Why You Need a Grill Brick to Clean Your Grill or Griddle

Grilling is great fun, but cleaning your grill after working over the heat doesn’t rank as high on the enjoyment scale. Brushing grates or scraping a griddle is the inglorious side of grilling. If you’re in a cleaning rut, allow me to introduce you to the simple, efficient grill brick.

Grill bricks are compressed pumice stone, and their abrasive quality quickly removes built-up carbon and grease from your metal cooking surfaces. Their flat, rectangular shape lends itself to cleaning the right angles of griddles and cleans grill grates without fear of shedding bristles.

CCTVRTV Grill Cleaning Bricks

Amazon

While our favorite grill brushes have woven wire designs that keep bristles in place, you’ll find cheap brushes on the market that shed wire bristles, which can cause injuries, albeit infrequently. More than 1,600 grill brush-related injuries sent people to emergency rooms between 2002 and 2016, according to a 2016 report from the Journal of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery. That said, designs have improved in recent years to mitigate this.

To use a grill brick, you simply hold the brick’s top surface and move it back and forth across the cooking surface you want to clean while applying gentle pressure. The smooth surface will quickly form grooves, making it easier to clean between grill grates.

Think of it like a sanding block. In keeping with that theme, be aware that residual pumice dust from scrubbing accumulates but comes off easily with a wipe-down and rinse. If you’re cleaning the surface hot (when it’s easier to clean), we recommend using a grill glove, oven mitt, or kitchen towel to insulate your hand from the heat. You can also attach a handle to the top of the brick, like this one on Amazon.

Grill bricks come in various sizes. Small bricks are helpful for smaller areas or detail work and even a typical stovetop-sized griddle. But you might find it tedious to use on a double-burner griddle or when cleaning grill grates. A word of warning — you might want to find another cleaning method for highly polished surfaces like stainless steel or chrome. The abrasive nature of the pumice can leave surface scratches on these materials, and it is better suited for harder or less finished metals.

I used grill bricks for decades when I worked in kitchens, and I found that adding a light coating of oil on the cooking surface before cleaning makes the job infinitely easier, as it adds a lubricating layer between it and the brick. The oil and pumice dust form a slurry, which, just like when sharpening a knife with a whetstone, aids in the cleaning process by suspending abrasive particles in the oil.

There are some tradeoffs to using oil on a grill brick. First, the slurry reaches the same temperature as your grill or griddle if you clean it hot. So, don’t use so much oil that it pools up, as that pooled slurry can splash and burn bare skin. Second, you’ll need to work harder to remove the accumulated grit, as you can’t just wipe it off like you would if it were dry. Use a scraper to remove most of the slurry, followed by a wipe-down with paper towels. If some gets between the grill grates, a soapy water scrub might be in order. Finally, given the porous nature of a grill brick, it will absorb that oil. The oil will eventually go rancid. Then, you have a stinky abrasive block hanging around your grill until you need it again. So, weigh the pros and cons.

Story short: If you’re concerned about grill brushes losing bristles, several options don’t involve wire bristles, like the Char-Broil Safer Grill Brush (our favorite for stainless steel grates) or the Grill Resecue Grill Brush. Yet, these require a cooled grill for cleaning, which affects their efficiency. A grill brick gives more cleaning power, and you can use it when your grill or griddle is hot or cold. It’s more hands-on than a grill brush and leaves behind grit, but the grit is easy to clean.