How to Winterize Your BBQ (and Prepare it for Storage)

Filling up the grill before winter is always a sad and sad day for people who like to be behind the grill or even in front of it. If you don't and live in a country where the weather can get too frigid, you may have to say goodbye to your beloved barbecue.

To avoid this, it is important that you winterize your grill.

If you want to prevent layers of snow covering your barbecue, the first thing to do is to thoroughly clean the equipment and then store it in a safe place until your next barbecue session.

Are you wondering how to do that? Read on as we discuss our top tips so you can winterize your grill.

Turn on your grill racks, not in the truest sense of the word

Before you start deep cleaning, we recommend preheating the grids and then scrubbing them with a grill brush. This will allow you to remove stuck residue and fat particles (as much as possible) to ensure that you don't get any nasty surprises when you take out the grill for the next season.

In short, the leftovers should be on your grill. Even more so, if you don't want mold to develop in the next few days.

Make it a soapy affair

Before discussing what to do here, make sure you have a mild soap, bucket, and 3M cleaning pad on hand.

Reheating and scrubbing the grids will remove most of the remaining residue. However, to make sure they are perfectly clean, you need to do a thorough cleaning.

After the grill has cooled down, carefully remove the grids, burners and flame arresters. Then remove all residue and grease with the 3M cleaning pad. Of course, you can also clean with soap and water here.

While you can use plenty of soapy water, you need to rinse it properly. Just like you don't want any fat on the grill, you don't want any soap residue either. The last thing you have to do is empty your drip trays or ashtrays, clean them, rinse them, and then put them back in. Yes, this also applies to DIY grills!

Don't forget the outside

Preparing your grill for storage is not just about thoroughly cleaning the inside, it's also about cleaning the outside.

The main purpose of wintering is to prevent corrosion or mold growth. You should therefore also clean the outside of your grill to avoid situations. All you need is a clean rag to wipe the outside of the grill after soaking it in soapy water. You should do this even if you have compact grids suitable for condominiums and apartments . After all, hardened marinades, sticky bast sauce and other leftovers do not differ in size.

Attaching the grill lid (high quality)

Admit it: we've often wondered if just covering the grill would be enough. This is good enough to protect your grill from snow, but thorough cleaning is very important if you want to increase the life of your grill.

As you can see, when you cover your grill, it is protected from the elements, which can be harmful even if your grill is made from high quality materials. You also need to make sure that you determine the correct storage location for your grill. We recommend using the basement, garage or storage room as these are well covered and protected from damage to the elements.

If replacing your grill doesn't seem attractive after just a year or two, invest in a good , properly sized grill cover right away . Inferior quality grill covers can be rejected by insects and other living things, which primarily defeats the purpose of covering the grill.

We would like to reiterate the importance of the grill being completely dry before covering it. Let air dry if possible, but if not, simply wipe off the moisture with a towel.

Also prepare your charcoal grill for the winter

Wintering a charcoal grill is mostly quite similar to wintering a gas network.

You see, prepping your charcoal grill for storage isn't such a complicated process. Start by cleaning and scrubbing the grids to make sure there are no food particles or lumps, and then empty the drip pans to remove any ash.

When you're done, all that's left to do is clean the grill inside and out with hot, soapy water and let it dry. You can then put it away once the charcoal grill is completely dry.

And that's it! Simply follow the steps above to winterize your grill and prepare it for winter storage. Regardless of the type of grill, it's important to clean the appliance thoroughly to remove food particles and grease stains, dry it properly, and then store it to protect it in the cold months ahead.

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