clean the grill. We used it tonight to try it out, 2 chicken breats, 2 sausages and 2 burgers. A lot of juice dripped down on to the drip guards and some pieces of the burgers fell through.
Its cooling off now so I was wondering if I should take it apart and clean it in the AM. Thanks.

You can take apart and clean as you describe, but I found that to be a pain after every grilling out, so I gave up trying. Personally I keep the heat turned up a bit after removing the food to help burn off some of the drippings left behind, but it doesn't get rid of everything. Then periodically taking the grill surface and grates out to clean as conditions or food prep dictate. (e.g. I don't like grilling fish after a set of greasy burgers/steaks). For me, much of the attraction of a gas grill is the easy cleanup, since its not inside the home. Just be sure to properly preheat the grill before the next cooking to kill anything off so you can call it good.

StillShaving said:

You can take apart and clean as you describe, but I found that to be a pain after every grilling out, so I gave up trying. Personally I keep the heat turned up a bit after removing the food to help burn off some of the drippings left behind, but it doesn't get rid of everything. Then periodically taking the grill surface and grates out to clean as conditions or food prep dictate. (e.g. I don't like grilling fish after a set of greasy burgers/steaks). For me, much of the attraction of a gas grill is the easy cleanup, since its not inside the home. Just be sure to properly preheat the grill before the next cooking to kill anything off so you can call it good.

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Thanks.

Don't clean it. The stuff that drips down is what provides nice flavor to the next meal you cook on it.

Here's how I do it. After eating, close the grill up dirty after it cools.

Next time you're going to grill, preheat the thing until it's at max heat. Open the grill and scrub it with the grill brush while it's at its hottest. Stuff comes right off. If you want it even cleaner, take some paper towels, get them moist with olive oil, grab the oil-wetted paper towels with your tongs, and rub the grates with the oiled paper towels.

Ready to go.

After grilling, let it cool, and close it up dirty.

Works every time, and it's a lot less work.

I wouldn't clean the stuff underneath for a long, long time (maybe once every two years or something when stuff is building up).

Does it utilize a drip pan system or something to catch grease? If so, clean that out as necessary & there really isn't much else that you need to do unless you are dropping large pieces of food down into it where it won't burn up.

As far as the grates go, most anything that is left on them will burn up when you preheat the grill the next time you use it. Get a grill brush to take care of the rest & you are good to go.

Taking the grill apart and cleaning it after each use? That's completely unnecessary. I give my Weber a thorough cleaning (burners, drip tray, etc) once every several months or so, brush the grates before each use, and swap out the drip pan (different than the drip tray on Webers) as needed. Mine gets used 2-3x per week, pretty much year-round.

Every once in a while I take off the grills and put them in the oven when I clean it. Once the oven cools, you just take a shop vac to everything. I wipe the grills with a clean wet towel. Done, and just like new.

kingfisher said:

Don't clean it. The stuff that drips down is what provides nice flavor to the next meal you cook on it.

Here's how I do it. After eating, close the grill up dirty after it cools.

Next time you're going to grill, preheat the thing until it's at max heat. Open the grill and scrub it with the grill brush while it's at its hottest. Stuff comes right off. If you want it even cleaner, take some paper towels, get them moist with olive oil, grab the oil-wetted paper towels with your tongs, and rub the grates with the oiled paper towels.

Ready to go.

After grilling, let it cool, and close it up dirty.

Works every time, and it's a lot less work.

I wouldn't clean the stuff underneath for a long, long time (maybe once every two years or something when stuff is building up).

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What he said...

I think that it is generally recommended to annually clean out the entire casting of the grill. It's just good maintenance. Otherwise, preheating it for a good ten to fifteen minutes will burn off the drippings of the last meal.

Just like you pre-heat the grill for 10-15 minutes prior to cooking, post-heat (is this a valid term?) for 10-15 minutes after you take the food off the grill.

Oh, and do the once-a-year maintenance per the instruction manual.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Mike

If it has a drip pan that would be about the only thing I would mess with besides heating and cleaning the grates before cooking.

I always give mine a rub down before turning it off just so I don't attract wasps and other critters.

Balled up scrap foil is a remarkably good scrubber. (someone here gave me a tip - laying a piece of aluminum foil across the grill and running it full out for a while helps with the burning off of crud - a bit like a self cleaning oven)

I give mine a thorough cleaning about 3x per year. Starting from the top I clean the inside lid so that large chunks of soot don't break off and land on what I cook.A brass brush on the inside sides to knock off any bits then I use a big putty knife to scrape off the sear plates and scape out whatever crud is in the drip pan. Finally taking out the burner and using a Venturi cleaning brush and cleaning the burner holes to ensure they are all open (carefully to ensure I don't enlarge the holes).