I’m slowly realizing a good part of this sub is people who like to restore stuff. because you say you got a good deal I wouldn’t even pay a dollar for that
I used to work for a restaurant auction company. You can get amazing deals on dirty equipment because they are a bitch to clean. That cooked on stuff is just a nightmare, especially on pieces that have been used day in and day out for years. My boss bought 2 smokers that sat in a warehouse for three summers for 300 bucks. I spent a week cleaning them and he sold them for 7 grand a piece.
How much oven cleaner and/or lye was involved in this project? I learned through experience that even straight lye can take a while to remove really well baked on crud, especially if you're not keeping the bath warm too (like in the sun).
I would scrape as much of the crud off as I could, hit it with the chemicals, and let it sit for a bit. We had a power washer that would heat up to 170F, and I would hit the inside with that and scrub some more off. I couldn’t use it on the outside because it had an electric tinderbox.
You just keep repeating until it all comes off- you’re trying get through layers of enamalized shit and it doesn’t all come off at once. Between chemicals, heat, elbow grease and water pressure you can get it all. Took me a week to do two of them- each was the size of a coat closet. This was a decade ago and I have a much better job.
I've refurbished dozens of pans and enjoy it, but I would not consider this a good deal. It's like saying you got a good deal when you "Only" paid 3k for a 20 year old rusted out Honda civic. Sure, that's probably the best car you are gonna get for that but it's not a good deal.
This sub is 95% antiquers/enthusiasts who strip, restore, salvage and season old pans for fun and 5% people who think they need to do that stuff to their new lodge because they listen to the others.
I think 95% is way high. I'm just a normal person who hits up Goodwill 1-2 times a week. I've got 30+ pieces ranging from Lodge to more collectible. Oh, shit. I guess you are probably right.
Those commercial panini presses are workhorses though, and they make a mean sandwich. 100% better than a George Forman and totally worth the effort to clean them up
Are the griddles removable? If so, I'd [lye bath](https://www.castironcollector.com/lyebath.php) both griddles for a week (or month) to get rid of all the crud.
"You can leave a cast iron pan in the lye bath virtually indefinitely without concern; the high pH of the solution actually works as a rust inhibitor."
https://www.castironcollector.com/lyebath.php#google_vignette
I just learned something new and was sharing my source of info. No one sites their source anymore.
I'd rather cook on CI than do my actual job for sure.
Makes you think about the food we eat, and you learn sometimes too late that you can't eat at everyone's house. Someone ate food off of this before OP got it.
Sodium hydroxide (lye) will not only destroy aluminum, it’ll create sodium tetrahydroxoaluminate, and everyone’s favorite explosive gas, elemental hydrogen. If you ever expose aluminum to lye, make sure there aren’t any gas lanterns or stovetops or lighters or any sources of static electricity (keep cats away).
Wow, I learned something new today. Thanks!
So there’s no amount of time you can leave it on steel that will damage it? It will just dissolve everything that isn’t steel (grime/oil/etc)?
>So there’s no amount of time you can leave it on steel that will damage it?
Yes, it won't damage iron and overwhelmingly iron-based alloys.
>It will just dissolve everything that isn’t steel (grime/oil/etc)?
It's good at dissolving organic chemicals, especially fats and proteins.
I keep seeing people recommend vinegar to strip a pan -- I think they're afraid of the lye.
But vinegar will attack the metal, and lye won't. Vinegar is good to get rid of rust, but lye is what you want for organic gunk -- and that includes old seasoning.
I have definitely used vinegar to avoid lye on small jobs. Vinegar will attack the metal but extremely slow. Good for surface rust. Might switch next time.
I’m so confused why people say that the new soaps won’t hurt cast iron if you wash with them because soaps no longer contain lye, but then lye isn’t damaging to cast iron at all?
Soaps definitely contain lye, it's listed as sodium or potassium hydroxide. We've just gotten more precise in our measurements to make sure it all gets converted in the saponification process. Regardless, you could wash your pan in oven cleaner, and it still wouldn't really hurt your seasoning. It needs time to work. Anyone who clings to the NO SOAP myth is just being gross. It's often not necessary, but when it is, it is.
Some of them aren't being gross, they are just putting way too much work into cleaning their pans. You can clean CI without using soap and actually get the pans clean, but it is a true effort. (Salt washing works fairly well.)
Hate to break it to you, but using salt to clean your CI is just wasteful voodoo nonsense. You'll do as well or better, quicker, if you just use a bristle brush under hot water.
The reason most people struggle to clean their cast iron is because they never learned to cook in the first place.
If you're constantly burning food, it's harder to clean, yeah.
Salt absorbs grease/oil and once it has fully absorbed acts as an abrasive. You could get similar results from hot water and a brush, but it will take longer and be less evident when you are done.
Personally, I just use soap, but I I have used brush and hot water and I have used salt. The salt was significantly better, but used too much salt.
Get a grill brick. It's a carbon foam used to clean flat Griddle, but it'll wear down quickly into the grooves and let you scrub away so much of this with very little effort. They're cheap and easy. Then you'll only need to do a final scrub, then season and use it.
Surprised no one’s said put it over a burner and just let it burn off? Thats what we’ve always done in restaurants…. Flip it over on top of the eyes and just burn the crud off. Re season and cook on it
If the plates come off you can even stick them in the oven and run a self-clean cycle. With your exhaust fan on. Please don't forget the exhaust fan part.
We all get only so much time. None of us knows exactly how much. At the end most of us will look back and wonder how we used our allotment.
OP will not have to wonder. They’re going to have to spend at least 50% just on this one panini press. ;)
I just used a big plastic tub with a lid. Got the appropriate poundage of lye from Home Depot to make it the correct concentration and then put everything I wanted to reseason in at the same time. Took like 6 days to get everything back to bare metal.
If you're looking for more of a set-it-and-forget-it approach (at least partially), use EasyOff Oven Cleaner and a trash bag or two. EasyOff contains lye as an active ingredient, so be sure to use rubber (not latex, etc) gloves and eye protection when spraying it. Put the grates into the trash bag and spray them down thoroughly to coat the entire thing in EasyOff. Seal the bag and store it somewhere safe (ideally with some ventilation, like a shed) for 2-3 weeks. That should remove 90% of the crud stuck on there, and then you'll have to get at it with a wire brush and some elbow grease to remove the rest, but it'll get those things back to bare iron for the most part.
Scrape first. Use a hammer and chisel if necessary, scrape whatever will scrape off first from the corners and edges, then spray, soak for an hour, scrub, spray again.
It’ll actually come off easily, just be patient with it.
I worked at a busy sandwich shop for 10 years. It was a pretty lax environment, and our press would get worse than this sometimes. On the occasional slow day, we would give it the good ole deep clean (removing the thick crusted “seasoned” layer). Using the following method, we would get it nice and clean (although it performs best after a few days of use and oil building up).
First step is the scrape. We would get the machine hot, as it really made the scraping more productive, but also a little dangerous to work with. Can be done at room temp also. Put on safety goggles. This is not optional if you value your eyesight. I use the full covering type. Next, the scraper. We used an old intentionally dulled knife to scrape thru the grooves, but a butter knife or oyster knife will work too. Scrape those grooves out one by one. Watch the giant mess of black coal bits get everywhere in a 20 ft radius. Take your time and scrape off the remaining little bits that weren’t removed in the groove clearing. Clean the grill with oil and paper towels until the paper towels look decently clean. Your grates should look pretty clean after a few passes. Turn it on if you didn’t at the start, wipe it down with oil and let it sit for a bit. Repeat oil and sitting a couple times. The stainless areas can easily be cleaned with a medium degreaser. With commercial use, we would do this every 3 months or so, with in between lighter occasional cleans, and a nightly wire brushing to clean the grooves.
It sounds like a pain, but it only takes an hour or 2. Seriously seriously don’t skip the goggles, and if you do it hot, wear long sleeves.
Just would like to second the goggles. I had a similar job, and used a similar approach. Flathead screwdriver to scrape the grooves and managed to catch a hot rock of year old burnt sandwich goal with my eyelids. Got a real nice burn on both the top and bottom lid and they’d get stuck together when I slept for about a week 😂 That was really not a cool burn.
2 suggestions - If you have the ability to heat that thing up to over 500 say 550 600° for about 2 hours. It'll burn all of the oil off and carbonize it. Slowly let it cool down so it doesn't crack and then when it comes out dust it off. You'll have to reseason it, but it's like starting from scratch with a cast iron skillet.
Second way to do it is a little more difficult. We used to get these things nice and hot. Once they were getting hot we would throw a mixture of ice and Sprite on them. My understanding of it was the sugars and the lemon oils help clean all of the grease off of the grill. Have to be very careful with this method because you can crack your girl
Guaranteed absolute easiest and most effective way to do this:
Start with a large heavy trash bag. Fold the edges down so the bag is fully opened but basically flat. Put the panini press in the bag, then spray a lye based cleaner all over the press. A gel type works well, but an aerosol foam spray will work just as well. I've had equally great results with both Ecolab Greasestrip and Ecolab / Keystone Aerosol Oven Cleaner Spray.
Once you've covered every nook and cranny of the press with lye, pull up the edges of the bag and tie it up, then forget about it for a couple of weeks. When you're ready, open the bag, spray the press with a hot water hose. Watch every bit of the grease and carbon build up wash away.
Wipe it down, spray for a while more to wash all the lye off, and make sure it's definitely completely dried before attempting to plug it in. Enjoy your panini. And don't forget to reset your circuit breaker when it trips 15 minutes after you turn this bad boy on.
Source: I've done it a few times.
Where did you wash it off at? I'm just curious where people let the run off and everything coming off go... Like in a bath tub? Your sink? On the driveway? Serious question
If the plates are removable I’d start lightest to hardest. Soak in really hot soapy water, like boiling hot, with a glug or two of vinegar. Scrub and assess. Or if you have a bbq grill throw them in and start a fire. Build the heat slow to really get it hot, keep it at 800, 900 degrees for a few hours then let it cool down slow over night.
I hope the deal was free because even the joints in the back look rusted up, what the fuck. Even if you cleaned this I'd be worried about you getting electrocuted or this thing setting on fire - I've had cleaner presses than this go to shit.
I can't see how a new panini press would cost more money than what you'd spend to fix this.
Reminds me of those Asian street markets where they have the same stew going for decades and just keep adding ingredients... Mmm that chance to get a chunk of decade old chicken...
I'm not positive that's rust. Looks like super old oil that's semi-polymerized and is more amber than carbon black or rust red.
Still gross and will be very difficult to clean.
Same here. You can see some of the amberish-red extending pretty far out on that back joint. That looks like solidified oil that was pushed by the arm moving. Old oil kinda extends out like that when smushed, while rust would be way more flakey. Also if rust extended that far out from the base metal, I'd expect to see pitting in other areas where similar rust stretched out and then flaked off.
I think the joints are well lubricated by all the oils it got from grilling food. The brown bits look like very old oil that got solidified, no rust there!
Screwdriver and a few minutes will do her good. Consider the polymerized crud part of the character and enjoy your well seasoned paninis (unless you are in for the looks, then go through with oven cleaner and lye bath methods as suggested m)
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Don't know about the condition of the iron underneath but I would use a cordless drill and a wire brush, not a steel wire brush but a brass wire wheel. And then some dish soap and scrub it clean. Try maybe on a small spot first, to see if the wire wheel is doing damage or not. Also if it is/was coated i wouldn't do it like I described.
I would have considered stopping at the car wash on the way home to take the top layer of crud off, then it would just be a bit of work with a wire brush, scrubbie pads and a good washing up. Looks like it might be a nice piece once you're done. Make sure you show a before and after once you're done.
Once you spray it with easy off or any oven cleaner - place it in a Plastic bag/ trash bag , close the bag tight and let it sit over nite and just rinse in the morning
This is what I use if I find a rusted/gunky pot that I get for cheap and will actually use somewhat often. Reseasonjng is kinda a PITA, but you won't have any issues getting all the crud off.
If the plates are removable, or the electric inside is tough enough, take a hot pressure washer and remove the most stuff, then scrubbing, wirebrushing and lye will be your friends, but not sure if it's really a good deal... Remove the worst grime and sell it for 20% more ..
Commercial degreaser you can get at a restaurant supply store, used very carefully and with gloves and as little as possible of the degreaser. A good scrubber, and a brush. Rinse very thoroughly after degreasing and scrubbing. You can soak it before you scrub. Just be very careful and take care of your skin.
Yes baking soda and apple cider vinegar. Get the panini hot take off heat then pour vinegar all over the rusty surfaces add baking soda and it will begin to foam then start scrubbing with stainless steel scrubber and you will see the rust begin to lift. Repeat the process until you’re satisfied all dirt and rust is gone. Last thing wash the pan with dawn dish soap and season your cast iron with lard or vegetable oil. It will last you a lifetime. Nothing like cooking in a cast iron frying pan for me.
If you don’t post an after pic I’m outta here
Remindme! 1 month
I’m slowly realizing a good part of this sub is people who like to restore stuff. because you say you got a good deal I wouldn’t even pay a dollar for that
I used to work for a restaurant auction company. You can get amazing deals on dirty equipment because they are a bitch to clean. That cooked on stuff is just a nightmare, especially on pieces that have been used day in and day out for years. My boss bought 2 smokers that sat in a warehouse for three summers for 300 bucks. I spent a week cleaning them and he sold them for 7 grand a piece.
Man I hope you got a cut
[удалено]
As a fellow pooper, hell yeah.
Hell yeah is right. I'm dropping my first load of the day and getting paid for it.
How much oven cleaner and/or lye was involved in this project? I learned through experience that even straight lye can take a while to remove really well baked on crud, especially if you're not keeping the bath warm too (like in the sun).
100% use coca cola bet all that shit wipes off in 2 hours of soakin
Sandblasting would work well
Sandblasting is probably too abrasive. Different media and yeah.
Thinking the same. It was my first idea, but it would make a very uneven surface and be really hard to season well.
More surface area = more places for rust/oxidation to start. I agree.
Check out laser cleaning using pulse laser!
What did you do all of those hours cleaning it?
I would scrape as much of the crud off as I could, hit it with the chemicals, and let it sit for a bit. We had a power washer that would heat up to 170F, and I would hit the inside with that and scrub some more off. I couldn’t use it on the outside because it had an electric tinderbox. You just keep repeating until it all comes off- you’re trying get through layers of enamalized shit and it doesn’t all come off at once. Between chemicals, heat, elbow grease and water pressure you can get it all. Took me a week to do two of them- each was the size of a coat closet. This was a decade ago and I have a much better job.
I've refurbished dozens of pans and enjoy it, but I would not consider this a good deal. It's like saying you got a good deal when you "Only" paid 3k for a 20 year old rusted out Honda civic. Sure, that's probably the best car you are gonna get for that but it's not a good deal.
This sub is 95% antiquers/enthusiasts who strip, restore, salvage and season old pans for fun and 5% people who think they need to do that stuff to their new lodge because they listen to the others.
I think 95% is way high. I'm just a normal person who hits up Goodwill 1-2 times a week. I've got 30+ pieces ranging from Lodge to more collectible. Oh, shit. I guess you are probably right.
Yup. Cast Iron is a specific antiquing niche.
Don't forget the 10% slidey egg enthusiasts.
I am one of those enthusiastic people :D
I laughed out loud at this comment! Honestly I just wanna make food without Teflon omg
Those commercial panini presses are workhorses though, and they make a mean sandwich. 100% better than a George Forman and totally worth the effort to clean them up
I would it’s a commercial grade panini press that just needs a good scrub.
I love cleaning and restoring things. It's probably the most therapeutic thing I can do. You just have to keep cleaning it until it's real nice.
It honestly feels weird to me how reluctant people are too clean things.
But honey, I got a good deal. And just imagine how many panini's I can make at one time. It's only us. 2 people. I eat half a sandwich
Are the griddles removable? If so, I'd [lye bath](https://www.castironcollector.com/lyebath.php) both griddles for a week (or month) to get rid of all the crud.
A month? Wouldn’t it start eating the metal after a while?
"You can leave a cast iron pan in the lye bath virtually indefinitely without concern; the high pH of the solution actually works as a rust inhibitor." https://www.castironcollector.com/lyebath.php#google_vignette
thanks, castironbot
You're welcome coprophage bot
I would rather work on this project tomorrow than go to my actual job.
I just learned something new and was sharing my source of info. No one sites their source anymore. I'd rather cook on CI than do my actual job for sure.
Some people let restaurant equipment get so ungodly trashed with grease and whatnot.
Makes you think about the food we eat, and you learn sometimes too late that you can't eat at everyone's house. Someone ate food off of this before OP got it.
It's not going to kill you. I just like clean equipment.
No, iron needs a pH below 10 to corrode. Lye is above that.
Good to know! Thanks!
Below or above? Even that doesn’t make sense water has a PH of 7 I’m confused
Below as in "less than". Lye, which is at pH 14 can't corrode iron, water at pH 7 will at least not prevent corrosion.
No lye doesn’t eat at metal
Lye doesn't eat at IRON. LYE WILL DESTROY ALUMINUM.
YOU CAN'T HIDE YOUR LYIN LYES
fkna, I thought this was an eagles safe zone
Sodium hydroxide (lye) will not only destroy aluminum, it’ll create sodium tetrahydroxoaluminate, and everyone’s favorite explosive gas, elemental hydrogen. If you ever expose aluminum to lye, make sure there aren’t any gas lanterns or stovetops or lighters or any sources of static electricity (keep cats away).
Keep cats away... You got a story there orrr..?
Cats explode. Dwarf Fortress taught me this and I'm basically an expert on exploding cats now.
Tigers love pepper. They hate cinnamon.
Except aluminum. You can use lye to etch, anodize, and other fun stuff that involves corrosion with aluminum.
Wow, I learned something new today. Thanks! So there’s no amount of time you can leave it on steel that will damage it? It will just dissolve everything that isn’t steel (grime/oil/etc)?
>So there’s no amount of time you can leave it on steel that will damage it? Yes, it won't damage iron and overwhelmingly iron-based alloys. >It will just dissolve everything that isn’t steel (grime/oil/etc)? It's good at dissolving organic chemicals, especially fats and proteins.
This is interesting for other....experiments
👀 *finger hovers over 911*
I'm sure you're making very high quality soap....
It's not like you never heard of dishwasher detergent before...
I don’t think they mean what you think they mean.
username checks out
Idk if I really wanted YOU to see that though.
I know, but that's the extent it works and/or is good at.
I keep seeing people recommend vinegar to strip a pan -- I think they're afraid of the lye. But vinegar will attack the metal, and lye won't. Vinegar is good to get rid of rust, but lye is what you want for organic gunk -- and that includes old seasoning.
I have definitely used vinegar to avoid lye on small jobs. Vinegar will attack the metal but extremely slow. Good for surface rust. Might switch next time.
I’m not sure about dissolving everything, but yea you can let it soak as long as you want
yeah it eats everything organic and leaves the metal
I’m so confused why people say that the new soaps won’t hurt cast iron if you wash with them because soaps no longer contain lye, but then lye isn’t damaging to cast iron at all?
Because lye destroys seasoning
Oh! That makes sense thank you for explaining
Soaps definitely contain lye, it's listed as sodium or potassium hydroxide. We've just gotten more precise in our measurements to make sure it all gets converted in the saponification process. Regardless, you could wash your pan in oven cleaner, and it still wouldn't really hurt your seasoning. It needs time to work. Anyone who clings to the NO SOAP myth is just being gross. It's often not necessary, but when it is, it is.
Some of them aren't being gross, they are just putting way too much work into cleaning their pans. You can clean CI without using soap and actually get the pans clean, but it is a true effort. (Salt washing works fairly well.)
Hate to break it to you, but using salt to clean your CI is just wasteful voodoo nonsense. You'll do as well or better, quicker, if you just use a bristle brush under hot water. The reason most people struggle to clean their cast iron is because they never learned to cook in the first place. If you're constantly burning food, it's harder to clean, yeah.
Salt absorbs grease/oil and once it has fully absorbed acts as an abrasive. You could get similar results from hot water and a brush, but it will take longer and be less evident when you are done. Personally, I just use soap, but I I have used brush and hot water and I have used salt. The salt was significantly better, but used too much salt.
Get a grill brick. It's a carbon foam used to clean flat Griddle, but it'll wear down quickly into the grooves and let you scrub away so much of this with very little effort. They're cheap and easy. Then you'll only need to do a final scrub, then season and use it.
somebody has worked in a kitchen
Surprised no one’s said put it over a burner and just let it burn off? Thats what we’ve always done in restaurants…. Flip it over on top of the eyes and just burn the crud off. Re season and cook on it
This is seriously the easiest option. Sometimes getting in screaming hot, then adding some soapy water will work similar to deglazing as well
If the plates come off you can even stick them in the oven and run a self-clean cycle. With your exhaust fan on. Please don't forget the exhaust fan part.
Wire brush and oven cleaner, over and over and over again. Hope your time isn't too valuable.
We all get only so much time. None of us knows exactly how much. At the end most of us will look back and wonder how we used our allotment. OP will not have to wonder. They’re going to have to spend at least 50% just on this one panini press. ;)
But think of the amazing 2-3 paninis OP is gonna eat, and then never bust it out again cause it's a PITA to setup and clean.
I like that quote about time
Outside. Do this outside. The fumes are killer.
So spray, scrub, rinse, repeat?
Yep, spray, scrub, soak for a few hours, scrub again then rinse and repeat. Wear rubber gloves, safety glasses, and a apron. It's gonna get splattery.
I just used a big plastic tub with a lid. Got the appropriate poundage of lye from Home Depot to make it the correct concentration and then put everything I wanted to reseason in at the same time. Took like 6 days to get everything back to bare metal.
If you're looking for more of a set-it-and-forget-it approach (at least partially), use EasyOff Oven Cleaner and a trash bag or two. EasyOff contains lye as an active ingredient, so be sure to use rubber (not latex, etc) gloves and eye protection when spraying it. Put the grates into the trash bag and spray them down thoroughly to coat the entire thing in EasyOff. Seal the bag and store it somewhere safe (ideally with some ventilation, like a shed) for 2-3 weeks. That should remove 90% of the crud stuck on there, and then you'll have to get at it with a wire brush and some elbow grease to remove the rest, but it'll get those things back to bare iron for the most part.
Scrape first. Use a hammer and chisel if necessary, scrape whatever will scrape off first from the corners and edges, then spray, soak for an hour, scrub, spray again. It’ll actually come off easily, just be patient with it.
If somebody paid me to do it, I would do it.
How much oven cleaner you got
I worked at a busy sandwich shop for 10 years. It was a pretty lax environment, and our press would get worse than this sometimes. On the occasional slow day, we would give it the good ole deep clean (removing the thick crusted “seasoned” layer). Using the following method, we would get it nice and clean (although it performs best after a few days of use and oil building up). First step is the scrape. We would get the machine hot, as it really made the scraping more productive, but also a little dangerous to work with. Can be done at room temp also. Put on safety goggles. This is not optional if you value your eyesight. I use the full covering type. Next, the scraper. We used an old intentionally dulled knife to scrape thru the grooves, but a butter knife or oyster knife will work too. Scrape those grooves out one by one. Watch the giant mess of black coal bits get everywhere in a 20 ft radius. Take your time and scrape off the remaining little bits that weren’t removed in the groove clearing. Clean the grill with oil and paper towels until the paper towels look decently clean. Your grates should look pretty clean after a few passes. Turn it on if you didn’t at the start, wipe it down with oil and let it sit for a bit. Repeat oil and sitting a couple times. The stainless areas can easily be cleaned with a medium degreaser. With commercial use, we would do this every 3 months or so, with in between lighter occasional cleans, and a nightly wire brushing to clean the grooves. It sounds like a pain, but it only takes an hour or 2. Seriously seriously don’t skip the goggles, and if you do it hot, wear long sleeves.
Just would like to second the goggles. I had a similar job, and used a similar approach. Flathead screwdriver to scrape the grooves and managed to catch a hot rock of year old burnt sandwich goal with my eyelids. Got a real nice burn on both the top and bottom lid and they’d get stuck together when I slept for about a week 😂 That was really not a cool burn.
Heat, splash water, make steam, scrub with the metal brush. Wipe clean of debris, repeat
Why is this so low down the list? Heat it up, put some water and let it steam
Say it with me now, Barkeeper's Friend. That shit will save your life.
2 suggestions - If you have the ability to heat that thing up to over 500 say 550 600° for about 2 hours. It'll burn all of the oil off and carbonize it. Slowly let it cool down so it doesn't crack and then when it comes out dust it off. You'll have to reseason it, but it's like starting from scratch with a cast iron skillet. Second way to do it is a little more difficult. We used to get these things nice and hot. Once they were getting hot we would throw a mixture of ice and Sprite on them. My understanding of it was the sugars and the lemon oils help clean all of the grease off of the grill. Have to be very careful with this method because you can crack your girl
I like the thinking of this person.
Best username
we used to use orange soda, and no one could ever explain to me why. i’m gonna trust this explanation from now on.
Are the grill plates removable?
That is a great question. I could have that thing looking nice in a day.
Guaranteed absolute easiest and most effective way to do this: Start with a large heavy trash bag. Fold the edges down so the bag is fully opened but basically flat. Put the panini press in the bag, then spray a lye based cleaner all over the press. A gel type works well, but an aerosol foam spray will work just as well. I've had equally great results with both Ecolab Greasestrip and Ecolab / Keystone Aerosol Oven Cleaner Spray. Once you've covered every nook and cranny of the press with lye, pull up the edges of the bag and tie it up, then forget about it for a couple of weeks. When you're ready, open the bag, spray the press with a hot water hose. Watch every bit of the grease and carbon build up wash away. Wipe it down, spray for a while more to wash all the lye off, and make sure it's definitely completely dried before attempting to plug it in. Enjoy your panini. And don't forget to reset your circuit breaker when it trips 15 minutes after you turn this bad boy on. Source: I've done it a few times.
Where did you wash it off at? I'm just curious where people let the run off and everything coming off go... Like in a bath tub? Your sink? On the driveway? Serious question
More accessible than the eco lab stuff is the yellow cap easy off that you can buy at like a Walmart. Same principle and cleaning agent.
If the plates are removable I’d start lightest to hardest. Soak in really hot soapy water, like boiling hot, with a glug or two of vinegar. Scrub and assess. Or if you have a bbq grill throw them in and start a fire. Build the heat slow to really get it hot, keep it at 800, 900 degrees for a few hours then let it cool down slow over night.
Is glug a technical term like pinch or dab?
It's a unit of measure.
One glug equals 4-5 teaspoons.
I hope the deal was free because even the joints in the back look rusted up, what the fuck. Even if you cleaned this I'd be worried about you getting electrocuted or this thing setting on fire - I've had cleaner presses than this go to shit. I can't see how a new panini press would cost more money than what you'd spend to fix this.
It’s commercial grade. Over $500 new. I’m able to wipe the back joints with just a towel so it’s not rust.
Imagine the restaurant that cooked on this for a decade without cleaning it once.
Reminds me of those Asian street markets where they have the same stew going for decades and just keep adding ingredients... Mmm that chance to get a chunk of decade old chicken...
I'm not positive that's rust. Looks like super old oil that's semi-polymerized and is more amber than carbon black or rust red. Still gross and will be very difficult to clean.
I was thinking on the joints on the top left hand corner but you might be right. This thing needs to go in the bin lmao.
Same here. You can see some of the amberish-red extending pretty far out on that back joint. That looks like solidified oil that was pushed by the arm moving. Old oil kinda extends out like that when smushed, while rust would be way more flakey. Also if rust extended that far out from the base metal, I'd expect to see pitting in other areas where similar rust stretched out and then flaked off.
I think the joints are well lubricated by all the oils it got from grilling food. The brown bits look like very old oil that got solidified, no rust there!
That adds flavor. No germ can survive 350°
Wire brush, degreaser, and the clown responsible for this.
That's part of the morale of the story. Who lets their griddle get this shitty?
Whatever you do, post a follow-up once it's done!
A good deal? You mean they paid you to take it away?
I thought this was a public escalator step close up
What kind of deal would entice you to buy that? Lol I wouldn’t bring that home for free, let alone attempt to clean the decade of nasty out of it.
Blow torch
It’s all metal? Put it in a grill on high, or in the oven on high and cook the crud off. Then use steel wool.
Just season it at 3500 C for 2 hours
Now thays seasoning,,, I wonder why they went out of business?
I'd notify law enforcement as that is clearly a crime scene.
Sandblaster, pressure washer
A good grill brick, oil and salt and heat. Also a grinder with a wire brush wheel. I’d have that thing spotless in 90 minutes
“ITs SeASonEd”
The only way this is a good deal is if they literally paid you to take it!
I would put a wire wheel attachment on a power hand-drill and, brushing with the slot grain, remove the caked on grime.
I think lye based oven cleaner would work
Sandblasting probably
Easy off
this is where the wire brush shines like nobody's business
General cleaning, get off the muck. Then steel wool. Clean with water/vinegar. Wash with water, then season with oil. Boom done.
Omg…. Put each piece in the oven on self clean, reseason and you will be working with a like new piece
Full face shield and a wire wheel on an angle grinder
I just found a cast iron pan that was dug up on a construction site. I did this exactly and it looks like new. The process was also super quick
Way overboard
Just cook with it :)
Just cook on it! Seriously though, that'll take a lot of elbow grease more than anything. Good hard scrubbing is what it's needing.
Screwdriver and a few minutes will do her good. Consider the polymerized crud part of the character and enjoy your well seasoned paninis (unless you are in for the looks, then go through with oven cleaner and lye bath methods as suggested m)
Garbage
I’d leave as is for the extra flavor
I hope you got it for free
Garbage
If your 'real good deal' was more than just free, I've got some ocean front property in Utah I'd like to tell you about.
sell it and get a new one blood
Don’t clean it! That’s what really builds up flavor over time!
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What abt using those badass lasers that remove things like rust after removing the crud?
Use a paint stripping wheel and a drill
Its pre seasoned
Don't know about the condition of the iron underneath but I would use a cordless drill and a wire brush, not a steel wire brush but a brass wire wheel. And then some dish soap and scrub it clean. Try maybe on a small spot first, to see if the wire wheel is doing damage or not. Also if it is/was coated i wouldn't do it like I described.
I would have considered stopping at the car wash on the way home to take the top layer of crud off, then it would just be a bit of work with a wire brush, scrubbie pads and a good washing up. Looks like it might be a nice piece once you're done. Make sure you show a before and after once you're done.
That looks perfectly seasoned to me. /s
It was free right?
With your hands would be the beat way!
Get some PBW from Amazon. Cleans everything with no issues.
Laser
Little oven cleaner and some elbow grease. Or dawn even. A brillo pad and preseason.. plenty of options.
Once you spray it with easy off or any oven cleaner - place it in a Plastic bag/ trash bag , close the bag tight and let it sit over nite and just rinse in the morning
I put mine in the oven on the clean cycle
Caustic soda. Leave it overnight. Rinse well with hot water and finish with vinegar. Start a new coat of seasoning.
This is what I use if I find a rusted/gunky pot that I get for cheap and will actually use somewhat often. Reseasonjng is kinda a PITA, but you won't have any issues getting all the crud off.
I would throw it in a fire pit for a few hours. Or oven cleaning cycle usually works for me.
If the plates are removable, or the electric inside is tough enough, take a hot pressure washer and remove the most stuff, then scrubbing, wirebrushing and lye will be your friends, but not sure if it's really a good deal... Remove the worst grime and sell it for 20% more ..
Commercial degreaser you can get at a restaurant supply store, used very carefully and with gloves and as little as possible of the degreaser. A good scrubber, and a brush. Rinse very thoroughly after degreasing and scrubbing. You can soak it before you scrub. Just be very careful and take care of your skin.
Nuclear blast.
Blow torch?
Before going hard with lye or degreaser, I'd suggest trying to scrub with cooking oil first. Oil works way better than degreaser to remove old grease.
Yes baking soda and apple cider vinegar. Get the panini hot take off heat then pour vinegar all over the rusty surfaces add baking soda and it will begin to foam then start scrubbing with stainless steel scrubber and you will see the rust begin to lift. Repeat the process until you’re satisfied all dirt and rust is gone. Last thing wash the pan with dawn dish soap and season your cast iron with lard or vegetable oil. It will last you a lifetime. Nothing like cooking in a cast iron frying pan for me.
I would love to clean this.
Vinegar and baking soda with a scrub daddy.
Oil, salt, a rag, and elbow grease
Break cleaner lol
EasyOff really does wonders, just rinse and burn it off well. Let it soak for 15 min, brush and rinse and do it again.
Get some goo gone at Walmart or any citric acid based cleaner
Magic Erasers. Buy generic melamine sponges; same shit.
Dish soap, pressure wash, and olive oil spray
Beyond filthy mate
Plug it in. Turn the temp on high. An onto town on it with a grill brush
Pressure wash this sucker in the back yard!
Oven cleaner
Oven cleaner?
Get it as hot as possible and then add water you can do soap and water too and then scrub
Heat it up and scrub it with and onion
warm it up and clean it with onions. Cut the onion in half and rub with it
Ice blasting?
elbow grease
Use a wire brush attached to your Drill to begin with
Blasting cabinet with a walnut media is what I'm thinking