Using Wire Brushes To Clean Grill Grates?...Think Twice...

[N8man]

There's danger in using those wire bristle brushes when cleaning the grill grates..I personally use balled up foil and a metal scraper because of this very reason....

http://myfox8.com/2014/06/14/barbeque-wire-from-grill-brush-nearly-kills-woman/

[Fwismoker]

It's dangerous for sure. I remember someone sharing a story like this last year on here. The problem is the vast majority of grill brushes are wire ones.

[16Adams]

Discarded all my wire brushes. When this story first made the rounds I inspected all my grills. Two had wire bristles in the grates.
Balled up foil, old wash rags soaked in oil with tongs.

[64Driver]

^^ same thing, but I only found 1 bristle. It was 1 too many, so I tossed my brush.

[Bludawg]

I wad up about 12" off of a roll of HD AF and get to scrubbin & scrapin... try it you'll like it.

[QDoc]

Certainly care should be taken when cleaning a grill.
Along this line care should be taken when eating fish especially when drinking and very importantly if the diner is wearing dentures. Dentures make it difficult for the wearer to feel sharp objects as does over indulging in alcohol.
Qdoc's caution.

[volfan411]

I use the stainless steel brushes that you can get in the welding section of the hardware store and have never had a problem. I think the brushes that are plastic are more prone to lose the bristles than the wooden handled ones.

[Big George's BBQ]

Thanks for the reminder Nate

[mtomto]

Interesting. Someone in the comment section after article swear by using a onion to clean her grates. New to me. That's my kind of gal.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Good thread man, thanks.
It's sad that the CDC released a warning, and people keep getting hurt, but these brushes are still legal to manufacturer and sell.

Why is that?

[grantw]

if you google it its very comon place.. they should outlaw the cheapo brushes

[TexasRT]

No more brushes for me, I honestly never thought about it.
Thanks for posting...

[smoke ninja]

Wait a minute. Am I hearing this right. You guys are cleaning your grates? When will the madness end.?

[bbqisfun]

Wow, that is crazy. Thanks for the heads up, just threw away all of our BBQ brushes.

[landarc]

ball of foil guy, Scotchbrite works as well, if you are one of those shiny grate people

[Budman1]

turn the burner on high for about 10 minutes and foil. works for me.

[HarrynVegas]

I put my cooking grates on my big gasser and blast em for a while. Then scrape the ash off with AF. Just don't forget that the grill is out there running on high. (Don't ask why I said this)

[Faston]

I too tossed all my BBQ wire cleaning brushes after reading of the dangers here and inspecting my grates very carefully. I had lots of wire from the cleaning brushes and was amazed at how hard it can be to see the wire on the grate. I have switched to 3M fiber pads which do a good job cleaning, just change them out frequently.

I feel very fortunate to read about the problem here before it was too late!

[iamasmoker]

Second to all of the above. A person I know was having abdominal pain (had not eaten my cooking). Dr. went in and found a wire bristle making its way through the wall of the intestine. Fortunately, got found and taken out before things got too serious. After that I realized that there were tons of wire bristles on my grill. The brushes seem to loose even more bristles when cleaning an expanded metal grill top.

[Fwismoker]

turn the burner on high for about 10 minutes.


What's this burner you speak of? :noidea:


Oh you must be talking about the fire basket! :laugh:

[Ozzie Isaac]

I got a wire bristle in my mouth two years ago. Stabbed into my gums. I was very glad I got the bristle and not one of my kids. I inspected the chicken I had cooked and found another bristle.

I tossed all my brushes out. I have been to friends and looked t their grills and they have had bristles on them. I am very cautious now. They may sound like freak accidents, but they are easy to avoid so why not?

[KC Transplant]

Wow I've never heard of that. Thanks for posting that. The brushes are getting trashed tomorrow.

[flyingbassman5]

Interesting.

I'm a folded paper towel with cooking oil kinda guy, myself. Though, I do use the metal blade most wire brushes come with nowadays.

[Forellan]

I used to use a wire brush to clean the grills on my Weber gasser. One of our dogs found the foil pan underneath the bbq and managed to remove it and lick it clean. All of those wire bristles lit up her intestines on the X-ray like the Fourth of July. Good news is the dog is fine but the vet bills were well north of a thousand bucks.

[MisplacedTexan]

Wow! I never through about that...

Add me to the list of people throwing out the wire brushes! I'll try the rag & oil tip as good quality foil is too hard to get over here in The Netherlands!

[NeilH]

Well dang, i have always burnt off what i could then scraped with wire then inspected real good before cooking on it. I better take a closer look now just in case.

[gmanNJ]

I have never heard of this
today they get tossed

THANK YOU

[bshm]

Wow! I never through about that...

Add me to the list of people throwing out the wire brushes! I'll try the rag & oil tip as good quality foil is too hard to get over here in The Netherlands!

If you can find copper or metal scouring pads they work really well also, they're the coarse looking ones Asian cooks use for scrubbing out woks. They work best for bar grates and flat surfaces though.

[bshm]

Yeah, I ain't messing around with brushes anymore. There's just too many times I've seen little wires all over the place on other people's grills and especially gassers in the edges and corners. I don't think it's a problem on kettle wire type grates but better safe than sorry.

I don't think wire brushes should be outlawed though, I mean c'mon man. It's a wire brush.

[Bob in St. Louis]

I don't think wire brushes should be outlawed though, I mean c'mon man. It's a wire brush.

To clarify, I wasn't meaning that all wire bristle brushes are evil and should be outlawed. I mean they're great for cleaning rust off of things. But they shouldn't be sold in the BBQ section of WalMart next to the other BBQ supplies. They shouldn't me marketed or encouraged to use as grill cleaning tools. There are too may people that don't know the risk.

I mean this is a BBQ site and look how many guys didn't know the danger.

[bshm]

To clarify, I wasn't meaning that all wire bristle brushes are evil and should be outlawed. I mean they're great for cleaning rust off of things. But they shouldn't be sold in the BBQ section of WalMart next to the other BBQ supplies. They shouldn't me marketed or encouraged to use as grill cleaning tools. There are too may people that don't know the risk.

I mean this is a BBQ site and look how many guys didn't know the danger.

Fair enough, I think Walmart should handle it though. Too many laws as it is, once they get started they have a tendency to go overboard.

[Bob in St. Louis]

...... Too many laws as it is, once they get started they have a tendency to go overboard.
Amen Brother, I'm with ya 100% on that one.

There's got to be something between having to involve the "G" and something that goes ignored like the CDC putting out an "alert" that the majority of people areen't going to listen to anyway. Retailers don't care because I'm sure those are high profit margin items.

[castlepines]

I had a hunch this stuff was overblown and had yet to hear a DIRECT wire brush horror story. The stories I had heard always started out, "My friend's neighbor..." or "I heard about this one guy..." I'm usually pretty skeptical of those. However, last month I was walking in the kitchen when something stuck me in my big toe. It was a single wire from the brush I had used the day before. Had that been in someones food it could have been awful. I still use a wire brush but I don't use it while the grates are on the grill and I use it in the grass away from the cooking area.

[jham0077]

It never says how old some of these brushes are either. Most of what I can find to use are plastic. And plastic doesn't last long on hot grates. The heads melt and out comes bristles. Or they hang in the weather while the bristles rust to pieces. I always inspect mine before it touches my grate, for loose bristles, or fear the kids stuck it in something:sad:. I'll try the foil trick tonight before the late Father's Day dinner steaks go on.

[thirdeye]

For my grate scraper, I buy the long handled BBQ forks (about $5), then cut off the tines and round-off the corners. They will clean the individual cross-bars just fine. Wadded up foil followed by a oiled rag takes off most of the grease.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v377/thirdeye2/welding01/Scraper1.jpg

[Walterwhite]

One of my Best Friends Mothers had to have over 2 feet of her intestine removed after ingesting a wire bristle a couple years ago... That was first I had heard of it, scary stuff

[N8man]

I guess despite having archival evidence...
there will always be some that think **** don't stink.....:tsk:

[bshm]

For my grate scraper, I buy the long handled BBQ forks (about $5), then cut off the tines and round-off the corners. They will clean the individual cross-bars just fine. Wadded up foil followed by a oiled rag takes off most of the grease.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v377/thirdeye2/welding01/Scraper1.jpg

That's a "Why didn't I think of that" idea if ever I saw one. Good stuff.

[Terry The Toad]

I stopped using my wire brush a while back. I soak my grates for about 15 minutes, then scrub them with a brush with yellow plastic bristles. I figure that if one comes loose it will be easier to see (not to mention less dangerous if ingested.)

[Papa Q]

I appreciate the post. My wire brushes are history.

[qnbiker]

I use the Weber three-sided brush. More expensive but I haven't lost a bristle yet.

[NickTheGreat]

I quit using wire brushes a while back after a similar story. Never had a problem, thankfully.

I bought one of those stones, but it leaves dusty trace behind. So now typically just use foil. Or nothing. :razz:

[palmtreefrb]

Are there any types of wire brush that would be acceptable and not loose bristles?

[lowbass]

Thanks for the warning.

[Smokeoholic]

I found a wire years ago, now i use a grill brick

Amazon.com - Grill Cleaning Brick - Household Cleaners@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51nFx2NyMQL.@@AMEPARAM@@51nFx2NyMQL

[TropicDad]

I was taught to only use good quality welding brushes, never the bbq brushes at big box stores. I never had any trouble but it makes me think twice. Any thoughts on the welding brushes? They are built much better.

[dadsr4]

I had a hunch this stuff was overblown and had yet to hear a DIRECT wire brush horror story. The stories I had heard always started out, "My friend's neighbor..." or "I heard about this one guy..." I'm usually pretty skeptical of those. However, last month I was walking in the kitchen when something stuck me in my big toe. It was a single wire from the brush I had used the day before. Had that been in someones food it could have been awful. I still use a wire brush but I don't use it while the grates are on the grill and I use it in the grass away from the cooking area.
Do you have a dog. Mine love to lick up whatever I scrape off onto the grass.

[castlepines]

Do you have a dog. Mine love to lick up whatever I scrape off onto the grass.

Nope.

[Wickedcajun]

News to me, thanks!

[kevinc]

Are there any tools that do a comparable job? I find that foil doesn't do as good a job removing stuck on gunk, not to mention being wasteful.

[Stoke&Smoke]

Interesting. Someone in the comment section after article swear by using a onion to clean her grates. New to me. That's my kind of gal.

It works, and smells good too!

[NukeDad]

I had a hunch this stuff was overblown and had yet to hear a DIRECT wire brush horror story. The stories I had heard always started out, "My friend's neighbor..." or "I heard about this one guy..." I'm usually pretty skeptical of those. However, last month I was walking in the kitchen when something stuck me in my big toe. It was a single wire from the brush I had used the day before. Had that been in someones food it could have been awful. I still use a wire brush but I don't use it while the grates are on the grill and I use it in the grass away from the cooking area.

This is my local Fox affiliate. The DAY that it aired, the same thing happened to me: I was walking barefoot out on the deck by the BBQ and felt something sharp in my foot. Pulled it out and it was a small piece of one of the wire bristles from the BBQ brush. In the trash it went. They do sell commercial grill brushes at restaurant supply places with huge bristles. No chance of getting those in your steak.

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/butcher-block-brush-4x9/27140676.html?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GoogleShopping&gclid=CjkKEQjwzv-cBRD_oY2PouKVvMIBEiQAKuGNCx4r1VPuEYBQMCfD2u5Lq5764 eJvgNBYBlg-6JFbyKXw_wcB