I've been using balls of crumpled up aluminum foil held with tongs. My father grills more often than I do and I bought him a dedicated tool for grill cleaning from a craft fair; it's a brass disk on a stick, with various grate profiles cut out of the disk. It works well, but is a little slower than some other tools. Looks like the creator has a web store now[1].

1. https://www.grillgadget.com/

I was just thinking about this. I’m thinking of laying a wet towel over it and scrubbing it furiously with this mallet looking smashy thingie my wife hasn’t used once in 20 years.

Edit: I’ve been thrown out of the kitchen. I will look into some other peoples suggestions.

Something like a wooden Cedar scraper https://www.thecedarscraper.com/en/ Over time it will burn to form ridges to match the grill plate

Seriously you can clean them the same way you clean any other greasy cooking utensil. Those green plastic scrubbers (like scotch guard) work fine.

I have a small bbq and I just take the grills off and put them in the dishwasher! That has a non-stick coating so I wouldn’t want to use a wire brush anyway. The large bbq just gets a hand wash.

I've used balled up aluminum foil, wet newspaper, and wooden scrapers. All of them work but I like the wooden scrapers best because they're easier to apply pressure with. You can use any plank of wood really. Do it while the grill is hot and you'll wear grooves into the wood.

Grill stones: https://smile.amazon.com/Grillstone-Grill-Cleaning-Refill-Pa...

I’ve been using a wooden scraper like this for the last few years and it has worked well:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0728C5VQN

Half a potato, or half a lemon. That is what we usually use.

There are brushes that don't use bristles. For example: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B073VHLQNW/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=U...

1/2 an onion, potato, or lemon works. You can also take some tinfoil and wrap it around the end of your grill tongs to scrape the grates.

I usually burn off the grill and will scrub it clean using Aluminum foil.

I have been using a wooden one for the last year. It's about 18" x 5" x 1/2", has a oar-like handle carved in one end, and a taper in the other. I think it's made of cedar. It starts to get groves from the grill as you use it, but even without those it is effective, you just have to angle it to get stuff off the sides of each rung/wire (whatever those are called). Compared to a bristled brush it usually only takes one pass.

They sell bristle-less brushes that essentially have interlocking metal loops. They're much safer but they aren't quite as effective. There are also wooden cleaners and funny-looking cleaners that resemble a cross between a sponge and a pumice stone you can use.

Really, if you go to the grill aisle of Home Depot (or whatever similar store) you'll see plenty of choices.

There are non-bristle brushes available such as this one. I have one and they aren't as effective as a regular brush but at least you don't have the risk:

https://www.konabbqstore.com/products/safe-clean-grill-brush...

I use something like this: https://www.napoleongrills.com/accessories/accessory-details...

Not as effective, but safe.

I have a plastic bristle brush, but of course it can't be used when the grill is hot. It works ok for getting off large bits of char, but I think I will explore other alternatives this season.

Get it really hot and pour boiling water on it. That works with my Weber 100. (With my Genesis I just wait until it catches fire then frantically put it out with the garden hose.)

As I remember, they suggested mumbled aluminium foil.

Scrub with a crumpled up a wad of aluminum foil.

I use the metal scraper on the back side of the brush and then a conventional kitchen scourer pad. Or pop it in the dishwasher.

Foil. Ball it up a bit, rub it on grates, done.

A wooden paddle scraper works well. After a couple uses on a hot grill the wood burns in grooves that fit the grate perfectly.

I use a piece of wood to scrape the grill, once is hot (it makes it easier). You may finish with some old newspaper.

clearly the alternative is a startup for self cleaning grills.

copper sponge