I sprayed my grates with peanut oil, and the excess got on the outside of grill and after cooking I found out that the peanut oil baked on the outside surface and stained the grill. It dried into a brown heavy gunk. Any recomendations on cleaning will be greatly appreciated.

Hello AutoBody,

Welcome to the BBQ Source Forums. You didn't mention what type of grill you have or what type of finish. Knowing this would help us give you more suggestions. However, I think you are still in luck! We have a great forum area here just for cleaning. Check out this LINK.

On your question, I have found this to be the best helper for keeping the outside of my grill looking new including hard burnt on stains, if you are working with stainless steel. LINK

What type of grates do you have? Stainless or cast?

Hope this helps you out,

Eric D

thanks Eric,

I'll try bar keepers, I'v tried thus far, ceramic stove top cleaner, simple green, and car compound but not very effective.

I have a Perfect Flame, 5 burner stainless. So far I like it except I have a new grill that I've stained right off the bat that makes it look bad and sticky.

not to disillusion you, but you may have a lot of manual rubbing to do. I run into the same situation doing turkey frying with both aluminum and SS pots, While the SS is a "little" easier to remove the baked on peanut oil, It's still

OOPS!!! I went back to work and forgot about this post and left it hanging!!!!

I have not found anything that removes the baked on peanut oil. I have over the years try oven cleaner, easy off, carbon off, barkeeper friend, etc. I may try varnish remover the next time I do a Fry turkey.

The only way, I could restore the shine, was 800 grade sandpaper, SS steel wool, and ligthly rub the baked on spot until it gradually wore down.

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Not to be a smartass, but use olive oil to coat your grates, when overheated it won't bake on like peanut oil.

Makes you wonder why all gas grills use to be painted black. I also have a stainless grill and I also have staining from cooked on grease.

Spray on some WD40, let it set a minute or two, then use a rubber spatula (keeps from scratching) to remove the melted gunk

Rex

Rex,

I got a kick out of your suggestion on using WD40. This is my mother's fix-all spray. She has a can in reach at all times. It will even kill bugs! I guess there really isn't much of a health risk around the grill compared to other cleaners. I have not tried this on grill stains. I wonder how it would work spraying some on and then using one of those plastic scrubbies?

Eric D

My grandfather sprayed it on his legs/joints to relieve arthritis conditions. He swore by it. But seriously, it usually works on those cooked on grease spills pretty well. If your grill is the brushed S/S variety, using one of those nylon scrub pads in the same direction of the brushing works very well.

Rex

hey, if havent sorted it out yet ..here are some safety tips:
http://www.npga.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=686

Nothing like resurrecting a dead 1 year old thread. :>)

Rex