For context, about once a week or so my boss requires us to burn or clean our char grill by laying aluminium foil across it, putting a brick on top, and blasting the heat so the buildup all gets lit on fire and burnt away. I'm usually not comfortable doing this however, because it blackens the foil and releases a LOT of smoke, like hotboxes tf out of the place. Obviously any smoke inhilation was bad but I wanted to know if we're releasing heavy metals into the air and straight through our blood brain barriers.
by No-Opposite-4106
38 Comments
That’s either a really small grill or a really big brick…
Safe? I can’t comment on that. I can’t imagine inhaling whatever burns off of that is ok. Just take your two shittiest sheet trays and use that to burn off the grill. It traps enough heat to accomplish the same thing. The sheet trays last a while if you specifically use them for that.
do the vent hoods not work? I mean he’s gotta pay if the ANSUL system goes off, not you. but other than that….worry less.
If you’re smoking out the kitchen them hoods need fixing…
I have more questions than answers
Use a 1/2 sheet tray, big dog. That’ll do’er
As far as I know, and I may be wrong, but aluminum foil is just that, aluminum. Aluminum has a melting temperature of 1200 ish °F or 660ish °C. I dont think that fire is anywhere near that. The smoke is the char burning off. Not any metal. To get aluminum to vaporize and create gas would be even hotter. There is possibly some sort of film on the aluminum that is burning that I’m not aware of.
Why not remove the grates. Scrub/clean with heavy duty grease release then soap and water. Put back and oil before use. That grill looks incredibly nasty with all that build up. Do the same with your stovetop grates. Have whoever is cleaning that fryer teach the grill/saute guy how to clean.
No. Not safe. I’ve seen a brick explode before.
The foil can burn up. We had an old sheet pan that we used. But we found that the excess heat warped the innards of the grill. So now, we disassemble and scrub it all with wire brushes and putty knives.
Aluminum, steel and carbon
I don’t love aluminum, iron should be fine, carbon in various forms can be pretty carcinogenic.
You can swap out the foil, but the burning of carbon and various organic particulates will still be swirling. Bad for lungs.
Your kitchen is dirty as hell
Good luck chef! That grill does indeed need to be cleaned. I prefer a big handheld grill brush with long thick bristles. Flip the grill grates upside down, that’s where a lot of the build up you can’t see is
I used to use a sheet pan.
Don’t use that brick. Put a bunch of meth on that foil and see how long before your boss doesn’t want you to do this any more
OP, I mentioned responding to a comment here that those of us that came up old school learned to do this, it’s not really safe or the best way to clean a char grill though.
What the hell
We do this and put the burners from our 6 burner on top while we do it to burn them out as well.
The brick probably isn’t the best solution, usually we tent the whole thing with foil and then put sheet pans on top.
Be careful about getting it too hot or you’ll warp the burner bars for the char.
The smoke is a problem with your hoods. It should have no problem clearing that out.
Ok, first off this is stupid and unsafe. Use sheet trays instead of cheap foil and a stupid brick. **You must clean the catch pan first**. Put the foil on the clean catch pan. I would recommend removing grates and putting them under a broiler or on stove top to get burned off. When you cover a grill, you risk the chamber actually overheating and damaging the burners, diffusers, knobs.
It’s going to destroy/warp the pipe elements that evenly disperse the flame over time. Perform at your own risk or just don’t be lazy and take that tiny ass grill apart once a week and scrape it down with a wire brush, a paint scraper and some oven cleaner and clean up the debris with a tiny shop vac dedicated to that task and cleaning the burners in your saute station…. Maybe 20minutes/week at tops!
Kitchen foil is usually a high purity 1000 series aluminium alloy.
Melting point of that is above 640oC.
A grill is not getting anywhere near 600oC without forced air jetting or a bellows like a blacksmith forge.
You aren’t burning the foil but depositing oxides on the surface.
If you were hitting the 600oC needed to burn the foil then all of the organic stuff that smokes would be long gone at around 350oC.
The smoke is proof you aren’t hitting that temperature and there isnt enough oxygen getting in for complete combustion
Nope, not safe. “Inhaling fumes or dust from burning aluminum can be harmful, primarily causing respiratory irritation and a flu-like illness called metal fume fever”. Thats just a quick goodle search. Something I honestly learned from making weed smoking devices in a pinch 🤣
Honestly that kitchen looks dirty as fuck
The carbon build up says they really didn’t clean before you got there.
If I walked in the kitchen and saw that grill (even without the brick and foil) I would walk right back out. That thing hasn’t been deep cleaned in years. Absolutely disgusting.
Looks like your chef needs to clean the grill by cleaning the grill.
I’ve been told you shouldn’t smoke heroin off tinfoil, but I don’t know if that’s because of the tinfoil or the heroin.
Safe as long as you don’t mind Alzheimer’s later in life
The fuck?
I’m attaching a link to an SDS for aluminum. An SDS is data on safety for any given substance. If you look at section 5 of the SDS, it states that if the aluminum is heated to a temperature that allows it to decompose (producing fumes) the gas is toxic.
Note that the SDS also says that it is not safe to handle aluminum without washing your hands. This is because it is lab grade aluminum, not food grade aluminum. But both lab grade and food grade aluminum should not be heated to high enough temperatures that cause them to produce fumes.
The [sds link is here ](http://I'm a chemistr I would not recommend breathing in fumes from aluminum foil.
)
Tell him stop being lazy and just clean the damn thing.
It’s a quick way to ruin the heat baffling underneath the grill.
Burning aluminum and inhaling the smoke increases the likelihood of dementia
Do y’all not have sheet trays?
The aluminium is probably not actually boiling or combusting, the smoke is likely just from said buildup flashing off. That said, a thin steel pan is a much better option for containing the heat and raising the temperature to burnoff levels.
Just clean it every night like a normal person instead?
You might consider cleaning the grill more frequently, like daily…letting it get this bad is lazy, and leads to bad solutions like what you are showing.
Unless that is confirmed to be a firebrick it is a hazard.
You did this at my grill station, I’d fuck you up.
Zero clue if this is safe or sanitary, just looks ghetto as fuck.
Seems like this need a cleaning a month ago.