Leave Grill Open Or Closed When Done? (Answered)

Using a grill is loads of fun and provides a unique way to enjoy your food.

However, it’s important to understand how to care for the grill and make sure it stays in the right condition year-round.

If you don’t look into this, you are going to end up in a situation where the grill begins to lose its quality and will not age the way you want it to.

One question you are going to have will be, should you leave the grill open or closed when done?

Leave the grill open with the heat on for at least 5 minutes. Once done, scrub the grate, and then close the lid.

This will be more than enough to take care of the grill and ensure it does not collect bacteria. This is one of the prominent concerns people have and following this five-minute strategy is the way to go.

It will keep the grill in good shape year-round regardless of how often you use it.

This article is going to go through a few tips on how to leave the grill when done using it.

Table of Contents

Steps On How To Leave Grill When Done

1. Leave The Lid Open With The Heat On For Five Minutes

You will want to start by leaving the heat on.

This is important as it is going to let the grill settle and remove some of the bacteria that settle on the surface.

If you were using the grill for a small amount of time, this is not going to be a major concern. It is only an issue when you have been using the grill for a long time and then bacteria start settling on the grate.

It’s essential to leave the heat on when this is the case.

After the heat is left on, you are also going to want to keep the grill’s lid open for at least five minutes.

Why is it important to leave the grill’s lid open for this long?

The purpose has to do with at least leaving the heat on for five minutes to prep the grill grate.

2. Turn Off The Heat

Now that the five-minute timer is done, you are going to turn off the heat.

The premise of doing this is to make sure the grill is in good shape and the heat does not ruin the grill. This does happen to some people and it is essential to think about what you are doing when it comes to the grill’s condition.

You don’t want to continue to run the heat as you look at cleaning it.

This is unnecessary and it is not going to help.

You will want to turn off the heat and wait a minute or two.

This will allow you to begin working on a solution to clean the grill grate.

3. Scrub The Grill Grate

You will want to scrub the grill grate at this point.

The reason for doing this is to make sure the grate stays clean and you don’t have a situation where the grate is unsanitary next time.

The best option is to use a bristled brush to do this.

Continue to work on the grill grate until you are certain it is in good shape.

This is important when it comes to keeping the grill in good shape for the long term as it will break down if you don’t do this.

A clean grill is a must and it has to be a standard you set.

4. Close The Lid

The last step is to close the lid.

You do not have to leave the lid open after the grill grate has been cleaned. The heat is going to be off at this stage and the only thing you are going to have to think about is how to store the grill until you use it next time.

As long as the grill is out of the way or covered, it will be good to go.

Most people will close the grill’s lid and then put a cover on top to protect it outdoors.

This is up to you but the lid should be closed.

You don’t want pests to get into the grill as that will be a mess you don’t want to clean later.