How to clean a rusty grill

What’s the best way to clean a rusty grill? There are many different home remedies that people use. But home remedies are often time-consuming, and do not fully remove the rust. Rust can be an especially difficult thing to get off of a grill grate, and can leave you standing at your sink scrubbing away for what feels like hours to not achieve a cleaner grill. In this blog post, we will be showing you a sure fire way to remove rust from a grill.

1. Clean the grill

The first step is to clean the rusty grill. Most people would clean their grill using a stiff wire brush and some soapy water, which can be effective in removing rust, but could also be harming the stainless steel finish of the grill grates, which is not the desired outcome of cleaning them. The first step to cleaning your grill does involve some of these aspects however. 

To start cleaning your grill, use a bowl of hot, soapy water and a cloth to get rid of any remaining grease that could still be on your grill, as it needs to be completely clean before tackling the rust itself. This is particularly important when trying to clean rusty grill grates, as food will often stick to these during the cooking process, and can be a hindrance when trying to remove rust. 

It is important to remember that when cleaning rust from a grill, you need to keep yourself safe with some protective equipment, such as rubber gloves or protective glasses. For those with particularly sensitive skin, Jenolite provides a range of non-toxic rust removers.

2. Remove rust from the grill

To begin removing the rust from a grill, apply a good amount of Jenolite’s rust remover gel to the grill using a brush. Make sure that you fully cover every area of the grill you can visibly see is being affected by rust. This rust remover jelly is perfect for removing rust from a rusty grill, as it can get right between the rusty grill grates and make sure no part of the grill is left untouched. Brush the jelly across the grill giving it a good coating, and then leave it for 15 minutes while the jelly reacts with the rust, as this will make it much easier to remove.

Once the 15 minutes has passed, give the grill a clean wiping, removing all of the jelly and any rust it has reacted with. If there is any rust not being removed by the jelly, or looking like it is starting to clear but not fully, apply some more jelly to that particular spot, but this time brush the jelly in with an old toothbrush, and then wait 15 minutes before wiping clean again. This process might need to be repeated on any areas of your grill that are particularly rusty, but if all the steps are done correctly, you will now have a grill looking as good as new.

3. Clean the grill again

Now you’ve removed the rust, it’s important that you thoroughly clean the grill after the treatment and before you start to use it again. Since some Jenolite products do contain hazardous chemicals, you should make sure to remove every trace with clean, soapy water. 

4. Prevent rust from returning

The last key step involves rust prevention, and how you can prevent your grill from rusting in the future. Here are our three key tips to avoid a rusty grill:

1. Avoid pouring any liquids directly onto your grill, as this could clog your grill up and cause rust to form.
2. Clean your grill after every use to not allow any oil or grease to form and set in.
3. After cleaning, coat your grates with a thin layer of vegetable oil to prevent any food sticking to them in the future. Coat a dishrag with a small amount of foil and use that on the grill grates.