BBQ maintenance 101: How to clean and maintain your BBQ
Find your home life enriched by an outdoor barbecue kitchen. The-Oi specialises in luxury garden living, with bespoke outdoor kitchen and BBQ units that will transform your property’s potential.
Our high-quality manufacturers guarantee excellence in durability, comfort, beauty, and performance. Thanks to this, maintenance should be easy and simple.
But, a Barbecue is rarely a neat and orderly affair, so these clever tricks that you’ve perhaps never heard of should do the job of keeping your BBQ and outdoor kitchen immaculate.
The small parts
Unless you’re dealing with professionally installed outdoor kitchen cabinets, many of the smaller components of your BBQ, such as the hotplates and utensils, should fit neatly into the dishwasher.
A simple pot wash cycle ought to take care of all the mess. A tip to keep in mind is to wash these contents as soon as possible before they’ve cooled down. As we’ll learn with all these clever suggestions, heat is key to getting better results.
Newspaper steam clean
If you’re ready to get a little more creative in your cleaning, we recommend the Queen of Clean's advice involving some newspaper and water. You should wait until your barbecue is no longer sizzling hot but is still fairly warm. Then, place a layer of newspaper across the grill and spray with plenty of water. Lastly, close the lid tight and simply let the newspaper do its job of devouring all the grease, fat, and bits of food left over.
After thirty minutes, you’ll discover a rather rough-looking layer of newspaper that's done most of the tough scrubbing for you. Simply throw away the newspaper into the bin and you’ve completed an effective Barbecue steam clean.
Heat
Once again, heat is our trusty friend in any BBQ cleaning mission. Once you’ve finished steam cleaning the grill, heating up the Barbecue for another 15 minutes will burn off any lingering mess. This way you won’t have to use any product that might affect the taste of food when you next decide to use your outdoor BBQ kitchen.
The onion trick
Another inventive cleaning method you might want to try is the onion trick. Whilst your BBQ is still warm, rubbing an onion at the end of a fork works wonders across your BBQ’s hot bars. The moisture from the onion works to release any bits of stubborn food on the grill and releases natural antibacterial qualities.
White vinegar
White vinegar is an honoured solution in the home, and it can be just as useful in your garden as a great alternative to stainless steel cleaning products. By mixing white vinegar and water equally into a spray bottle, shower your grill with it and leave it to soak for five minutes. Afterward, a simple dry cloth is perfect to wipe away the spray to reveal a shining new grill.
Scrubbing
Of course, a purpose-built grill brush with wire bristles is ideal for scrubbing away remaining food and grime. But without one, scrunching up some aluminium foil is perfectly suitable for uprooting persistent bits of food.
Soaking utensils in coffee
With this trick, cleaning your BBQ utensils can be as easy as making a cup of coffee. By blending some coffee grains with boiling water and soaking your grill and utensils, the acidic properties of the coffee will free all dirt from all the nooks and crannies.
Beer
Hosting a BBQ traditionally involves plenty of beer and if you can bear to part with some of the leftovers it works wonderfully as an effective cleaning product. Sprinkle some beer over a warm grill and use a wire brush to scour it until it sparkles. Just like coffee, beer contains those useful acidic characteristics that make cleaning a breeze.
How to properly dispose of fat and oil
Use some tin or aluminium foil to scrape away and absorb oils, fats, and grease into a container, tissue, or newspaper. Some households have their own ‘fat trap’ container to gather waste such as this. You’re best mixing these greasy solutions with absorbent materials such as coffee grains or cat litter so they can be responsibly thrown in the bin.
Cleaning the BBQ exterior
Washing the exterior of your BBQ should be a much simpler task than the grill. Simply utilise warm water and washing-up liquid across the surfaces followed by a dry cloth coating. With a stainless steel barbecue, you can go further and take advantage of polishing spray and mineral oil for a dazzling shine.
BBQ covers
If you’re planning on leaving your barbecue outside all summer long, it's advisable to take some additional steps to ensure your outdoor cooking area is protected from the elements. Merely covering your grill goes a long way in preventing rust and dirt. These protective sheets are usually available from barbecue brands, and industry experts will be able to advise on which outdoor kitchen covers are the most effective and long-lasting.
Outdoor kitchens from The-Oi
Cleaning and maintenance are easy tasks with a custom built outdoor kitchen designed and constructed by a leading outlet in the outdoor living and home renovation industries. We specialise in providing high-quality service with a broad range of both big and small outdoor kitchen ideas. Whether you have a detailed, specific vision already in mind, or are approaching your garden renovation from scratch, our team of professionals has the expertise to create your dream alfresco dining space.
Our affectionately named Bastard BBQ range offers diverse options in terms of facilities, size, and aesthetics. Our Classic Bastard BBQ is a blend of personal and professional with an immaculate hand-made finish. Alternatively, our Urban Bastard Barbecues come in five varying sizes to promise uncapped potential for those brave enough to feed whole parties of people.
We also install bespoke outdoor kitchen units with luxury worktops, cabinets, and other furnishings. This includes our Vlaze outdoor kitchen and BBQs that utilises fully recyclable and sustainable materials to provide a lavish, sophisticated garden cooking space. Additionally, we stock OFYR Outdoor Cooking Units that blend luxury, style, and impressive performance. OFYR models are perfect for clients looking for spectacle, with a unique cone shape design creating an outdoor kitchen island and dramatic roaring fire taking centre stage.
Here at The-Oi we also deliver more specialist outdoor cooking apparatus, such as the DeliVita Pizza Oven. Although these act as multi-purpose outdoor kitchen equipment, its star quality lies in its wood-fired method of cooking authentic Italian flavoured food that will be irresistible to all your guests.
To view the breathtaking outdoor kitchen designs we have on offer here at The-Oi, visit our 3,000-square-foot showroom in Solihull, Birmingham, or contact us here. From luxury garden studios and outdoor kitchens to verandas and shading solutions, we have the perfect design that will transform the precious quality of your home and family life.