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1.
How do I reattach the handle?
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A. For right handed persons; Hold the scouring head in
your left hand with the closed portion of the cylindrical
grasp facing your thumb. Position / center the handle, brand
facing your left thumb, vertically on the cylindrical grasp.
With your left thumb, hold the handle bale wire in the
crotch formed where the grasp meets the top of the scouring
head. Now, rotate the handle over the cylindrical grasp
until it snaps into place. The whole idea is to hold the
wire so that it doesn't move over the grasp as you rotate
the handle. When the wire is held in position and the handle
is rotated over the grasp, the grasp circumflexes (reduces
its diameter) allowing for continued rotation of the handle.
The grasp is at its full flexure when the diameter of the
grasp equals the distance between the bale wire and the
handle groove. Thereafter, and upon continued rotation of
the handle, the grasp relaxes and increases its diameter
thus locking the handle in place beyond the now larger
diameter of the grasp.
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2.
What is the best scouring pad to
use?
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A. A common, widely available, woven mesh steel
scouring pad. If the pad is not woven, it will snag on grill
contaminates and after a while it will look like "a Bad Hair
Day". You can use a copper pad, but the consensus is that
the steel scourers work the best.
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3.
The manufacturer of my porcelain / ceramic grill
voids my warranty if I use anything but a brass
bristle brush. Will a steel scourer scratch the
porcelain and ruin my grate?
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A. The reason a manufacturer says use only a brass
wire brush is because besides brass, there are only steel
wire brushes on the market. And burrs on the tips of a steel
wire will scratch the porcelain on your grate. Field tests
indicate that a steel, woven mesh scouring pad will not
scratch a porcelain grate. Think about it, there is really
nothing available but wire bristle brushes with scrapers at
the ends of them for cleaning grates. Because barbecue
manufacturers have turned to porcelain coatings to prevent
grate rusting, they have no alternative but to limit what is
approved for cleaning use to something that is nonabrasive
in order to provide a warranty for the product. So, how is
it possible to clean the contaminates (especially those
which are formed from briquette or wood chip smoke) using
something as fragile a brass bristle brush? Bristles which,
because they are grouped in little bundles, wick up and hold
contaminates and therefore quickly become more contaminated
than the grill you're trying to clean.
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4.
What is the Grill Wizard's recommended method for
cleaning a barbecue grill grate?
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Step
1: If you're using conventional briquettes, remove the
grate and start the grill fire, or simply start the burners
on a gas grill.
Step 2: Distribute the briquettes and install the
grate.
Step 3: In either case, when the grate is hot, use a
scouring pad to remove contaminates. (Preferably a scouring
pad attached to a Grill Wizard grill brush). Note:
Allow the scouring pad to cut away contaminates. Very little
pressure is required to keep the flat, thin wire of the
scourer in contact with the grate. Occasionally, lightly
bounce the pad on the grate to dislodge contaminates from
the pad and free the loose contaminates on the grate.
Step 4: Wipe off the grate with a clean, damp towel.
When the towel no longer shows signs that it is picking up
contaminate residue, the grate is clean!
Step 5: After barbecuing, don't clean the grill. If
your grate is prone to rusting, the fats and oils from what
you just barbecued will protect the grate until the next
time you want to use it.
Step 6: When the grill is cool, cover it. This
doesn't mean simply close the cover. This means put a cover
on the cover of your grill. Covering the grill will prevent
condensation of water vapor within your grill and will
additionally preclude corrosion of your investment by the
weather. If you insist on cleaning the grill grate(s) after
you barbecue, wait until the grate has cooled, and repeat
steps 3 and 4 above. Then, in a sink, wet the grate with
cold water, sprinkle it with baking soda and use a sponge
pad and/or old tooth brush to mechanically abrade
contaminates. Rinse the grate in cold water and towel dry.
If you use hot water, the protective fats and oils will be
removed from the grate and will leave the grate prone to
rusting.
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5.
If left on the grill, will the handle
burn?
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A.
A burn test was conducted. I built a regular charcoal fire
for barbecuing a chicken, ribs and steaks, but instead of
putting the meat on the grate I put the brush, replete with
steel scourer, on the grate and left it there for 40
minutes. Eventually the heat of the fire diminished. The
underside of the handle charred (turned black). The handle
will not auto ignite (burn) when used under normal
barbecuing conditions. The test brush with scourer is still
useable if somebody wants to buy it.
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6.
Is the brush child safe?
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A.
No. They might pinch their finger between the stop screw and
the head of the scourer. Children from ages four and up love
to play with the brush. They like to work all of its
features. However, do not let your child play with the
Grill Wizard barbecue grill brush unless they are
supervised (the brush is not as heavy as a hammer but still
they could clunk themselves on the head with
it).
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7.
What cleaning products does Grill Wizard
recommend?
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A.
None. You see, it's a point of view. In a few short minutes,
the heat of the fire kills / neutralizes any harmful
microbe, or nastiness that is on the grate. Once
neutralized, the grit of the nastiness, that which may
possibly make the food crunchy (or if you are at the beach,
sandy) is removed by the scourer installed in the head of
the Grill Wizard grill brush. For more complete grate
cleaning, use a clean damp towel to wipe off the last
barbecue's fats, sauces, oils and the dust that may have
accumulated on the grate between uses. Again, the method
is,
1. Heat to neutralize.
2. Scour to remove grit.
3. Wipe to remove fluid residue.
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8.
Will the brush head rust?
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A.
Not perceptibly. All scouring head metallic components are
made from stainless steel.
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9.
What care should be given to the
handle?
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A.
Do not use it for any other purpose than for which it is
intended, otherwise, no special care is required to preserve
the handle. The handle is soaked in stain for more than five
minutes during which time it absorbs the oily stain and
essentially preserves it and protects it from moisture. The
worst conditions that would shorten the life of the handle
are frequent and prolonged exposure to moisture, or constant
contact with moist earth. The handle is made from Poplar
wood. It may check (slight splitting along its grain), but
this event should not effect the operation of the
handle.
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10.
Is there an oil or preservative that can be applied
to the grate to keep it from rusting if I want to
clean it using detergent and hot
water?
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A.
Yes, but not recommended and remember, time is money. If you
only barbecue occasionally, or seasonally, you may want to
store your que away from the elements to preserve it. Since
the interior of the barbecue is coated with the particulate
residue from the smoke produced during cooking, and ashes if
you use charcoal, this is not exactly a simple task. If you
just want to clean and store the grate, when the grate is
cool, scour it with the Grill Wizard grill brush to
get most of the contaminates off the grate. Over the trash
can, wipe the grate off with crumpled newspaper. In the
kitchen sink, wet the grate with cold water, then sprinkle
it with baking soda and use a common sponge to scrub it. If
you use cold water to wet the grate the residues you are
trying to clean will cling to the baking soda. Hot water
will be less effective. When the grate is free of residue,
rinse it with cold water. Now you can wash it in hot water
to remove the oils and fats still clinging to the grate.
Towel dry the grate and store it in a kitchen cupboard, or
put it in a large plastic bag like the ones used for trash
cans and tie the bag shut. Store the grate in the garage or
under some cover. Bagging and covering the grate will keep
moisture from rusting it. You could additionally wipe down
the grate with cooking oil over some newspaper, prior to
bagging it, but then its a lot ado about nothing and it
seems as though the oil would end up everywhere and all of
that would have to be cleaned. Try the clean and bag method
first and if that is not satisfactory, consider buying a new
grate every year (in the off season for the best prices)
rather than oiling everything up. Unless you have a
stainless steel barbecue, leaving the ashes in the bottom
and the que exposed to rain will promote the rapid rusting
out of the bottom of the que. The ashes will absorb moisture
in the air and all in contact with steel will rust the
steel. Remove the ashes. Steel scourers are really abrasive
and will probably take the paint off of a painted steel que,
so, use a less abrasive copper scourer, or an abrasive nylon
pad, in the head of the Grill Wizard grill brush to scour
residue from the inside of the barbecue. Now, bag, store or
cover your barbecue to protect it from the elements and
enjoy outdoor cooking next year without having to first
replace the barbecue.
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11.
Why are barbecue manufacturers producing products
that are so difficult to clean with something as
wimpy as a brass bristle brush?
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A.
Because, somebody didn't do their homework! When the
automobile first came out we had to hand crank them to get
them started, people complained and starter motors were
introduced. Barbecuing on a barbecue is not as old as the
automobile and it seems as though it is still in
development. People want to cook outdoors, because cooking
indoors in the summer has too many problems associated with
it. The animal in, and the nature of man is to cook food and
to cook food outdoors. It used to be simple when the meat
was simply skewered on a stick and positioned over a fire.
What people want now and probably because manufacturers are
telling them that they want it, is "searing". OK, seared
meat looks great probably because we see it on TV and
associate searing visually with "having been cooked",
tasting great and being emotionally and physically
satisfied. The best way to sear is with a heavy cast iron
grate. Cast iron rusts unless you're cooking on it every
day. People don't want rust on their food. Manufacturers put
porcelain on the grate to prevent rust. You can't clean a
porcelain grate with a steel brush because it will scratch
the porcelain and rust will occur. A stainless steel grate
is ten times more expensive than porcelain coated cast iron
grate. Question, is it worth $260.00 for a grate that you
can clean with a durable steel wire brush, for a grate that
will never rust? How about a cast aluminum grate?
The bottom line.
Steel scourers are much more efficient cleaners than wire
brushes because they have more surface area and because they
scrape. The tip of a piece of wire doesn't scrape as well as
crumpled aluminum foil. Steel scourers have ten times the
effective cleaning area of a bristle brush. A dense bristle
brush will quickly clog up with grease and contaminates and
the wires will naturally bend and break as they are moved
over a fixed surface. A widely spaced bristle brush has even
less surface area with which to clean. Steel scourers are
not as dense as a bristle brush and if they do clog up, it
takes them a much longer time. The surface area of an
abrasive nylon pad is like that of a bristle brush, or a
crumpled piece of aluminum foil, minimal compared to a steel
scourer. Anything made of plastic melts when used over the
heat of a barbecue. Very coarse steel wool is effective and
cheap but how do you manage it over a hot barbecue? Steel
wool is more frail than a wire bristle, where does it end up
when it breaks down? Without a doubt a steel scourer is more
effective than steel wool, a brass bristle, the tiny tip of
any bristle, or an abrasive nylon pad. A woven mesh steel
scourer is more rugged than steel wool and won't break down
to a very fine particle and stay undetected on the grate or
in your food. A woven mesh steel scourer is flexible and the
edges of the thin flat wire that make up a steel scourer
easily snag on a rough surface. Woven mesh steel scourers
outperform chemicals, steam cleaning, putty knife style
scrapers and everything else except pumice in their cleaning
ability. So why aren't we all using steel scourers to clean
our grates with? I guess it's because it isn't an obvious
problem and or solution. Or because in the past there were
only plated round wire grills, which could be individually
scraped with a flat piece of metal, with a half circle to
fit the wire, cut out in the front edge of it (obviously the
brain child of an inventor with a lot of time on his
hands).
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