Cleaning the grate

I've got a wood one but it doesn't work as well as the iron brush... so truthfully i still use the brush most of the time 

Two balls of foil. One in my left hand to hold the grid steady, the second for the scrubbing. Works surprisingly well.

Balled up foil when I actually clean it.  

Count me in the "when did cleaning the grate become a thing? " camp.

Grill brush with stainless bristles. Don't need to get into it nearly like I used to with the gasser (another plus on the side of the BGE). 

IMO, if you need to really lean into the brush to clean the grate, you're doing something wrong.

Clean the grill? I do start my fire before placing protein down.... really

I use something similar to the Billy bar. I think I found it on Amazon. I basically knock off the stuff that's giving bad smoke and get it closer to the fire. 

I have a stick that has a groove worked into that I use after the grill is heated up to get rid of the left over chunks.    A high temp burn occasionally takes care of the rest.   I sear steaks often enough that not much gets a chance to build up anyways.

I use my CI grate, flat-side up, almost exclusively.  My wire-bristle brush has a putty-knife-like metal edge, and that's all I use now.  

Ike said:

A good dog and cat combo can get it clean all over.  Kind of inconvenient having to flip it over for them tho

Be careful with that method. My neighbor was in the habit of allowing his young, rescue boxer to lick the BGE Large grate after a cook Figured lighting the egg and putting the grate back on the next cook would kill any germs. Usually his dog would stop on the way out the screen door and give the grate a going over before continuing out to the backyard . They have a pool which the dog has never shown interest in.

Last Friday, my neighbor took the grate off the egg and leaned it against the egg table leg. Dog started licking the grate as usual, really getting into it since the protein that evening was steak. His little license tag, attached to his dog collar, got caught in the grate and did not come out when he decided to go outside. Felt the weight of the grate on his neck and felt the grate on his chest and front legs which he could not see.  He got scared, ran thru the screen door. Neighbor was just coming out of the house and saw the dog running with the grate hanging around it's neck. Dog jumped into the pool and with the weight of the grate and his inexperience with pools, went straight to the bottom. Neighbor jumped in the pool and tried to pick the dog up and get it out of the pool.

Did I mention it was a very large boxer. They both went down to the bottom again and by this time, my neighbor's wife was running out to see what the hell was going on, having heard her dog and then her husband jump into the pool. This wasn't a heated pool and the temperature here has been in the low 60's to 40's the last couple of weeks, with rain most days. He was finally able to get the dog's front paws on the pool steps while his wife was able to extricate the license from the grate and pull the dog out of the pool with her husband pushing the dog from behind. 

A trip to the Vet, antibiotics, a new screen door, and a new iPhone to replace the one that was in his pocket when he went into the pool.  

Talked to the neighbor today. He said the dog walked right by the grate, showing absolutely no interest in it. Thinking he will need to find a new cleaning method for his grate.

I won a smokeware ash tool thing at BB2018. It is a great tool for cleaning the grate, lifting a hot grate and ash tool. I would buy another if anything happened to mine, but its stainless and made very well, so I am good.