With a sharp chain link head, the Grillfighter Grill Cleaning Brush cuts through the gunk.
The GrillFighter Grill Cleaning Brush is sold in a set with a plastic water tray and novelty vinyl apron. List price on GrillFighter’s web site is $89.99, but it’s marked down there and on Amazon to $39.
The GrillFighter Brush is constructed of 304 stainless steel, and the cleaning head goes full tang from end to end with a long sturdy plastic handle riveted to the steel.
The cleaning head is a pad constructed of 304 stainless chain link mesh. The mesh is wrapped around a sheet of perforated silicone and permanently affixed to the end of the handle.
On many of these scrubbing heads, the chain links are perfectly round, but GrillFighter’s links have a square cross section. GrillFighter claims these square edges are sharper, resulting in more effective scrubbing.
The head also contains a saw tooth edge for scraping and two circular corner cutouts to deep clean wire rod grates.
The handle end of the tool has a bottle opener that doubles as a pincer claw to scrape the underside of the grates, and a hole for hanging.
Cold grates
The manufacturer recommends cleaning the grates when the grill is hot and dipping the tool into the water tray to “steam-clean” your grill.
Since I had no plans of firing up my grills or smokers for a few days, I tried the GrillFighter on some cold grates I knew could benefit from a cleaning. When used on the stainless-steel grates of my M Grills M16 Charcoal Grill and Yoder Pellet Grill, cleaning was easy. Caked on grease and gunk came off with little effort, even revealing some of the original silver color. I tried the pincer claw to scrape the undersides of the grates, but that was slow and not particularly effective without a lot of effort. I found it easier just to turn the grates upside down and use the head.
In each case, GrillFighter worked way better than my standard wire brushes. I sometimes use crumpled aluminum foil to thoroughly clean the stainless-steel grates. This tool was equally effective, but quicker and less messy.
GrillFighter performed just as well on my Big Green Egg’s cast iron grate. I was able to remove the caked-on residue in just a few minutes without exerting much effort.
Hot grates
My next test was to try the GrillFighter using water on a hot grill as recommended. I first cooked a tri-tip on my M16 charcoal grill, doing a reverse sear and indirect cooking for about 50 minutes until it was done. When I removed the meat my grates were loaded with plenty of crusty fat and ready for cleaning.
I dipped the brush into the water tray, a simple, lightweight piece of plastic, and began cleaning the grate. The results were much the same, with the grates cleaning up quickly. Using water on the hot grill did not appear to make cleaning easier or better. I never got the added effect of “steam cleaning” that the company describes.
A lot of the gunk ends up on, within, and behind the mesh and in the holes in the silicone pad. The tool is dishwasher safe and can alternatively be cleaned in your kitchen sink or outside with a hose. A pre-soak in degreaser couldn’t hurt either.
Conclusion
The GrillFighter is an effective tool for cleaning grill grates. The add-on water tray and plastic apron don’t add much value for serious barbecuers, but it’s well-made and offers some innovation for one of the drudgeries of outdoor cooking. Even with the reduced prices offered online, GrillFighter costs at least twice as much as standard brushes, but because it works so well, it is still a good value and many grillers will find it an improvement over what they use now. I give it our AmazingRibs.com Best Value Gold Medal.
Warranty
The GrillFighter Combo Set is covered by a 1-Year “Super Simple” Warranty against any manufacturing defects in materials or workmanship.
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