Whether you are a serial griller or an occasional one, the question of cleaning up your BBQ has raised up without any doubt. It’s essential and it’s part of the process. Not the most exciting part, admittedly, but necessary. And for this, you need the best bbq grill brush.
Grilling is an art, and if you are a true bbq fan you know that it is about the experience. The experience of being outdoors, whether the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. The experience of enjoying a moment surrounded by your family and friends or all by yourself in front of the grill. The experience of transforming something raw food into a meal.
lf you really enjoy grilling, smoking, roasting, flipping those burgers and searing that meat, you probably won’t mind doing this task (or chore rather).
Cleaning the grill is often an overlooked task, but there have been studies and articles that explain the consequences of your device and on your health of not cooking on a clean grill. We will detail those later in the article after the reviews.
Because we want you to enjoy grilling in a safe way, we have browsed, inquired and reviewed the bbq cleaning brushes in the market to provide you with the best selection of grill brushes.
Most of the brushes in our selection are classic ones, because they remain a solid staple to have in your bbq tool set. But if you are feeling fancy or looking for something different, there will be a bonus option.
Without further ado, here are the big winners of our selection!
1. Affordable and effective: Weber 6494 12-Inch 3-Sided Grill Brush
No need to introduce Weber anymore. A classic, well-known and appreciated bbq & grill brand. They score high points with families and professionals. Their products are synonyms of high-quality and longevity. This grill brush is no exception. Topped by the fact that is very amongst the most affordable of this list, and on the market in general.
It’s triangular shape is quite simple, but at the same time it will allow you to reach every single corner of your grill. The handle can look quite short compared to other brushes, but it’s actually more ergonomic at the end as it helps you leverage your strength better.
The wide frontal edge (7.1’) can easily cover a nice area of your grill and the side ones are small enough to help you rub every corner and it between the grates. This can come in particularly handy if you have a round shapes grill.
The bristles are made of stainless steel and can endure the proof of time.
Overall, a very good product, affordable, that will easily do the job.
Facts:
Length: 12 inches
Type: triangular headed brush
Material:stainless steel hard wire bristles
Warranty: no
2. The value for money: Alpha Grillers 18″ Grill Brush
Alpha grillers. Another well known name in the grilling sector. Durable, affordable and good quality products. This brush has a more traditional shape, to it and measures 18 inches. The length from the top of the brush to the end of the handle. It helps you to stay safe while cleaning if you do it while the grill is on (which can be a recommended method). The main feature of this brush is its triple head. This specificity allows it to have a really large area covered by the bristles which will help you do the job quicker.
The wire bristles are stainless steel and are packed fully around each of the three heads.
What if you have porcelain coated grates? Or a cast iron grill? Rest assured, the manufacturer guarantee that this brush will be just as effective with every grill type
Facts:
Length: 18 inches
Type: three headed brush
Material: stainless steel hard wire bristles
Warranty: one year manufacturer’s limited warranty
3. The most popular: Kona 360 Clean Grill Brush
Here it is. This grill brush is probably the most popular amongst the pit masters. Its quality and reliability has been proven and appreciated worldwide. It has a classic shape similar to the above one from Alpha grillers: which is a three headed brush with a handle. But just rightly the handle holds its differentiator. It’s not a simple handle, it has a patented new design that allows you to have a firmer grasp and leverage your strength for a more effective cleaning without feeling it really, with an anti-slip pattern for the fingers.
Every stroke of the head is covered 360 with stainless steel hard-wired bristles. This tool is very rigid and strong and won’t bend or break easily: it will last you for years.
Facts:
Length: 18 inches
Type: three headed brush
Material: stainless steel hard wire bristles
Warranty: five years manufacturer’s limited warranty
4. The gadget one: GRILLART Grill Brush Bristle Free
All the brushes that we have seen so far one common factor: the bristles. They are classic and proven. They work and just clean your grill just fine, what could be their downside? After several usages, and depending on the quality of your brush, bristles might come off and fall while you are cleaning. That’s why Grillart decided to be innovative here and bring something different into the market. The bristle free brush (topped with a scraper).
The new design comes into the shape of a helix mesh. Instead of having three vertical strokes with bristles, here you have three horizontal strokes covered with a stainless steel hard wire mesh helix, topped by a solid scraper.
The scraper will solidly remove the thick grease at the top of the grill and then the mesh will come to perfect the cleaning of the tinner stains on top of the grill and in between the grates.
Nice detail: the handle also has a specific design for where to place the fingers and a textured material to help you having a better grip.
We really like the innovative design and it can surely be nice to use and effective, though if you have a round grill, we would not recommend this type of brush (or any with a top scraper) as you might not be able to easily clean the outline of the grill.
Facts:
Length: 18 inches
Type: three headed with helix mesh and scraper
Material: stainless steel hard wire bristles
Warranty: not specified
5. The heavy duty one: BBQ-Aid Barbecue Grill Brush and Scraper
When using the BBQ-Aid brush, the first thing that will come to your mind will probably: this is a weapon. It’s brutal. And it’s brutally effective. The design does not have anything fancy and it looks like a regular brush more than any other item presented in this list.
Hardwood solid handle, quite wide stainless steel core and 3’x3’ panel with stainless steel bristles. At the top of the brush, you’ll find a metal scraper for bigger and more stubborn stains.
The look and design is really appealing and it does resist a heavy-duty job. Remember though that this type of brush (square) with a scraper might not be the most suitable for round grills.
Facts:
Length: 15 inches
Type: Square headed brush with bristles and a scraper on top. Wooden handle
Material: stainless steel hard wire bristles/ wood
Warranty: not specified
6. The bonus one: Grill Daddy GL13186C Grand Platinum Steam Grill Brush
Now we are entering the higher end of the spectrum. The design and the technology of the Grand Platinum grill daddy steam brush is definitely unique.
Design wise, the main body of this brush is made in a sleek aluminium alloy with stainless steel bristles on the brush end as well as a three-row crud-buster scraper brush at the top.
This will be a real plus to clean in between the grates.
The handle part is ergonomic and you’ll be able to have a nice grip with not much effort.
A remarkable and notable point is that the brushes can be replaced (main one and scraper)
Often, when the bristles/heads wear out, the whole brush has to be replaced, but not with this one as you can order these parts separately.
On the tech side, the principle is quite simple, yet effective. The brush has a reservoir that you can fill with water, and while cleaning your grill (full on), the water becomes steam as it’s dispensed, helping you get the grease/dirt looser and get a better result.
Overall an interesting device that can help you keep your grill sparkling
Facts:
Length: 20 inches
Type: Square headed brush with bristles and a scraper on top. Wooden handle
Material: stainless steel hard wire bristles/aluminium alloy body
Tech: steam
Warranty: not specified
Conclusion
As you could see reading through this selection, overall, simple brushes can be a great ally in keeping your grill clean. We might have a slight preference for the Kona 360 grill brush as it’s a bit more sophisticated than the simpler brushes, has no real downside and is really affordable. It will easily become part of your grilling routine and effective utensil to have in your bbq tool set right next to your grills and smokers.
BUYER’S GUIDE
Here are all the factors and criteria that you should look at when picking a bbq grill brush.
Size/shape
Important criterion to look at when picking a brush, as some sizes and head shapes will suit your grill and some might not. For instance, getting a hard square brush if you have a round grill will not be the best option; you will be able to clean the centre of the grill with no problem, but you will struggle to clean the edges. The handle size will also be very important to check if you have a big grill.
Needs
We are firm believers that there’s not a universally best item out there for everyone. So it’s important that you are able to identify exactly what you need and what you are looking for in a brush. Are you grilling rarely and need a brush for that occasional reason? A simple brush will do. Are you using your grill very often? Then you need a sturdy, heavy-duty tool that will last for a while.
Budget
When making a purchase, you always need to consider the budget, however, for purchasing a bbq grill brush it will be as important as most of the brushes will be between 15-30USD; which is a really affordable price for such an important tool. Of course, if you feel like you want to try some more advanced, the price will be a bit higher than this
Longevity/build
If you want to make sure to make a good investment and get a good tool that will last, it’s important to check the quality of the build and the materials used. The quality of the bristles will also be fundamental so that you don’t lose many of them each time you clean your grill. It’s important that no bristles stay on your cooking grates
Bristles/coiled wire(Helix)
Now we saw that essentially most brushes do have bristles; and in this case, you should pay close attention to the size of bristles themselves, their density on the brush and the way they are placed on the brush. The quality of the manufacturing is very important, bristles should be very resistant and stick the brush. Loose bristles is a problem that is not present with coiled wire grill brushes; hence a good reason to consider them
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best bbq grill brush?
There are many great bbq grill brushes. The Kona 360 clean brush is great, but you can also consider some brushes from Grillart or AlphaGrillers; they also offer very good options. Please refer to our reviews here above to have get more infos.
How do I clean my bbq grill ?
The simpler way of cleaning the grates of your grill, is with a bbq grill brush. The most common approach would be to do it soon after finishing grilling, when the grates are still hot. You get there with the brush and scrap the grates, ideally from top, bottom and sides. To help a bit if there’s a lot of grease or if it’s sticky; you could pour a bit of water on the grates to create a steam effect, alternatively, you could have a container with some water next to you and dip the brush in that container before scrubbing the grates; the steam will help loosen the grease. Depending on your grill, you might need to rinse the grates and wipe with a piece of cloth (one it has cooled off) to make sure no bristles are left behind
How often do I need to clean my bbq?
Ideally, after each use
How do I care for my bbq grill brush?
Once you’re done with cleaning your grill, you can clean it under warm water for one or two minutes to help get rid of the grease; let it dry out and store
What really happens if your grill is not properly cleaned on a regular basis?
Like we mentioned earlier, now we are going to dive into the not so good-looking part of bbqing…. The grime and what happens when the grill is not properly cleaned. At the end, there is nothing crazy unexpected in this list, but we thought to bring you a little bit more inside in this area
Hygiene:
Let’s be honest. A dirty grill just looks nasty. Would you use a frying pan day after day without washing it? Not really. Same goes here. It will just make your fresh food dirty.
Loss of food taste:
This comes from the fact that each time that you are cooking, pieces of food and drops of sauce/grease stick to your grates. If you don’t clean your grill or don’t clean it properly enough, the next time you cook, it will “raise back” the odours and taste of these old foods and they are going to get mixed with your fresh food. Needless to say that this old food is nothing else but gunk. At best your food will taste funny. At worst, it will be inedible.
Carcinogens:
We won’t develop this one too much here as there is extensive and very detailed information online. But long story short, carcinogens can be produced when incinerating meat. Especially the one with a high fat content. When the fat drips into the flames, it creates chemicals that will rise and get to your food. The black residue on the grates after you finish grilling is indeed grease/food that has been burned down. It’s crucial that it gets removed and the grates cleaned for safe grilling.
Mold and bacteria:
If you are a serial griller, we are pretty sure that you are just as used to keeping your grill sparkling clean. But if you use it occasionally and have a couple of days/weeks (months?) in between two usages, just imagine what that pile of grease/food/dirt can become? A mold and bacteria nest.
The state of your grill:
Overlooking the cleanness of your grates can mean to overlook the general state of your grill. If you have invested in a good quality grill, chances are it will last for years! But nothing is eternal, and if you want to increase your chances to get it to last even longer it’s good to maintain it properly. If cleaning the grates after every use is essential, an in-depth cleaning once in a while goes a long way as it will allow you to catch any little issue the grill might have before it becomes too serious.