What Homemade Solution Will Clean Gas Grills?

Exterior Cleaning

• Start with the outside of your grill. If it has simply collected some dirt and dust over the winter, you don't need anything too powerful to get it back to a nice shine. Simply combine a few drops of dish soap with some warm water in a bucket and grab a sponge. This mild cleaning solution will be enough to scrub off any unsightly mess from a gas grill exterior that has been somewhat taken care of and used properly. You can use it on the entire exterior and even on the gas tank to get it ready for cooking.

Cruddy Grates

• When you open the lid to your grill the grates may surprise you. You could have black buildup on the racks that feels as hard as gravel. It may seem as if it will never budge, but you can get it off with a simple homemade solution. Pour a 1/2 cup baking soda into a bowl and add water while stirring, until it forms a thick paste. Set the paste aside and use a grill brush to scrub off as much of the buildup as you possibly can. You will likely need to remove the grates to do a thorough job.

  After you have scraped it to the best of your ability, work the paste into the grates with the brush and allow the paste to remain on the dirty grill for an hour. Then spray off the grates with a garden hose to remove the buildup. Replace the grates, turn the grill on high heat and close the lid to burn off any remaining residue.

Stainless Steel

• If you have a stainless steel lid on your gas grill, you already know how easy it is to turn it from beautiful to awful. Stainless looks great when it's clean, but it can get discolored and smudged quite easily. Luckily, the stains don't remain. Simply pour some pure white vinegar on a clean cloth and wipe the stainless steel to clean it. Rinse it with water and dry it off to reveal the beauty that caused you to choose stainless to begin with.

Degreaser

• As meats cook on your grill, the grease splatters and vapors will eventually make parts of your grill greasy and grimy. You can degrease your grill by using a homemade degreaser made with ammonia. Mix equal parts of lemon scented ammonia and hot water and squirt a few drops of dish-washing liquid to the solution and shake it. Mixing it in a bottle with a squirt top is ideal. Squeeze the liquid onto the greasy parts of the grill and use a sponge to rub it off. Allow to dry.