Ammonia to clean Grates on WSM (Worried)

[skeeterproam]

I bought a new WSM a couple months back and have used it a lot already. The grates where pretty "gunky" and needed to be cleaned. I impulsively bought some ammonia and soaked the two grates in a garbage bag for about 5 hours. I opened the bag and rinse the them for a while; however, after reading more about ammonia I am worried that I made a mistake. Is this a horrible way to clean my WSM grates and if so what is the best way? Would you recommend not using these grates again?? which would suck because they are fairly new. Can I just put them on my gas grill and heat up as hot as can be and even if there was ammonia residue on it, they would be fine to use after that? Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. I just want to be very confident that when I use them again, they will be safe to cook and eat the meat off them. Thanks, Skeeterproam from Arizona. 

 

[candurin]

You'll be safe with the ammonia. It will flash off after dried and even more so when heated. In the future you can just lay the grates on your hot grill and burn off the food.

 

[skeeterproam]

Thank you for the reply. I do not think I will ever use a chemical again. How hot does my grill need to be to kill any Ammonia residue off? I  do think I rinse them well enough but I just want to be sure!

 

[sfprankster]

I use elbow grease(CA Prop 65 Warning:This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and/or birth defects or other reproductive harm.

 ) and a good wire brush. Even easier when the grates are preheated.