Beefeater cast iron plates and grills are seasoned, not coated, so the black layer is protection rather than dirt. Burn off, scrape while warm, wash with as little detergent as possible, dry on the heat, then wipe a thin film of high smoke-point oil over the surface and burn it off.
There is a particular disappointment that comes with cleaning a Beefeater properly for the first time. The plate comes up grey and bare and looks better than it has in years, and then everything sticks to it and it starts to rust.
That is not a cleaning failure. It is the predictable result of removing the thing that was protecting it.
Seasoned, not coated, and the difference is everything
Australian barbecues divide into two groups and they need opposite treatment.
Coated. Porcelain-enamelled cast iron, which is what most Weber grates are. The enamel is a factory-applied glass layer, it is the protection, you cannot restore it at home, and you look after it by not damaging it.
Seasoned. Bare cast iron, which is what most Beefeater plates and grills are. The protection is polymerised oil, built up in layers through use and heat. It is yours to maintain, and it is exactly what a strong degreaser is designed to remove.
So the black patina on a Beefeater plate is not neglect. It is the finish. A plate scrubbed back to bare grey metal has been stripped of its non-stick surface and its corrosion barrier in one go, and in a coastal Sydney backyard it will show rust within days.
Some Beefeater models, particularly in the Signature and Discovery ranges, use vitreous enamelled cast iron instead, which behaves like the Weber sort. Look at the surface: glossy and black means coated, matte and grey-black means seasoned. If in doubt, treat it as seasoned, because that assumption is recoverable and the other is not.
The routine clean
- 1Burn off on high with the lid down for ten to fifteen minutes after cooking, which carbonises residue to ash.
- 2Scrape while still warm, with a wooden or metal scraper along the plate. This is the single most effective thing you can do and it takes a minute.
- 3Wipe with a paper towel while warm, using tongs.
- 4Wipe a thin film of high smoke-point oil over the plate while it is still warm, using a cloth or paper towel and tongs. Grapeseed, canola or rice bran. Not olive oil, which polymerises poorly and goes sticky.
Done after every cook, that is genuinely all a Beefeater needs, and the seasoning builds rather than depletes.
The deep clean, and how to recover afterwards
Sometimes a plate does need a proper wash: a long neglect, a fish cook that has left the flavour behind, or someone else's build-up on a barbecue you have inherited.
- 1Burn off and scrape as above, taking off everything that will come off dry.
- 2Wash with hot water and as little detergent as you can manage. Accept that you are removing seasoning.
- 3Dry it immediately on the burners, not with a towel and not in air. Cast iron left damp rusts within hours here.
- 4Re-season while the plate is hot. Thin film of oil, wiped almost dry with a fresh towel, then run the burners until it stops smoking. Repeat two or three times.
Thin is the whole trick. A thick coat of oil does not polymerise, it turns into a sticky varnish that goes gummy and then flakes. Each layer should look almost dry before it is heated.
The grease path
Flare-ups on a Beefeater are the same fault they are on any hooded barbecue: fat that has nowhere to go.
Fat runs off the plates, across the drip tray beneath, out a drain and into a collection cup. Every stage silts up, and once the drain blocks the tray holds a pool of fat sitting over live burners. Clear the tray and the drain at least twice a season, and empty the cup on a schedule rather than when it overflows.
The roasting hood on the larger models adds a cavity that a flat barbecue does not have. The underside of the hood carbonises exactly as an oven roof does, and the grey flakes that eventually fall off are carbonised fat rather than paint. Burn off, cool to warm, and flake it off with a plastic scraper.
Burner tubes and ports
Uneven flame or a burner that will not light along its length is usually blocked ports rather than a failed burner.
With the gas off and disconnected, clear the ports with a stiff brush along the tube and an opened paper clip for individual holes, working across the tube so debris is pushed out rather than in. Never drill them out, because enlarging a port changes the gas-to-air mix.
Check the venturi at the control end for spider webs. It sounds like folklore and is not: certain spiders are drawn to the mercaptan in the gas odorant, nest in the tubes, and the blockage produces a flame burning back at the valve. A yellow flame at the control end rather than at the burner means stop and get it looked at.
What never to use
- Caustic oven cleaner or strong degreaser on seasoned cast iron. It strips the seasoning completely.
- A dishwasher for any cast iron part. Alkaline detergent plus a wet cycle equals rust.
- A wire wheel on enamelled cast iron, where it chips the coating through to metal that then rusts under the surrounding enamel.
- Olive oil for seasoning, which polymerises poorly and goes sticky.
- Leaving cast iron wet. Ever.
What actually goes wrong
A stripped plate, from a degreaser used because it worked on the stainless. The most common and most disappointing Beefeater outcome.
A gummy, sticky surface from oil applied too thickly during re-seasoning.
Rust, from a plate washed and then air dried.
Flare-ups blamed on the meat, from a blocked drip tray drain.
Wire bristles in food, which is rare, serious and avoidable with a coiled or bristle-free brush.
Should you do it yourself?
Do it yourself for the routine: burn off, scrape warm, oil warm. That is the habit that keeps a Beefeater in good order indefinitely.
Get someone in if a plate has already been stripped and you want it brought back properly, if the drip tray and drain have set solid, if the flame is uneven, or if you are selling the house and it needs to look restored rather than tidied.
Our BBQ cleaning guide for Australian summers covers the general seasonal routine, and if you also have a Weber in the yard note that it needs the opposite treatment: see how to clean a Weber BBQ, because its grates are coated rather than seasoned and a product that suits one will damage the other.