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You’ve made it through another Memorial Day celebration, and your guests were impressed with your Emeril Lagasse skills on the grill. BOOM! While you may be the reigning barbecue king of the family or the neighborhood, facing the aftermath of the cookout—the dirty grates—has suddenly knocked off your crown.

It’s cleanup time, and those little pieces of meat and char stuck to the dirty grill don’t look like a prize at all. However, you have to clean your grill so that it won’t rust or attract nibbling friends from the insect or animal kingdom.

Where do you start? Here are some tips on getting rid of the grit so that you can keep entertaining this summer.

Before you Scrub-a-Dub-Dub

As part of your cleaning routine, you’ll likely want to use a scraper to lift tough, caked-on meat and vegetables off the grill grates. However, before you incorporate this into your cleaning, you will want to do the following to ensure an easier cleaning experience. Follow these tips to ensure your grill remains functional the rest of this season.

Use Heat in Your Favor

While you may be tempted to wait until the grill has completely cooled before cleaning it, this actually works against your cleaning routine, making it harder to remove grime. Start cleaning your grill after it has cooled down, but is not completely cold. The warmth will make it easier to remove the grime.

Ditch the Chemicals

When cleaning pans at home, you may reach for dishwashing liquid. However, when using grill grates, you should avoid chemicals. Instead, after using the grill, place a soaked towel on the grates with the top down for a few minutes. The steam will help loosen the bits of food from the grates. A fancy upgrade to this technique is a hand-held steamer.

Blackstone Grill Cleaning Kit 8 pc

Avoid wire bristles getting all over your grill with this 8-piece kit from Blackstone. Enjoy a scraper to help remove large debris, along with a few other helpful scrubbing pads to remove stubborn baked-on layers.

View on Ace Hardware

Weber Grill Scraper

If you don’t need the additional extras that come with the Blackstone grill cleaning kit, opt for this grill scraper from Weber. The comfortable, non-slip grip will help you effortlessly remove grime and grease from grill grates and griddles.

View on Ace Hardware

Traeger Grill Scraper

Avoid metal-to-metal friction that could ruin your grill’s finish by using this wooden scraper from Traeger. Fitting this into the grooves of your grill while it’s still slightly warm will help remove charred chunks without the damage.

View on Ace Hardware

Protect Your Grates

We all know that Georgia humidity is a bummer. Not only does it wear us down, but it can also wear down your grill grates quickly through a process known as flash rusting. To avoid this, use a clean paper towel or a clean grill mop dipped in peanut or canola oil, and gently wipe the surface of the metal to seal it against moisture until your next cookout.

Don’t let your next Atlanta summer cookout be ruined by dirty, rusty grill grates. Instead, order these essentials from Ace Hardware today so that you can continue to reign supreme as your neighborhood grillmaster!

Cover image courtesy of AI.

Product image courtesy of Ace Hardware.

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Mel Childs is the author of this article and the owner of Move Me To Atlanta. She also owns her own writing company in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. Additionally, she has written freelance for various publications, including Parade Home & Garden, Dengarden, Bob Vila, This Old House, Lawnstarter, WikiLawn, Homelight, Fixr, LeadsForward, Upscale Magazine, Black EOE Journal, Ancient Origins, and many more.