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[okie smokie]

I see all degrees of griddle and grate care, from shiny new look to black and crusted. And drip pans that are the same. What is practical, healthy, or easiest to cook on? 

[Bentley]

Encrusted is practical, healthy, and easiest for me. As the pit heats, and bacteria is killed before I add items, and for me, I find grill marks are better with seasoned grates.

[02ebz06]

For griddle:
I have some griddle cleaner, a wide putty knife, and cleaning pads.
Scrape everything loose with the putty knife, and remove it.
Then put the cleaner on and rub it all over with the cleaning pads.
Wash it all off with water, repeat if necessary.
Once dry I put a light coat of oil on it.
Been holding up doing that so far.

For Grates:
Normally just hit them with a brush to scrape off as much as I can while they are still hot, then wipe with paper towel.
On rare occasion, the wife will take them out, put them in a tub, and soak them in hot soapy water.
Then scrub them clean and rinse off.

For drip tray:
Memphis says this voids warranty, so up to you to do it or not.  Not sure why though.
I put foil on the drip tray.  Makes it east to just fold up and throw away.  No scraping to to.
However...  If you are going to cook at 500 or above, aluminum foil will melt.
That is why I use a gasser for steaks. Everything else is below 500.

You'll get different views on this, I'm sure.

[Canadian John]

 Here we go:

 My sister-in-law, a nurse, director of nursing & finally  doctorate of nursing where she teaches @ a local university; always had to have a BBQ pit spotless, as in surgically clean.  Not me. I always related
 
 cooking' Q on a well seasoned pit as a good thing, the exact opposite. The gunge not only looks good, it has a way of making BBQ, BBQ. That's how I found most commercial pits in the South to be.

 As far as sanitation goes. If germs or any micro biological creatures survive a cook in a pit, there's more of a problem that what a clean pit could provide.

 I just don't like drips and or sticky parts once the cook is over. Those are cleaned up post cook.

 Grill grates need to be seasoned to assure minimal to no sticking. Case in point. My Memphis Pro. After a cook while still hot, the grates are wire brushed then wiped to remove most of the bits & pieces, leaving

 an ever so minute layer of oil.

 If I do a burn off - 650º, the grate seasoning is gone resulting in everything sticking on the following cook.  It takes 3 to4 cooks of cleaning & oiling to restore the seasoning.  Now if I do a clean up, the grates

 get a good scraping on both sides with a 1/2 circle scraper I made from a grade 5 bolt. The 1/2 circle cut out matches each grate bar to a "T". It's laborious but worth the effort as it's a yearly task.

 "Easy" - no such thing. Life isn't like that. I prefer to keep my things ready to go & dependable. A little time spent now saves a lot later, I find.

[02ebz06]

get a good scraping on both sides with a 1/2 circle scraper I made from a grade 5 bolt. The 1/2 circle cut out matches each grate bar to a "T". It's laborious but worth the effort as it's a yearly task.

I have one of these that works really well to get all around the grate rods.  That is when I use it. 

[okie smokie]

This is included with the Pro and Elite and usually a free incentive for BS customers. Listed at $45 if you have to buy one.
Really a great design:Multi grate scraper, wedge shaped scraper for the fire box, lifting tool for the grates and flavorizer covers, and bottle opener. Scrapes excess off the rods without removing seasoning.

[02ebz06]

This is included with the Pro and Elite and usually a free incentive for BS customers. Listed at $45 if you have to buy one.
Really a great design:Multi grate scraper, wedge shaped scraper for the fire box, lifting tool for the grates and flavorizer covers, and bottle opener. Scrapes excess off the rods without removing seasoning.

I have one of those too, but never use it.  I have a grate lifter that I like better.
I believe it was designed for Memphis by someone on the old PH forum.

That insert in the drip pan over the burn pot is something I never remove as I never used the direct flame.
However I would like to replace it with a thicker, solid one, to hopefully reduce the heat in the center that is higher than on the sides.
Should have had that made when I had the part made to cover the gap in the pellet ramp.

[BigDave83]

Griddle for me it scrape well while hot just after done cooking. If I have stuck on stuff I hi it with some water and allow it to cook loose and scrape. If there is dry looking spots I wipe with some oil. If it is still wet looking I close the lid until next cook. My griddle gets the most use out of them all. It is getting to where some of the seasoning is flaking off at times when I scrape. I bought some putty knives at harbor freight they were pretty sharp and started to gouge ht surface and then it started to flake. I will probably think about stripping it all down and re-seasoning it this summer.

Gas grill I use a brush or something to knock off the big chunks.

The electric I wash off the racks and I have foil on the smoke box lid and bottom.

Pellet I usually just cook, if they get to crudded up I will give them a good brushing or maybe scrub, the drop pan I just clean off when the build up gets to where I say I should clean that off. It usually comes off in chunks.

The vertical pellet cooker has a water pan, I usually just fill it with oil dri, take out the chunks like one does when cleaning a litter box.

[Bentley]

Take a guess who invented that device?  If no one gets it right, maybe the inventor will pop in and tell us about it!

[02ebz06]

Was it BMerrill ?

[WiPelletHead]

Take a guess who invented that device?  If no one gets it right, maybe the inventor will pop in and tell us about it!

Pretty sure it was ZCZ.

[02ebz06]

Take a guess who invented that device?  If no one gets it right, maybe the inventor will pop in and tell us about it!

Pretty sure it was ZCZ.

Now that I think about it, I think you are right.

[pmillen]

You guys beat me to it.  Yep, it was Alan (ZCZ).

[okie smokie]

They sell it for $45. Hope he gets a royalty. I've got other gadgets but think I'm gonna like this best.  I've got one that reaches around to the back without having to remove the grate. But it just does one at a time. With the Memphis grates, they are small enough to turn and scrape one at a time when needed (almost never IMO, who cares about stalactites on the underside?).  I have 4 grates on the bottom.

[Bar-B-Lew]

I have the Memphis genie and the tool that Bruce has.  I rarely use either.  I usually only clean the grill once a year.