Caring for your grill
Cleanup:
Cooking Grate. Do not use sharp objects, power tools or explosives. Remember that the grate is a solid chunk of stainless steel. It will not rust or corrode ... no matter what it looks like. And when it's at 800 degrees while you are grilling, it's absolutely sterile. So we usually just wire brush the top, flip it up and scrape the crud off the bottom using the tool. If you want to take it out and wash the cooking grate, scrub it like any other cast iron pan. You don't even have to use soap as it removes the "seasoning" of oils that have seeped into the grate.
If you want to clean the cooking grate for your in-laws (or the queen of England is stopping by), you can scrape it with the cleaning tool then use an environmentally friendly oven cleaner. Take the grate out of the grill when you spray on the oven cleaner. All the different brands seem to work just fine. It takes about 15 minutes, but with a Scotch Brite and a little elbow grease you will have a new looking grate. After you wash it, you can spray with PAM, or rub it down with olive oil.
Firebox. Don't worry too much about the firebox. It will get dirty, but it's easy to keep things under control. Every time you grill, just tip up the grate, raise the basket and scrape the ashes and other crud down the chimney. Notice that all of the inner surfaces of the firebox are flat, and we have tried to minimize the hardware protruding inside. There are no curves or nooks and crannies. The design makes it easy to scrape the inside using your flat-bladed spatula and move everything down into the ash pan.
You shouldn't use abrasives - the firebox is painted, not plated, and, while you can't damage anything, there is no need to clean it down to bare metal unless you plan to tear it down and repaint everything.
A friend of ours uses a power washer to clean his grills, but admits that it isn't really all that clean when he gets done ... although the kids love to watch Daddy get soaked.
Cover and Cooktop. Use a specialty stainless or other household cleaner for minor wipedown. (Some of these cleaners contain a wax that will smoke when you light up again.) Use oven cleaner and Scotch Brite for when the queen comes by. Be gentle, we spent a lot of time putting that beautiful finish on the stainless steel.
Cart and Cabinet. Use a household leaner and a rag ... or just ignore it.
For the Germans out there: The entire grill comes apart. You can lay out all 22 major pieces on the floor of your garage. 10 pieces can be cleaned, 12 pieces can be scraped and repainted. Clean or repaint each piece. Put it back together. This will take one Saturday morning ... depending on how long you let the paint dry. Let us know how that comes out for you ...
(If you do repaint, fire up the grill to 800 degrees with a full 100 lumps to cook off the paint fumes before you use it for food.)
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