How to disinfect a propane gas grill?

by Clyde S

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Roof rats built a nest in my Weber Summit grill. The rat problem has been handled. The grill works just fine now however I think that I had better disinfect it. Any ideas on how I to best clean the grill?

8 answers

Catherine Smith on Sep 14, 2013
I would probably be the most concerned with the grates, since that's your food surface. My DH suggests using oven cleaner on the grate, rising them thoroughly and allow them to air dry. The base of the grill where the fire is going should pretty much sanitize itself. Just make sure you disconnect the propane.

1 marked as helpful Reply
KMS Woodworks on Sep 15, 2013
The heat of use will kill any "bugs". prior to a prolonged "pre-heat" rinsing the grate will remove any residual urine etc.

1 marked as helpful Reply
Gail Salminen on Sep 16, 2013
@Clyde S KMS is right - high heat will disinfect it. Set the grill to high and heat for about a half hour - any organisms will be killed.

1 marked as helpful Reply
Clyde S on Sep 16, 2013
Thank you all very much!

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Brian Campbell, Basswood Artisan Carpentry on Sep 16, 2013
It is a myth that because grills employ heat and fire that they don't need to be disinfected. Don't rely on cooking to kill bacteria. The average grill was found to be twice as dirty as toilet seats: http://www.medicaldaily.com/outdoor-barbecues-contain-twice-amount-germs-toilet-seat-how-disinfect-your-grill-246134

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- Gail Salminen on Sep 16, 2013
  @Brian Campbell, Basswood Artisan Carpentry it seems that they are referring to charcoal grills in this article - no mention of gas grills at all. A gas grill gets much hotter than a charcoal grill and it is covered which concentrates the heat inside where as the charcoal grill doesn't contain it as well nor do the coals burn as hot. A gas grill can get to 500 - 700 degrees in very little time. Heat is used to sterilize.
  
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- KMS Woodworks on Sep 17, 2013
  @Brian Campbell, Basswood Artisan Carpentry I would like to see their testing protocol. Having worked in the pharmaceutical industry, Sampling methods can vary widely. Were these grills sampled before heating, just prior to adding food, or after. They also state "1.7 million microbes per 100 cm sq. of an average grill's surface" considering most grills have wire grates, this implies extreme extrapolation, from some 2mm wide stripe of "wire". One of my specialties was "sterile systems" from the autoclaves used to sterilize equipment and supplies, to large scale tanks and piping systems. The largest "tank" in my area was 14,000 liters and we used it to grow cultures of recombinant Bacteria.
  
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- Brian Campbell, Basswood Artisan Carpentry on Sep 25, 2013
  @KMS Woodworks The trouble with grills is that they are not autoclaves, but people assume they will sterilize without giving any thought to the details. You of course know that autoclave use high temps, steam AND pressure (I worked for several years for labs in Fort Colllins--ATI and Paragon Analytics, etc. using autoclaves and kilns to sterilize, but most of the work was done in the "dish room"--simply washing glassware and equipment with soap and water). Grills should be treated like any other cooking vessel. Thoroughly wash with soap and water, scrub them clean... you don't keep cooking with pots and pans that have old food remains in them and trust the heat of cooking to sterilize them. Grills are just another piece of cookware.
  
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- KMS Woodworks on Sep 25, 2013
  @Brian Campbell, Basswood Artisan Carpentry Our autoclaves ran at 121 degrees c which is about 250 degrees F...Obviously pressure is needed to reach temps above 212 ( boiling point) when water or steam based systems are used. Using Fire or dry heat temps can get pretty high easily. To Test this I just fired up my grill for cooking a couple of lunch sausages. I typically pre-heat my grill for 5 to 10 minutes. I used my temp gun to measure the temp of the lid after this preheat. The actual cooking surface is MUCH MUCH hotter and exceed the range of my tool. Some of the outer edges however were recordable...My gun max's out at 608 degrees F. I could not find any area of the "grills" cooking surface that was below 500 degrees. BTW the autoclave testing parameters required 6 minutes at 250 degrees for a an effective 6 log reduction kill factor.....with temps in excess of 600 degrees this "kill factor" is achieved in mere seconds. It is important to keep in mind the difference between "grilling" and BBQ. Grilling is typically done with high temps and shorter cook times, while BBQ is often low and slow. When I do my ribs or pork shoulder (BBQ cooking) I shoot for 250 to 275 degrees. But this temp is maintained for 3 to 6 hours depending on the thickness and cut of meat being prepared.
  
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- Gail Salminen on Sep 25, 2013
  @KMS Woodworks I'm with you on this one. Having come from a public health background I also have expereince with autoclaving for sterility. Of course the utensils would be cleaned first and we do clean our grill completely in the spring and as needed in the summer, which isn't much as the heat burns it off. Another problem with oudoor grilling is the metal brushes used to clean the grill. They should be replaced regularly as the bristles can break off as they age and then adhere to the meet you are cooking. CPSC has a report on their site about this, and it has had some negative effects on human health.
  
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- Brent on Jun 27, 2017
  
  Go get toilet bowl cleaner to clean your grill or put the briquettes in your toilet since it's cleaner than the grill lol
  
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Brian Campbell, Basswood Artisan Carpentry on Sep 16, 2013
Charcoal grills cook at higher temps than gas, actually and are better for searing: http://www.chow.com/food-news/54480/gas-versus-charcoal-2/

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Helen on Jun 27, 2017

Light it and close it and let it burn for a bit. Heat destroys all manner of things. Burning on the grates and then cleaning them should do the trick.

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Todd on Dec 12, 2017

I just saw this forum. Founf a rat in the propane grill tonight., about an hour after cooking. Will turning the grill on sanitize the grill? I always preheat the grill for 10 minutes before cooking.

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