Dangers of using wire BBQ brush

For many years avid and recreational BBQers have been using wire brushes to clean there grill which is effective way of cleaning a grill. These grill brushes are usually very cheap and easily obtainable. However there’s a real hidden danger in using these wire brushes.

The danger that lots of folks don’t realize is the needle like size bristles that falls off the wire brushes while in use. These small bristles usually gets cough on your grates which then transfers it to your food. This risk extremely higher when using cheap brushes from places like the dollar stores or using pretty worn brushes to save a penny. 

If swallowed these little tin size razor sharp bristles can cause lots of damage to your mouth, throats and internal intestines. It’s also extremely painful! Doctors are having lots of difficulty finding these tiny bristle ounce swallowed. There’s also no sure-fire way to remove the thin, razor-sharp metal bristles after they've have been swallowed by accident. Ounce removed they usually leave lots of damage behind. The Canadian surgeons are also urging all backyard cooks to throw out there wire-bristled brushes.

Here’s some safe alternative to using wire brushes:

•        Onions: You can cut them in half and use the onion with a set of tongs to clean your hot grill. The acid in the onion loosens and removes most of the residues on your grates but doesn’t work as well as a brush. However it works well enough. It also helps season your grates with a little onion flavor. There’s also a BBQ accessory called the Grillion that you can get to make you cleaning with onion easier.

Source of image: http://www.bbqsaucereviews.com

• Crumpled up foil in a ball: Crumpling tinfoil into a ball and rubbing it around the grill with a pair of tongs works fairly well as well. The bonus is that most BBQers always have tin foil around.

• Wooden Scrapers: The wooden scrapper’s works extremely well for cleaning your grill it quickly conform to the cooking grates over time. It’s very effective and it pretty much works like a paint scraper and pretty much gets the side of the grates as well. They are pretty cheap to get but must be replaced after a while of heavy use.

•  Bristleless brush: These brushes are made from 2 galvanized steel springs that are twisted to form a continual spiral which eliminates the threat of bristles breaking free. Works good but takes considerably more pressure and scraping to get the job done.

•  Grillstone cleaning blocks: These are made from recycled glass and look like pumice stones. These are very good at getting tough deposits off cooking grates and will conform to the pattern of the grill grates but take a while to conform to the grates.

Interesting news articles on this issue:

https://www.barrietoday.com/local-news/throw-away-that-wire-bristle-bbq-brush-surgeons-urge-backyard-chefs-409429

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/barbecue-brushes-dangers-swallow-throat-wire-bristle-dempsey-1.3741578

Epidemiology of Wire-Bristle Grill Brush Injury in the United States, 2002-2014

As you can see its a very good ideal to get rid of your BBQ wire brush to protect yourself and guest from serious injury. You can get good quality wood scrapers at your local BBQ stores and Costco. 

Various conversion, temp, smoking charts

Every-time we grill we end up converting measurements of various ingredients. Most times we have to google search the proper conversion. So I decided to share the most common useful conversion charts I found on the web in the past few years. I also included cooking temps and smoking temp charts. I don't remember the sources of of most of them.

Butter Conversion Charts:

Cups Conversion Charts 

Weights of commons Ingredients charts

Liquid Conversions 

Spices usage charts 

Vegetables Cook Times

Safe Internal Meat Temps Charts

Smoking temps and times

Care and maintenance of your Pizza stone and Heat Deflectors

Everyone that cooks on their Joe’s using pizza stones or heat deflector must of ounce experience or know someone that has experience the horror of having a stone crack while handling it or grilling with it. I decide to wright this nice little tutorial to prevent this from ever happening to you and on how to properly maintain them.

Here are the top reasons why your stones will break or crack on you:

1.            Thermal shock: This is the biggest mistake grillers usually do. It’s basically putting a cold stones straight into a hot grill. Lots of us store our stones outside then light the grill and wait till the temp reaches around 300 plus degrees then place the stone inside the hot grill. This practice is a big No-No! Pizza stones and heat deflector’s can’t handle large temperature changes if subject to these large temperature changes it will cause its ceramic to crack or break.

You should always warm up the stone with the grill and this will prevent the thermal shock from it.

Removing your hot stone from your Joe and placing it on a cooler spot can also cause the stone to break or crack. Also placing cold food such as frozen pizza dough on the stones can also cause them to fracture.

2.            Moisture: Never let moisture build up in your stones or never wash them in water. The moisture will cause thermal expansion inside the stones which can cause your stone to crack.

However if you ever get it wet place your stone in your Joe and bake at 200 degrees for a couple hours this will properly dry your stone. Also I strongly recommend storing stones inside your house instead of being exposed to the elements.

I have place wet stones from exposure to heavy rain before in my Joe but warm her up slowly and held it for a while at a low temp before bringing her up to desired temperature. It’s a little time consuming but it’s what you have to do to prevent her from fracturing and to properly dry the stone out.

Never use soaps on pizza stone for cleaning because your stone are porous and will absorb the soap in its pours and will leave a permanent soap taste to your stones.

Never use any cooking oil on your pizza stone or heat deflectors.

Here’s the proper way to clean your stones:

1.            Ounce your stone is completely cooled off carefully take it out of your Joe and place on a solid surface such as a counter top. Then use a wire brush or a stone brush to brush off any burnt on food.  You can also use a scraper tool or plastic spatula to do this but be very careful not to scratch your stones;

2.            If your stones gets too stained all you have to do is put the stained side facing the hot coals and slowly bring your Joe to 600 degrees and hold the temp there for approximately 1 hour and it will basically self-clean your stone;

As you can see the care and maintenance of your stones is pretty easy. If you plan in storing your stones outside ensure that you place them in a water tight storage container. However if it’s very cold bring them inside your house to warm up to room temperature. Then warm them up with your grill. It’s important to remember that your stones will always have a little bit of staining it’s what I call a good seasoned stone.

When using your stones or heat deflector for indirect cooking always cover them with heavy duty foil. This will prevent your stone from getting dirty and save you lots of work.

Happy Grilling.

Grilling with Children

I am a firm believer that BBQing should involve everyone. This is why I am a big supporter of teaching my daughter and son the art of grilling.  By doing so it builds good lasting memories, lasting bond and teaches them how to expend there culinary horizons outdoor to the grill. Furthermore it teaches them to respect and love good food a lot more and the process of prepping, making it, and the clean up after! Kids these days rather play on their electronics devices this is why it’s key to get them involved since memories aren't created in front of the TV. Grilling is a good life skill for them to learn.

There’s nothing better than spending quality time bonding with your family and children. Life is so short so why not appreciate and make the most of it while you still can. This is why I keep saying get them out and involved with you every time you fire up your Joe!

When teaching them how to BBQ be sure to take age into consideration. For young children you can get them to mix ingredients, form burger patties, brush meat with sauces, etc.., you can get them easily interested in grilling by getting their own apron, and grilling tools. Also ensure that they always wash there hands before handling any food and again if they step away.

With older children teaches them how to safely light the grill, the danger of hot grills, and how to properly extinguish, or turn off the grill. Also don’t forget to teach them proper food prep safety and very importantly how to take proper temp reading of meats to ensure they are fully cooked. Also ensure you teach them how to use a fire extinguisher in-case emergency ever arise near the grill. 

My son already Claimed my Classic Joe :)

Don’t forget to teach them on how to follow recipes and how think outside the box when creating a unique meals. Get them involved in creating their own recipes or get them to inspire you with recipes ideals. You might be surprise of the food and excellent flavors that usually turns out from this. 

His first Turkey

Here's some easy things to start them on the grills are Hot dogs, Sausages, Hamburgers, Corn on the cob, steaks, etc.., If you see that they really love grilling get them there own grill such as the Kamado Joe Junior. 

Happy Grilling! :)

Grilling in the Winter

Grilling in the winter

Lots of folks are afraid to grill during the winter months because they find it too cold or don’t like dealing with the snow. Me personally it’s my favorite time of the year to fire up my Joe. Some will say that I am nuts but I personally get more joy out of it I honestly find it more rewarding and personally love the challenges from it. The colder it gets outside I find my Joe more efficient in maintaining temps and it actually gets to desired temp a little faster.

The Kamado Joe is made with a nice thick ceramic which makes it very efficient for grilling in sub-zero temperatures. Get your grilling gloves on and do some winter grilling its very rewarding and your Joe will never fail you and your family, guess and friends will thank you for it. 

Keeping warm while watching the grill in -20C lol

Here are my tips to make your winter grilling more enjoyable:

1.            Always cover your Joe with a cover but place a towel on top of the Joe before putting the cover on. The towel will absorb any moisture and prevent your Kamado Joe from freezing shut;

2.            You can bring your Joe near your patio door so you don’t have to go too far outside to grill or re-position it away from the cold winds;

3.            Use lighting cubes to light your grill instead of a electric lighter, or torch so that way you don’t spend much time outside;

4.            I recommend using a Kick Ash Basket  which gives the Joe a better air flow and makes it a lot easier to clean and make lighting process of the Joe a lot faster;

5.            Prep all your food inside your house;

6.            Dress warm for the weather and I also recommend using cast iron grates as it retains heat better;

7.            Winter is also the best time of the year to do some cold smoking;

8.            Try to keep the dome close don’t open it unless you really need to.

It’s that simple to grill in the winter get your grilling game on and don’t let the cold or snow scare you from grilling!

Happy Grilling!

How to fix a Frozen Kamado Lid due to cold temps

Well have you ever gone to use your ceramic cooker in the middle of winter and discovered the lid was frozen shut? I have experience this a few time with my Kamado Joe. It can be very disappointing in finding your cooker frozen shut. I will show you how easy it is to properly un-freeze your cooker and get you back up and running within half hour.

Before we start I would like to mention the biggest mistake (The no-no) you can do to a frozen ceramic cooker:

1. Trying to pry open you frozen shut ceramic cooker will end up in ripping apart your gaskets.

2. Trying to separate the frozen shut lid with sharp objects will result in damaged gasket and can damage the ceramic.

Okay let’s get into the proper procedure on how to properly un-freeeze your ceramic cooker. You could bring your ceramic cooker inside to un-freeze but doing this can be tedious and takes a lot longer to do.

The preferred method is to un-freeze in its present location. You can easily un-freeze your cooker by following these few simple steps:

1. Un-freeze the daisy wheel using a regular air blower/dryer or heat gun this can take a minute or two (if you don’t have access to electrical outlet you can use a torch but be very careful not to burn yourself) ounce thawed leave open your daisy wheel and leave it in the wide open position;

 Un-freeze daisy wheel

 Ounce Un-frozen open daisy wheel fully

2. Now you want to use the air blower/dryer and un-freeze the bottom vent. Ounce the bottom vent is un-frozen place the bottom vent in its widest open position;

 Un-freeze bottom vent 

 Ounce un-frozen open fully

3. Its now time to pour in a little bit of cooking oil inside the cooker via the daisy wheel. I usually put about ¼ cup of  cooking oil (If your plate setter, heat deflector or pizza stone is still inside the BBQ skip this step!);

 Add a little bit of cooking oil through top vent

4. Now place some crumpled up news paper under the fire bowl by using the access of the bottom vent. Its also a very good I deal to place a piece of paper towel soaked in cooking oil as well in the middle of the crumpled up news paper underneath the fire bowl;

 Place a few sheets of crumpled up news paper underneath fire bowl

5. Now very carefully light up the news paper underneath the fire bowl;

 Carefully light news paper

6. Let it burn for about 20-25 minutes.

How to video un-freeze your ceramic cooker properly:

By doing these steps above it will eventually light up your left over lump charcoal usually within a few minutes. Now that your lump charcoal is light; it will quickly warm up your cooker and usually within 20-30 minutes it will be completely un-frozen and ready to cook but if you have a pizza stone, heat deflector or plate setter still inside the ceramic cooker it will take at least 15 more minutes to un-freeze. After 20 minutes or so you can check on the lid to see if it is un-frozen but be very careful when checking it. If it still take to much pressure to open the lid it means its still partly frozen. Use common sense!

To prevent your cooker from freezing shut in the near future. I found the best way was to place layer of foil or Parchment paper between the bottom section and lid when done cooking and to add a little bite of fresh lump before chocking the fire. Also its important to never store your pizza stone, heat deflector and plate setters inside the BBQ in case you have to un-freeze the Joe!

 Place layer of foil between lid and bottom

  

Lots of people will tell you just cover your ceramic cooker and you won’t experience this issue. Well from personal experience this is very untrue. However you can fix this issue by placing a old towel on top of the Joe before placing the cover. The towel will absorb the moisture instead of the Joe. I always used a cover on my Kamado Joe and it still managed to freezes shut from time to time. What lots of folks don’t realize when the ceramic cooker are covered there is usually a moisture build up that occurs due to the lack of air movement and this moisture will freeze. This moisture can also cause mold growth in the cooker in the summer time if the ceramic cooker is not used often. But from what I have been told the towel trick works very well. 

Enjoy and happy grilling!