Spring Cleaning My Weber Genesis Grill And GrillGrates

It's Spring and that means spring cleaning. For me that starts with my grills and particularly my gas grill. It has been a workhorse for me for a full year. I bought the Weber Genesis E310 last April and grilled literally 50 weeks a year 4-5 times a week. That equals 200 – 250 grillings in one year!   
I am really pleased with this Weber Genesis gas grill. It replaced an old 'built-in' that came with the house we bought a few years ago. I don't cover it or baby it either. I think it likes being run nearly every day.  But now its time to go under the hood and see what a year of hard grilling looks like, and get ready for a summer of grate grilling.
Since I've never really cleaned the GrillGrates off the grill, they have been long over due for a deep cleaning so they went off to soak in simple green while I went back to the grill to check on the burners and whatever cleaning is needed.
The first thing that struck me was the amount of debris and charred build-up that was in the bottom of the grill. I expected GrillGrates to minimize that but with my amount of grilling it reinforced how much VOLUME of DRIPPINGS are produced in grilling. Think about it- most of the charred remains are drippings and nothing more.
I am also taking my own advice and replacing my grill brushes. They too have seen an years worth of abuse and weather.  A clean fresh start, just like Spring.  This year I vow to do a better job of cleaning my GrillGrates. I admit to being my own crash dummy and erring to minimal cleaning I'm want to see how the fastidious customers care for their GrillGrates!
My Weber Genesis is ready for another grrrrrate year of grilling!