Got A Dirty Grill? Grab The Drill

If you wait until the last minute to clean your barbecue grill, you may run into the same problem I did. Charred food was so caked on the grating that I couldn’t get half of it off with a spray grill-cleaning product and my wire brush.

Well, maybe if I kept at it for an hour or so. But, after a few minutes of this hard work, I told myself there had to be a better way. Then, the old lightbulb went on. I got my trusty electric drill and inserted one of my wirebrush bits in it. (You can buy these bits in various forms for about $5 at almost any hardware store or home center.) I placed the cooking grate on an old box on the side of the house where I wouldn’t mind if it got dirty.

It got dirty.

It took me only a few seconds to run the brush bit the length of each grid rod. The brush was wide enough to clean two rods at once, but I wanted to do a good job so I just did one side, the top, then the other side. I held the drill horizontally so the food crud would fly to one side.

Within a few minutes, I had the grill clean. The wirebrush bit had not only removed the caked-on food, it had also taken off the rust.

So, if you’re looking to get a barbecue grill grate really clean and not kill yourself with all that hand brushing, try the electronic way.