Cleaning Akorn grates thoughts?

    G’day

    Use my Akorn junior for low and slow more than anything. As a result the remains of the last cook is still on the grates a sticky mess. I can’t take to grilling temps next cook to bake it off cause I’d be waiting forever for the temps to drop. I can’t use hot water and soap least I destroy oil seasoning.

    To date I’ve been putting the grates on the family on high for ten mins so the mess turns to carbon and brushing it off. A quick re oil and it’s clean and usable.

    Any other ways of cleaning it for use. I’ve seen more than a few rusting Akorn grates on utube

    Regards Dave

    If you've been doing low and slow it's a good idea to do a burn off every so often, or next time you want to do some grilling you'll have to wait for the bbq to clean itself at higher temp and stop producing thick black smoke before you can grill. Need to burn the dripped fat out.



    Traeger - Weber Family Q - Ziggy Twin Burner - Charcoal Grill - Akorn Kamado - Hark Tri Fire - Jumbuck Pizza Oven - Go Anywhere - Asmoke Pellet Grill - Hibachi Grill - Anova Sous Vide x 2

    I like the idea of quickly cleaning the grate on the Family.


    It’s not just an Akorn thing. If you want a clean grate you clean it. Soap, water, wire brush, burn-off.

    Do the burn off at the end of the low cook, rather than before the next cook.


    Just don't forget you're doing said burn off (I did one time and it got hot enough to melt/deform the enamel on the fire pit).


    Alternatively, do what I do and just don't clean it. Once it gets warm for the next cook, wire brush the chunky bits off and it should just look oily. That's the advantage of the cast iron grate I reckon.

    G’day

    A finishing marinade of Dijon mustard and marmalade dried to a carbon and sticky mess. And it smelt a bit. Really needed action to be taken. Just wondering how others keep the grates clean.

    I’ll be keeping the Weber Q cleaning method cause I’ll be using that marinade again on a piece of baked corn silverside it’s the bomb.

    Regards Dave

    Quote from cobblerdave

    G’day

    A finishing marinade of Dijon mustard and marmalade dried to a carbon and sticky mess. And it smelt a bit. Really needed action to be taken. Just wondering how others keep the grates clean.

    I’ll be keeping the Weber Q cleaning method cause I’ll be using that marinade again on a piece of baked corn silverside it’s the bomb.

    Regards Dave

    If it's marinade mess then at the end of the cook I wire brush the biggest bits off, open up the vents and go inside to start eating. Let it get to pizza temps and close it off.

    Quote from Bduza

    If it's marinade mess then at the end of the cook I wire brush the biggest bits off, open up the vents and go inside to start eating. Let it get to pizza temps and close it off.

    G’day

    Yep that sounds like the go. I’ll just have to be more organised and not let my stomach rule

    Thanks Dave

    Something that's related to keeping your kamado grate clean is keeping the deflector clean when you roast and slow cook.


    I find doing a 300+C clean does both grate and deflector at the same time.

    Interesting...

    I only use a sacrificed wet tea towel. Get it very hot and wipe down with a wet rag.

    Just keep the tea towel out of any dogs reach.

    Jumbuck 7 burner with hood. Baby Weber kettle. 52" Kettle. Weber Go Anywhere. 5' SS Spit rotisserie. Offset smoker. Akorn Kamado. :) ASMOKE AS500N. Hibachi.:bbq:

    G’day

    Decieded to do a high temp clean of the whole acorn. Well that was interesting.

    Got hot real fast as expected. Took a phone call and it went really hot really fast you could feel the heat. Burped it as you should and got a blast of hot air that burnt the hairs on my arm . Shut the vents down to 1/2 and the temps stayed there. Shut the vents after an hour and it didn’t go under 200. C for 5 hours.

    Quote from 12x7

    Something that's related to keeping your kamado grate clean is keeping the deflector clean when you roast and slow cook.


    I find doing a 300+C clean does both grate and deflector at the same time.

    My deflector is a small aldi paella pan. I stretch foil across it and that both catches the fat and probably makes it better as a deflector due to the air space.


    Sometimes I don't bother with the foil, I suppose trying not to be wasteful, but then cleaning sucks. I've tried tipping it upside down for the next cook but (predictably, had I thought for 2 seconds) the fat melted onto the fire and I had a flaring inferno - ended up doing an extended burn off while cooking dinner on the gasser.

    G’day

    Well bumping up the temps at the end of the cook and wire brushing the grates free of food bits. Grates stay seasoned. Still a bit of carbon to burn off from that marmalade , but I’ll live with that.

    Finally got the proper heat shelf wrapped in foil it’s staying pretty clean. Also use a pie plate with water. Catches the drips for a great gravy, I’m not a sauce man myself.

    The aluminium pie plate are sometimes hard to get. So I’ve got a tin pie plate, easy to wash and reuse

    Regards Dave


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