Bricking a Commercial Griddle: Pro Seasoning Guide
Bricking and Seasoning a Commercial Griddle: The Operator's Complete Guide
Bricking is the single most misunderstood step in commercial griddle maintenance. Operators are told to do it, told not to do it, told to do it nightly, told to do it monthly, told to do it on chrome, told it will destroy chrome, and then handed a piece of pumice with no instructions and an expensive plate to ruin. This guide is written for the people who actually have to make that decision: the line cook closing the kitchen at midnight, the kitchen manager building the weekly deep-clean checklist, the food truck operator trying to keep a single griddle alive through a festival weekend, and the owner-operator who just spent three or four thousand dollars on a new flat top and would like to keep it for the next ten years.
Everything below is built around how the bricking step interacts with the rest of the routine. Bricking is the abrasive restoration tool that resets a steel cooking surface back to a uniform, micro-smooth substrate. It is the companion to chemical cleaning, not a replacement for it, and it is the precursor to seasoning, not the same task. The full sequence reads scrape, clean, brick, rinse, dry, oil, polymerize, repeat. Every section in this guide expands one part of that sequence with operator-level detail: brick selection, plate identification, technique, scheduling by operation type, oil selection, polymerization science explained without the chemistry lecture, troubleshooting for the four classic seasoning failures, model-specific notes for Atosa CookRite plates, and a final tools comparison covering the brick, the screen, the non-abrasive pad, and the scraper.
If you are already cleaning the plate but you keep ending up with sticky, flaking, or uneven seasoning, the diagnostic sections will tell you why. If you have just bought a brand-new griddle from us with free freight, you need the new-plate protocol, which is different from the restoration protocol and is also covered below. If you are deciding what brick, scraper, and cleaner to keep on the line, the toolset sections cover exact widths and case sizes. The companion piece to this guide is the commercial griddle cleaning guide, which covers the chemical side of the routine in depth. Read both together. Bricking without cleaning is restoration without prep, and cleaning without bricking is prep without restoration; neither one alone holds a plate in long-term shape.
For broader equipment context, the master commercial griddle pillar, the Atosa griddle guide, and the stainless steel griddle guide cover plate selection and product fit. The electric griddle guide covers a slightly different bricking context where temperature control comes from a thermostat rather than a burner valve. The full commercial griddle collection lists the units we ship.
Chrome Griddle Alert: Why You Must Never Brick a Chrome Plate
Before any other section in this guide, before any brick, scraper, or oil bottle comes out of the kit, the operator has to identify the plate. The reason is simple and absolute. A grill brick used on a chrome plate destroys the chrome plating permanently. The pumice cuts micro-scratches across the bright chrome surface, the steel substrate underneath becomes exposed, the chrome layer flakes, and the plate cannot be re-plated in the field. The damage is visible inside a single bricking session and the replacement cost runs into thousands of dollars. There is no warranty path back from this. The OEM will not cover bricking damage to a chrome plate.
This is the single most expensive mistake an operator can make with a grill brick. It happens regularly in commercial kitchens because the brick is treated as a generic cleaning tool, the chrome plate is treated as a generic griddle, and the conversation never happens at training. The protocol below makes that conversation impossible to skip.
How to identify a chrome plate vs a steel plate
A chrome plate has a mirror-bright reflective finish when new. You can see your face in it from across the kitchen. The surface stays bright even after heavy service because the chrome does not absorb seasoning. There is no mahogany patina that develops over months of cooking, because chrome will not take a seasoning layer the way carbon steel does. The edges show a slight metallic shine at the trough. If the plate looks like polished stainless and stays that way through the shift, it is chrome. A steel plate is dull gray to start, develops a mottled brown-black patina within two weeks of use, and continues to darken with months of service. The patina is the polymerized oil layer bonded to the steel. Steel plates respond to bricking because the patina is what the brick is designed to abrade and reset. Chrome plates have nothing to reset.
Chrome protocol and damage recovery
Chrome plates require water, a Palmetto brush (or a soft nylon brush), and a food-safe chrome polish if discoloration appears. No brick, no screen, no abrasive pad, no harsh alkaline cleaner. The commercial griddle cleaning guide covers the full chrome protocol in detail. Anything that abrades steel will damage chrome; the brick is the most aggressive abrasive in the kit and will produce the fastest and worst damage. If a brick has already been used on a chrome plate, inspect the surface for visible scratch tracks, dull patches, and any exposed bare steel under the chrome layer. Light surface scratches may polish out with a food-safe chrome polish, but visible chrome loss is permanent. Continued use will cause rust to bloom through the damaged areas as the exposed steel oxidizes. At that point the plate needs to be replaced. Document the damage, retire the unit if the chrome loss covers more than a small contained zone, and switch to a steel-plate griddle for any operation that needs aggressive carbon restoration.
| Indicator | Steel Plate | Chrome Plate |
|---|---|---|
| Surface finish (new) | Dull gray, matte | Mirror bright, reflective |
| Surface after one week | Light brown patina forming | Still bright, unchanged |
| Surface after one month | Mottled mahogany patina | Still bright, no patina |
| Seasoning layer | Required, builds over time | Not possible, not used |
| Grill brick safe | Yes, with technique | Never, permanent damage |
| Daily abrasive | Screen or scraper | Palmetto brush only |
| Chemical cleaner | ATGC101 | Water and chrome polish |
| Re-seasoning after cleaning | Always | Not applicable |
| Typical Atosa model | ATMG, ATTG (steel plates) | Not standard on Atosa |
What a Grill Brick Actually Is
A grill brick is a compressed pumice block. Pumice is a natural volcanic glass full of trapped air pockets, which makes it light, porous, and abrasive at a controlled grit. The pumice used in commercial grill bricks is food-grade, FDA-cleared for food-contact surfaces, and pressed into a standard block size that fits a brick holder or a folded line towel. The Winco GBK-348 Griddle Brick ships as a twelve-count case of three and a half by four by eight inch blocks, which is the standard commercial size and the case quantity most operators run through in a year of weekly bricking.
The brick works because pumice has a hardness around six on the Mohs scale, which is harder than carbonized grease and the polymerized oil layer but softer than the carbon steel of the cooking surface. The brick lifts carbon and old seasoning without cutting into the steel. The slurry that comes off during a brick pass is a mix of pumice dust, lifted carbon, residual oil, and water. That slurry has to come off the plate fully before any re-seasoning step, or the new oil layer will trap pumice particles and the next polymerized coat will be gritty and uneven.
Why pumice, density, and freshness
Steel wool sheds metal fibers that embed in the steel surface and rust. Sandpaper grit detaches and contaminates the food-contact surface. Pumice is mineral, food-grade, and does not embed; the slurry rinses off cleanly. Steel wool is sometimes used on residential cast iron, where the trade-offs are different, but commercial griddles are heated to 350 to 400 degrees F in service and the residual steel fibers oxidize quickly. Stick with pumice. Commercial grill bricks are largely the same composition across suppliers; variations in density and grit are minor. What matters more than density is the freshness of the brick: a new block has sharp edges and cuts efficiently; a worn block rounds off and starts to skate. When the brick stops cutting and the operator finds themselves pressing harder, swap to a fresh GBK-348 from the case.
The case-of-twelve economics
A twelve-count case of GBK-348 bricks covers a typical commercial kitchen for six to twelve months depending on volume. A high-volume breakfast diner bricking weekly will go through one brick every two to three weeks, or roughly twenty bricks per year, which means a case and a half. A moderate operation bricking every two to four weeks runs through a case in a year. A food truck or low-volume operation bricking monthly can stretch a case across eighteen months. Keep the case in dry storage; pumice absorbs ambient moisture and a damp brick clogs faster.
| Operation Type | Bricking Frequency | Brick Use Per Month | Annual Brick Use | Cases Per Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast diner, high volume | Weekly | 1.5 to 2 bricks | 18 to 24 bricks | 1.5 to 2 cases |
| Burger joint, lunch and dinner | Every 2 weeks | 1 brick | 12 bricks | 1 case |
| Casual dining, moderate | Every 3 to 4 weeks | 0.5 brick | 6 bricks | 0.5 case |
| Food truck, weekend events | Monthly | 0.25 to 0.5 brick | 3 to 6 bricks | 0.25 to 0.5 case |
| Ghost kitchen, single concept | Every 2 weeks | 1 brick | 12 bricks | 1 case |
| Hotel banquet, weekly use | Monthly | 0.25 brick | 3 bricks | 0.25 case |
When You Should Brick a Griddle
Bricking is not a routine cleaning task. It is a restoration step, performed when specific conditions are met on the cooking surface. The four triggers below are the only times a grill brick should come out of the kit on a steel plate.
After chemistry, flaking, carbon, or rust
A high-temperature alkaline cleaner like ATGC101 strips the carbon, grease, and most of the seasoning layer back toward bare steel. After the chemistry pass, neutralize and rinse, then run the brick lightly across the surface to remove the micro-roughness that the chemistry exposed. This step is what makes the next seasoning coat bond evenly. Skipping the brick after a chemistry clean leaves a porous, slightly rough surface that causes the seasoning to lay down unevenly, and the new seasoning will fail in patches within a week. The companion cleaning guide covers the chemistry side and explicitly hands off to this section for the brick step. If the existing seasoning is lifting off the plate in flakes, peeling at the edges, or chipping under the scraper, the layer has lost its bond and needs to come off completely. A brick pass strips the failed seasoning back to bare steel so a fresh multi-coat re-season can bond from a clean substrate. Trying to oil over a flaking seasoning layer just builds a new layer on top of a failing one, and the whole stack will fail together when it finally lifts. If the daily scraper rides over hardened carbon islands rather than cutting through them, the carbon has reached a thickness and hardness that mechanical scraping cannot reset; the brick is the next step. Rust spots on a commercial griddle indicate the seasoning layer has been breached and water has reached bare steel. The brick cuts the rust off mechanically with oil as a lubricant, and the surface is then re-seasoned. Rust that has pitted the steel deeply may require multiple brick passes and a longer rebuild.
When NOT to brick
Daily routine cleaning does not require a brick. Light surface residue lifts with a scraper and a chemistry pass. Bricking a plate that does not need it strips good seasoning, wastes pumice, and adds an hour of re-seasoning labor to a shift that did not need it. Never brick a chrome plate, a composite plate with a chrome top layer, or a stainless plate. Never brick a plate that is at full cooking temperature; the temperature window for bricking is 250 to 300 degrees F. Never brick mid-service; the re-season takes 45 to 60 minutes and the plate is unavailable.
The Bricking Sequence Step by Step
The full bricking sequence runs from scrape through final seasoning coat. The whole routine takes 60 to 90 minutes on a 36-inch plate, longer on 48- to 72-inch plates. Plan it for a scheduled deep-clean shift, not the end of a service.
Drop temperature, scrape, and apply chemistry
Bring the plate down to 250 to 300 degrees F. A plate at full service temperature will splatter oil dangerously when the brick slurry forms, and the cleaning chemistry will flash off before it can dwell. The brick itself cuts fine at 250 to 300 F. Verify the surface temperature across every heating zone with an infrared thermometer rather than guessing by feel or by burner setting; commercial griddles often have a 30 to 50 degree spread between the hottest and coolest zones at the same dial position, and bricking on a zone that is too hot still produces the splatter risk even if the rest of the plate is in spec. Check the center of each burner zone and the cool spots at the corners. On an Atosa ATMG manual griddle, turn the burner valves down and wait for the surface to cool; on an ATTG thermostatic griddle, drop the thermostat setpoint and wait. Then run the Winco SCRP-12 for a 24-inch or 36-inch plate, the Winco SCRP-14 for a 48-inch plate, or the Winco SCRP-16 for a 60- or 72-inch plate across the surface in long even pulls from the far corner toward the trough. This step lifts loose carbon, grease, and food debris into the trough before any chemistry or abrasive work begins. A clean starting surface lets the brick cut into the bonded residue rather than wading through loose debris. Spray ATGC101 across the cooking surface and let it dwell for five to ten minutes. The cleaner foams as it contacts the residue, lifts the grease and carbon at the chemical level, and softens the polymerized layer so the brick can cut through it instead of skating across it. Do not let the chemistry dry on the plate; refresh with a second spray if dwell time runs long.
Brick, squeegee, and rinse
Place the Winco GBK-348 grill brick in a brick holder or wrap it in a folded line towel for hand protection. Work the brick in tight overlapping lanes from the far corner of the plate toward the trough. Use firm even pressure, with the long axis of the brick perpendicular to the direction of travel for the first pass and parallel for the second pass. The first pass cuts the carbon vertically; the second pass smooths the surface horizontally. Reapply chemistry as needed to keep the surface wet and the slurry mobile. The brick will round off and lose cutting edge as it works; swap to a fresh block when the cutting slows. Push the brick slurry into the trough with a squeegee blade, holding the squeegee or the scraper at a 45 degree angle to the plate for maximum surface contact and a clean lift; a flat angle skates over residue, a steep angle digs into the steel. Spray the plate with hot water from a wand or a measured pour to rinse the residual pumice dust off, and squeegee again. Repeat until the plate runs clean. Any residual pumice will end up trapped under the new seasoning layer and will telegraph through to the cooking surface.
White cloth verification
After the final rinse and before the dry pass, wipe the plate with a clean damp white line towel. If the cloth comes away with grey or black streaks, the rinse is not finished; pumice residue, lifted carbon, or chemistry residue is still on the plate. Repeat the hot-water rinse and squeegee until a fresh white towel comes off clean. The white-cloth check is the single best operator-level QA step in the bricking routine because it surfaces residue the eye cannot see at working light. Skipping the check is what causes the next seasoning coat to lay down patchy: a microscopic film of pumice or chemistry residue blocks the oil from bonding to the bare steel underneath. A second value of the white-cloth pass is that it also picks up any brick fragments that broke off during the cutting work; brick fragments left on the plate will fracture under the next seasoning coat and create permanent texture defects.
Dry, oil, and polymerize
Wipe the plate dry with clean line towels. Crank the heat back up to 300 to 350 degrees F to drive off any residual moisture. Any water trapped under the seasoning coat will flash to steam during polymerization and lift the seasoning. Dry is not optional. Apply the first thin oil coat at 350 degrees F. The seasoning steps are covered in detail later in this guide. The first coat lays down the bond layer; coats two through six build the layered polymerized coating that becomes the working seasoning surface.
| Step | Action | Tool | Temperature | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Drop temperature | Burner control / thermostat | Cool to 250-300 F | 10-15 min |
| 2 | Scrape loose debris | SCRP-12 / SCRP-14 / SCRP-16 | 250-300 F | 2-3 min |
| 3 | Apply chemistry | ATGC101 | 250-300 F | 5-10 min dwell |
| 4 | Brick surface | GBK-348 | 250-300 F | 10-15 min |
| 5 | Squeegee and rinse | Squeegee, hot water | 250-300 F | 5 min |
| 6 | Dry completely | Line towels, heat | Bring to 350 F | 5-10 min |
| 7 | Oil and polymerize | Oil bottle, towels | 350-400 F | 30-45 min for 4-6 coats |
The Lane Method of Bricking
The lane method is the standard commercial bricking technique. The plate is divided into mental lanes from the back edge to the trough, and the brick is worked one lane at a time, with overlap between lanes to ensure no zone is missed. The method scales from a 24-inch plate to a 72-inch plate; only the number of lanes changes.
Why lanes work better than circles
Circular scrubbing was the residential standard for years and is still the right approach on small surfaces and cast iron pans. On a commercial griddle, circles miss the edges and overwork the center. Lanes keep the brick moving in a consistent direction, ensure every square inch sees the abrasive the same number of times, and drive the slurry toward the trough with each pass instead of pushing it back across already-cleaned areas.
Lane width, pressure, and pace
A standard brick is four inches wide. Working in lanes of three to three and a half inches with a half-inch overlap on each side gives full coverage with no missed seams. On a 36-inch plate, that is ten to twelve lanes from front to back; on a 48-inch plate, fourteen to sixteen lanes; on a 72-inch plate, twenty to twenty-four lanes. Plan the work; counting lanes is faster than re-running missed zones. Use firm even downward pressure. The brick should produce a steady stream of dark slurry as it cuts; if the slurry is light and dry, increase pressure or refresh the chemistry. If the brick chatters or skips, the surface has dried out and needs a chemistry refresh. The pace is moderate, not aggressive; sprint-bricking burns the cook out and produces uneven results. Plan ten to fifteen minutes for the brick pass on a 36-inch plate.
Vertical pass, then horizontal pass
The first pass runs front-to-back lanes, brick perpendicular to travel, cutting carbon out of the grain of the steel. The second pass runs left-to-right lanes, brick parallel to travel, smoothing the cut surface and reducing the micro-texture. Two passes cover almost every restoration scenario. Heavy rust or thick carbon may justify a third pass at a forty-five degree angle, but two passes is the standard.
| Plate Width | Atosa Model Example | Front-Back Lanes | Left-Right Lanes | Total Brick Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 inches | ATMG-24 | 6 to 8 | 4 to 6 | 7 to 10 min |
| 36 inches | ATMG-36 | 10 to 12 | 6 to 8 | 10 to 15 min |
| 48 inches | ATMG-48 / ATTG-48 | 14 to 16 | 8 to 10 | 15 to 20 min |
| 60 inches | ATTG-60 | 18 to 20 | 10 to 12 | 20 to 25 min |
| 72 inches | ATTG-72 | 22 to 24 | 12 to 14 | 25 to 30 min |
The Polymerization Science Operators Actually Need
The seasoning layer on a commercial griddle is not a layer of oil. It is a polymer. Oil that has been heated above its smoke point undergoes a chemical change called polymerization, in which the fatty acid chains in the oil break their double bonds and form new bonds with neighboring fatty acid chains and with the iron atoms in the steel surface. The result is a continuous network of cross-linked polymer that is bonded to the steel, hardened, and non-porous. That polymer is the seasoning. It is not residue, it is not coating, it is not film. It is a chemical bond.
Why thin coats and smoke matter
Polymerization happens at the surface of the oil layer, where heat and air can reach the oil. A thick oil layer polymerizes on the outside while the interior stays liquid or partially polymerized. The plate looks finished, but the layer is gummy underneath the hardened surface, and it fails when service heat works through it. A thin coat, just enough to wet the plate without pooling, polymerizes through its full depth and bonds completely to the steel. Five thin coats are vastly stronger than one thick coat. Polymerization is also a temperature-driven reaction. The oil has to reach the temperature at which the fatty acid double bonds break, which is the smoke point. Below smoke point, the oil heats and breaks down slowly but does not cross-link efficiently; the result is a soft, sticky residue rather than a hard polymer. Above smoke point, the cross-linking accelerates and the layer hardens to its working state. The visible smoke is the volatile byproducts leaving the surface as the bonds form. When the smoke stops, the coat is done.
Why polyunsaturated fats and iron bonds matter
Polyunsaturated fats have multiple double bonds per molecule. Each double bond is a site where cross-linking can happen. More double bonds means more cross-links, which means a denser, harder polymer network. Monounsaturated fats (single double bond) cross-link more slowly and produce a softer layer. Saturated fats (no double bonds) do not cross-link at all and just degrade into residue with heat. This is why grapeseed oil (heavily polyunsaturated) builds a harder seasoning than canola (mixed) and why butter or lard build essentially no seasoning at all. The iron atoms in the steel surface have available bonding sites at the surface, especially after the brick exposes fresh micro-roughness. The polymerizing fatty acid radicals form covalent bonds with surface iron atoms, anchoring the polymer mechanically and chemically to the substrate. This is why a properly seasoned plate cannot just be wiped off; the seasoning is bonded into the steel, not laid on top of it.
What goes wrong in the chemistry
Three common failures all come back to chemistry. Sticky surface: oil applied too thick, interior did not polymerize, residue is partially cross-linked. Flaking: oil applied to a wet or oily surface, polymer did not bond to iron, layer lifts off when stressed. Uneven color: heat distribution across the plate was uneven during polymerization, some zones reached smoke point and cross-linked, others did not. The diagnostic section later in this guide maps each visible symptom to its root cause.
Oil chemistry by type
| Oil Type | Smoke Point | Polyunsaturated % | Polymerization Quality | Commercial Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Refined avocado | 500 F | 14% | Excellent, hard layer | Premium choice |
| Grapeseed | 420 F | 70% | Excellent, very hard layer | Strong choice |
| Refined canola | 400 F | 28% | Good, moderate hardness | Standard workhorse |
| Refined soybean | 450 F | 58% | Very good | Common food service |
| Peanut | 450 F | 32% | Good | Acceptable |
| Sunflower (high-oleic) | 440 F | varies | Good | Acceptable |
| Corn | 450 F | 54% | Poor, caramelizes | Avoid (sugar burn) |
| Olive (extra virgin) | 375 F | 10% | Poor, flavor transfer | Avoid |
| Butter | 302 F | 3% | None, burns to residue | Never season with |
| Lard | 375 F | 11% | Poor, soft residue | Never season with |
Choosing the Right Seasoning Oil
Three oils cover almost every commercial griddle seasoning scenario: refined avocado, grapeseed, and refined canola. Each has a use case. The choice depends on cost per gallon, smoke point, polymerization speed, and what the operation is willing to pay to season a plate that may need to be re-seasoned every week or two.
Avocado, grapeseed, and canola compared
Refined avocado oil has a smoke point around 500 F, the highest of any common commercial oil. The high smoke point gives a wide working window: the oil reaches polymerization temperature well before the plate hits operating heat, so the polymer forms cleanly. The polymerized layer is hard and durable. The cost per gallon is the highest of the three, which is the only real downside; for a high-end operation that re-seasons monthly rather than weekly, the premium pays back in fewer rebuilds. Avoid unrefined avocado oil; the chlorophyll and other compounds in unrefined oil cause flavor transfer and discoloration. Grapeseed oil has a smoke point around 420 F, with the highest polyunsaturated fat content of any common oil at roughly seventy percent. The high polyunsaturated content means aggressive cross-linking and a very hard polymer layer. Cost is moderate; widely available in food service supply. Many serious commercial operators use grapeseed as their seasoning oil even when they cook on canola, because the seasoning layer holds longer between rebuilds. Refined canola oil has a smoke point around 400 F, a mixed fatty acid profile, low cost, and is widely available. Canola is the workhorse seasoning oil for most commercial kitchens because it is in the kitchen already as a cooking oil. The seasoning layer is moderate hardness, lasts well between rebuilds, and rebuilds cheaply when it fails. The only watch-out is that some refined canola products have additives or are blended; check the label for one hundred percent canola oil.
Oils to avoid
Corn oil polymerizes adequately on paper but carries enough sugar from the corn refining process that it tends to caramelize and burn during the seasoning passes, leaving a sticky residue rather than a hard layer. Olive oil has too low a smoke point (around 375 F for extra virgin, lower for some virgin grades) and transfers flavor; the bitter notes from olive polyphenols end up in the seasoning and from there in the food. Flaxseed oil is a darling of residential cast iron seasoning and builds a beautiful hard layer in controlled conditions, but on a commercial griddle in real working conditions it flakes faster than canola because the very thin polymer is more brittle. Butter, lard, bacon fat, and other saturated animal fats have low smoke points and almost no cross-linking capacity; they degrade to residue rather than polymerize.
Oil quantity per seasoning pass
| Plate Width | Atosa Model | Oil Per Coat | Total Oil 6 Coats |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 inches | ATMG-24 | 1 tbsp (0.5 oz) | 3 oz |
| 36 inches | ATMG-36 | 1.5 tbsp (0.75 oz) | 4.5 oz |
| 48 inches | ATMG-48 / ATTG-48 | 2 tbsp (1 oz) | 6 oz |
| 60 inches | ATTG-60 | 2.5 tbsp (1.25 oz) | 7.5 oz |
| 72 inches | ATTG-72 | 3 tbsp (1.5 oz) | 9 oz |
The Seasoning Process After Bricking
Once the plate is bricked, rinsed, and dried, the seasoning process is what takes the bare steel back to a working cooking surface. The process is four to six thin oil coats, each polymerized fully before the next coat is applied. The whole process runs 30 to 60 minutes depending on plate size and coat count.
Bring the plate up and apply the first coat
Heat the plate to 350 to 400 degrees F. The target is above the smoke point of whichever oil is in use: 400 F for refined canola, 420 F for grapeseed, 500 F for refined avocado. The oil has to reach smoke point to polymerize, so the plate has to be at or above that temperature when the oil hits it. Pour the measured quantity of oil onto the plate. Use a clean folded line towel to spread the oil across the entire cooking surface, edges to edges, in a thin even coat. The coat should be so thin that the plate looks almost dry after spreading. Pooled oil is too much oil. The towel should come away barely darkened. If the plate is shiny with oil, wipe more off. The plate will start to smoke within thirty to ninety seconds. The smoke means polymerization is happening. The color of the surface will change from light shiny to dull amber to dark amber to almost black over two to five minutes. Hold the plate at temperature until the smoke stops. When the smoke stops, the first coat is polymerized.
Repeat for four to six coats and cool
Apply the next coat the same way: small measured quantity, thin even spread, wait for the smoke to stop. Each coat darkens the surface a shade more. After four coats the plate is functional; after six the seasoning is mature. Some operators do eight to ten coats on a first-time seasoning of a new plate, building a thicker baseline before service starts. Diminishing returns set in after six on a previously seasoned plate. After the last coat, turn the burners off and let the plate cool with the final oil coat in place. The cooling plate continues to polymerize at the surface and the final coat finishes hardening as the temperature drops. Do not wipe the final coat off; it is the protective top layer that prevents rust between services. The plate is ready for the next service when it reaches handling temperature.
| Coat | Action | Look | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apply thin oil, spread to edges | Plate looks almost dry | 2-5 min smoke cycle |
| 2 | Apply thin oil, spread, repeat | Plate darkens to amber | 2-5 min smoke cycle |
| 3 | Apply thin oil, spread, repeat | Plate darkens to dark amber | 2-5 min smoke cycle |
| 4 | Apply thin oil, spread, repeat | Plate darkens to brown-black | 2-5 min smoke cycle |
| 5 | Apply thin oil, spread, repeat | Plate reaches mahogany-black | 2-5 min smoke cycle |
| 6 | Apply thin oil, spread, repeat, leave coat in place | Plate fully dark, slight sheen | 2-5 min smoke cycle |
Bricking Schedule by Operation Type
Bricking frequency is not a one-size answer. Different operations stress the plate differently, build different residue patterns, and need different schedules. The six operation profiles below cover most commercial kitchens.
Breakfast diner and burger joint
A breakfast diner runs eggs, pancakes, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage, and grilled sandwiches from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m., six or seven days a week. The plate sees animal proteins, batter sugars, and dairy fats all morning, and carbon buildup from the protein and batter sugars is the dominant failure mode. Schedule weekly bricking, typically Sunday night or whichever day is closed, with a full deep clean and re-season. The ATGC101 chemistry runs daily; the GBK-348 brick runs weekly. Expect to replace the brick every two to three weeks. A burger joint runs beef patties, smashed patties, onions, and bacon from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The plate sees beef fat at high temperature, which polymerizes into the seasoning and builds a stable patina faster than breakfast residue. Carbon buildup is heavier but more uniform. Schedule bricking every two weeks, with daily chemistry cleaning and a smashburger-tight scraper routine between tickets. The smashburger style needs a flat micro-smooth surface and the brick reset keeps that surface in spec.
Food truck, ghost kitchen, banquet, and casual dining
A food truck runs intermittently, often with the griddle sitting unused for three or four days between events. The biggest risk is rust during storage rather than carbon buildup during use. Brick monthly, with an aggressive end-of-event oil coat to protect the plate during storage. If the truck stores in a humid environment, increase to every three weeks. A ghost kitchen running a single concept (smash burgers, breakfast, sandwiches) has more predictable residue patterns than a multi-concept dine-in operation; match the bricking schedule to the dominant protein, with beef-heavy concepts bricking every two weeks, breakfast concepts bricking weekly, and sandwich concepts stretching to every three weeks. A hotel banquet kitchen with intermittent use sees light carbon buildup but high rust risk during long idle periods. Brick monthly, oil heavily at the end of every event, and verify the seasoning before the next event. A casual dining operation running mixed protein dishes (chicken, beef, fish, sandwiches) builds moderate carbon at a moderate pace; brick every three to four weeks with daily chemistry cleaning. The variety of proteins means the seasoning sees a wider range of fats and the polymerized layer rebuilds naturally during service.
| Operation | Brick Frequency | Chemistry Clean | Seasoning Refresh | Daily Scrape |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast diner, high volume | Weekly | After every shift | Light oil daily, full after brick | Between tickets |
| Burger joint, lunch + dinner | Every 2 weeks | After every shift | Light oil daily, full after brick | Between tickets |
| Casual dining, moderate | Every 3-4 weeks | End of day | Oil at close, full after brick | Between proteins |
| Food truck, weekends | Monthly | End of event | Heavy oil for storage | Between tickets |
| Ghost kitchen, single concept | Every 2 weeks | End of day | Oil at close, full after brick | Between batches |
| Hotel banquet, intermittent | Monthly | End of event | Heavy oil for storage | End of event |
New Griddle First Seasoning Protocol
A brand-new griddle does not need bricking. The factory surface is already finished to the manufacturer specification, and the steel is coated with a thin protective mineral oil to prevent rust during shipping and storage. The first job on a new plate is to remove that protective coating, not to abrade the surface. The Atosa ATMG and ATTG instruction manuals specify this exact process, and it matches the industry standard for carbon steel griddles.
Step one, remove the protective coating
Heat the plate to 200 to 300 degrees F. The warmth softens the protective coating without burning it. Apply a mild commercial dish detergent and warm water with a non-abrasive pad, work the surface in long even strokes, and wipe up the loosened coating with clean line towels. A second pass with fresh detergent and water removes any residue. The protective coating must come off completely; any residue left behind will sit between the steel and the new seasoning and prevent proper bonding.
Step two, rinse and dry
Rinse with hot water and squeegee dry. Wipe the surface with clean towels until no residue transfers. Bring the plate up to 300 to 350 degrees F to drive off the final moisture. Confirm the plate is bone dry before any oil hits it.
Step three, season with four to six coats
Run the seasoning process described earlier: thin oil coat, polymerize, repeat. A new plate often takes a sixth or seventh coat better than a previously seasoned plate, because the bare factory steel has the most available iron bonding sites. Build the layer thick. The first seasoning is the foundation for everything that follows.
Why no bricking on a new plate
The factory surface is machined and ground to a controlled finish. Bricking it would abrade the controlled surface and replace it with the operator's brick pattern. Save the brick for restoration; let the factory finish be the starting point. The only exception is a new plate that arrives damaged with rust spots or visible defects, in which case the brick may be needed to repair the damaged zones before seasoning. Contact us about the damage before bricking a new plate; the warranty may cover replacement.
| Condition | Brick Needed | First Step | Seasoning Coats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand-new from factory | No | Remove protective coating with detergent | 4 to 6 |
| New with minor surface rust | Light pass | Detergent, then light brick on rust zones | 4 to 6 |
| Used, good seasoning | No | Standard cleaning, top up seasoning | 1 to 2 refresh |
| Used, flaking seasoning | Yes, full | Strip with brick, restart seasoning | 4 to 6 |
| Used, heavy carbon | Yes, full | Chemistry, brick, restart seasoning | 4 to 6 |
| Used, rusted | Yes, with oil lubricant | Oil-lubricated brick, then chemistry, then season | 5 to 6 |
| Auction or liquidation pickup | Yes, full assessment | Inspect, strip, brick, season | 6 to 8 |
Seasoning Failure Mode One: Sticky Surface
A sticky surface after seasoning is the most common operator complaint. The plate looks dark and seasoned but feels tacky to the touch, food sticks to it during cooking, and the scraper drags rather than glides. The root cause is almost always the same: oil applied too thick.
Why thick oil sticks, how to fix it, and how to prevent it
Polymerization happens at the air-side surface of the oil layer. A thick layer polymerizes on top, sealing the surface, while the interior of the layer remains liquid or partially cross-linked oil. The visible result is a finished-looking plate with a soft sticky underlayer that telegraphs through to the cooking surface during service. The cook sees stickiness and assumes the plate is dirty; the actual problem is the seasoning chemistry never completed.
To fix a sticky plate, the seasoning has to come off. Heat the plate to 300 F, apply ATGC101 to soften the layer, scrape with the matching Winco scraper, brick lightly with the GBK-348 to remove the underlayer, rinse, dry, and restart the seasoning with thinner coats. Each new coat should look almost dry after spreading; if the plate is shiny, wipe more off.
To prevent it next time, measure the oil. A 36-inch plate takes about three-quarters of an ounce of oil per coat, not three ounces. A small squeeze bottle with a measured pour, or a one-tablespoon measuring spoon, prevents over-oiling. Wipe each coat almost dry after spreading. Wait for the smoke to stop fully on each coat before applying the next. Patience prevents stickiness.
Sticky surface diagnostic
| Symptom | Likely Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Whole plate tacky | Oil layer too thick across surface | Strip and re-season with thin coats |
| Edges tacky, center fine | Edges cooler, oil did not reach smoke point | Bring edges up to temperature, finish polymerization |
| Tacky after one coat | Coat was wiped too little | Wipe more aggressively next time |
| Tacky after six coats | Cumulative over-oiling | Strip and restart with measured oil |
| Tacky spots where food was | Food residue under oil coat | Scrape and clean before seasoning |
Seasoning Failure Mode Two: Flaking and Peeling
Flaking seasoning lifts off the plate in chips, often after a few days of service following a re-season. The plate looks scaly, food picks up dark flecks, and the surface feels rough rather than smooth. The root cause is failure of the polymer to bond to the iron substrate.
Why flaking happens, how to fix it, and how to prevent it
The seasoning polymer needs clean, bare iron to bond to. If the plate had residual moisture, residual chemistry, residual food, or residual pumice slurry when the oil hit it, the polymer bonds to the contaminant rather than the iron. The layer holds for a few cycles and then lifts off in flakes when service heat stresses it. Flaking is a bonding failure, not a thickness failure.
To fix flaking, strip the flaking layer back to bare steel. Run the full bricking sequence with ATGC101 and the GBK-348, rinse thoroughly, dry completely with heat, and restart the seasoning. Pay particular attention to drying; any moisture under the new oil coat causes flaking on its own.
To prevent flaking, brick after every chemistry clean so the new seasoning lays down on bare iron, not on residual chemistry-soaked steel. Rinse the brick slurry off completely. Dry the plate fully before oiling, with heat if necessary. Apply the first coat to a hot dry plate, not a warm wet plate.
Flaking diagnostic
| Symptom | Likely Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Whole plate flaking in chips | Bonding failure across surface | Strip, dry, re-season on clean iron |
| Flakes only at edges | Edges had residual chemistry or water | Dry edges aggressively, focus oil |
| Flaking after one week | Pumice or chemistry residue trapped under coat | Strip and rebuild with full rinse |
| Black flakes coming off mid-service | Carbon buildup over weak seasoning | Brick and rebuild seasoning |
| Flakes plus rust spots | Moisture broke the seasoning bond | Address storage moisture, rebuild |
Seasoning Failure Mode Three: Uneven Color
Uneven seasoning color shows up as patches of dark mahogany next to patches of light amber or even bare gray steel after a seasoning pass. The plate looks blotchy rather than uniformly dark. The cooking performance follows the visible pattern: dark zones cook hot, light zones cook cool, and the food product is uneven across the plate.
Why uneven color happens, how to fix it, and how to prevent it
Heat distribution across the plate during the seasoning pass was not uniform. Zones above the burners reached smoke point and polymerized fully; zones over the gaps between burners or at the cold edges did not reach smoke point and only partially polymerized. The visible color follows the heat map of the burners.
To fix uneven color, hold the plate at full seasoning temperature longer to let the cooler zones come up. On a manual ATMG griddle, this may mean cranking the affected burner higher; on a thermostatic ATTG griddle, the thermostat should hold the setpoint consistently, but the burner placement still creates hot and cold zones. Apply the next seasoning coat with the plate fully equilibrated at temperature and wait for the smoke pattern to be uniform across the plate before considering the coat done.
To prevent uneven color, bring the plate up to seasoning temperature and hold it for at least ten minutes before the first oil coat to let the heat distribute fully. Verify with an infrared thermometer that all zones are within twenty degrees F of each other. Apply oil evenly across the plate, not in pools that bias toward one zone. Use an oil bottle with a fine pour spout rather than a glug from a jug.
Uneven color diagnostic
| Pattern | Likely Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Dark over burners, light between | Standard burner heat map | Hold temperature longer, equilibrate |
| Light edges, dark center | Edge heat loss to air | Crank edge burners higher |
| Light corners, dark elsewhere | Corner heat loss, cold spots | Focus oil application at corners |
| Spotty across plate | Uneven oil application | Spread oil more carefully |
| One half dark, other half light | Burner imbalance or thermostat issue | Service the burner or thermostat |
Seasoning Failure Mode Four: Excess Smoke
A plate that smokes heavily with no food on it, even after a clean and re-season, is signaling that the seasoning layer has built up too thick or was built with the wrong fat. The smoke is the polymerized layer continuing to break down at service temperature, releasing volatile byproducts. The fix is to strip and rebuild correctly.
Why excess smoke happens, how to fix it, and how to prevent it
Two causes. First, the cumulative seasoning layer is too thick from repeated over-oiling, and the outer surface keeps polymerizing and breaking down on every shift. Second, the seasoning was built with a low-smoke-point oil (butter, olive, lard, corn) and the residue burns off at every service. Either way, the layer cannot stabilize at cooking temperature.
To fix excess smoke, strip the seasoning back to bare steel with the full bricking sequence. Restart the seasoning with a high-smoke-point oil (refined avocado, grapeseed, or refined canola) and thin measured coats. Avoid stacking new oil on top of the smoking layer; that just adds to the problem.
To prevent excess smoke, use only high-smoke-point oils for seasoning. Apply thin coats. Polymerize each coat fully before the next. Do not season with cooking oil residue from the last service. The seasoning coat is a deliberate process, not a side effect of cooking.
Smoke diagnostic
| Symptom | Likely Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Smoke at 300 F, no food | Low-smoke-point oil in seasoning | Strip, rebuild with high-smoke-point oil |
| Smoke at 350 F, no food | Seasoning layer too thick | Strip back, rebuild thinner |
| Smoke after putting food down | Normal at 400 F with oil contact | Not a failure, expected |
| Acrid smoke smell | Burned animal fat in seasoning | Strip and rebuild with plant oil |
| Persistent smoke through service | Cumulative buildup | Schedule strip and rebuild |
The Brick, Screen, Pad, and Scraper Toolset
Four abrasive tools cover all the cleaning and restoration work on a commercial steel griddle. Each has a specific job and the wrong tool in the wrong job either fails to clean or actively damages the plate. The decision tree below maps the symptom to the tool.
Grill brick
The Winco GBK-348 grill brick is the heavy restoration tool. Use it for stripping failed seasoning, removing hardened carbon, cutting rust off bare steel, and resetting the plate after a chemistry deep clean. The brick is aggressive enough to remove the seasoning along with the residue, which is why it is not a daily tool. Plan brick passes for scheduled deep cleans, not nightly maintenance.
Griddle screen
A griddle screen is a mesh abrasive pad that lifts light to moderate carbon and residue without stripping the seasoning. It is the daily-cleaning equivalent of the brick. The screen is held in a holder or by hand and worked across the plate during the after-service clean to lift residue that the scraper missed. The screen is less aggressive than the brick by a wide margin; it cleans without resetting.
Non-abrasive pad
A non-abrasive pad (the white or blue commercial pads) is for light wiping, post-clean residue removal, and for chrome and stainless surfaces where any abrasion would damage the finish. The non-abrasive pad is also useful during the seasoning process for spreading and wiping oil coats. Keep these pads color-coded so a chrome-safe pad never ends up on a steel-restoration job and vice versa.
Griddle scraper
The scraper is the most-used cleaning tool on the line, and the most underrated. The Winco SCRP-12 at twelve inches matches a 24- or 36-inch plate; the Winco SCRP-14 at fourteen inches matches a 48-inch plate; the Winco SCRP-16 at sixteen inches matches a 60- or 72-inch plate. The scraper lifts loose debris into the trough, clears the plate between proteins, and sets up the chemistry pass for the brick or screen. A sharp scraper does ninety percent of routine cleaning work; a dull or burred scraper gouges the plate and should be replaced.
| Symptom | First Tool | Second Tool | Third Tool |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light residue, end of service | Scraper | Chemistry + screen | Squeegee |
| Moderate carbon | Scraper | Chemistry + screen | Re-oil |
| Heavy carbon islands | Scraper | Chemistry + brick | Squeegee + rinse |
| Flaking seasoning | Chemistry | Brick (full strip) | Re-season 4-6 coats |
| Rust spots | Oil as lubricant | Brick | Re-season |
| Sticky seasoning | Chemistry | Light brick | Re-season with thinner coats |
| Chrome plate, any condition | Water | Palmetto brush | Chrome polish if needed |
| Stainless plate, light film | Stainless cleaner | Non-abrasive pad with grain | Dry towel |
Brick Width and Plate Size Selection
The standard GBK-348 brick at three and a half by four by eight inches fits every commercial griddle width because the plate is always wider than the brick. The selection that matters is whether to use a brick holder, whether to brick by hand with a folded towel, and how many lanes the operator should plan. The decision changes with plate width.
Plate width by size, with holder versus folded towel guidance
A 24-inch plate is the smallest standard commercial griddle width. The Atosa ATMG-24 is the model many operators see in food trucks and small footprint lines. A single brick worked by hand with a folded towel covers the plate efficiently in six to eight lanes. A brick holder is optional at this size; many operators just use the towel-wrap method. Brick time runs seven to ten minutes for two passes.
A 36-inch plate is the most common commercial griddle size. The Atosa ATMG-36 is a workhorse model. A brick holder starts to make sense at this size because the lane count is up to ten to twelve. The holder gives hand protection from the 250-300 F plate temperature and keeps the brick angle consistent. Brick time runs ten to fifteen minutes for two passes.
A 48-inch plate (ATMG-48 or ATTG-48) is the high-volume single-station size. A brick holder is essentially required because hand-bricking a 48-inch plate is fatiguing and produces uneven pressure. The lane count climbs to fourteen to sixteen. Brick time runs fifteen to twenty minutes for two passes. Two operators can split the plate front-and-back for faster work.
The ATTG-60 at 60 inches and the ATTG-72 at 72 inches are the floor-model sizes for high-volume operations and multi-station lines. A brick holder is required, the lane count is eighteen to twenty-four, and a two-person approach is genuinely faster than a one-person approach on these plates. Plan twenty to thirty minutes for two passes. Some operations brick these plates in halves on alternating weeks rather than the whole plate in one pass.
A brick holder is a plastic or metal frame that grips the brick and provides an insulated handle. It is faster to use, easier on the hands, and produces more consistent pressure. A folded line towel is the field-expedient alternative when no holder is available; fold three or four times so the towel is thick enough to insulate from the plate temperature, then grip the brick through the towel. The towel method is fine for a 24-inch plate and tolerable for a 36-inch plate; on larger plates the holder is worth the small investment.
| Plate Width | Atosa Model | Holder Recommended | Operator Count | Total Brick Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 inches | ATMG-24 | Optional | 1 | 7-10 min |
| 36 inches | ATMG-36 | Recommended | 1 | 10-15 min |
| 48 inches | ATMG-48 / ATTG-48 | Required | 1 or 2 | 15-20 min |
| 60 inches | ATTG-60 | Required | 1 or 2 | 20-25 min |
| 72 inches | ATTG-72 | Required | 2 preferred | 25-30 min |
Atosa CookRite Model Specific Bricking Notes
The Atosa CookRite product line covers the most common commercial griddle sizes and configurations in the US market. The plates are carbon steel, brick-compatible, and built for the cleaning routine described in this guide. The Atosa instruction manuals do not call out the grill brick by name, and the ATTG series manual includes language warning against abrasive cleaning materials that some operators read as a ban on brick use. That language refers to abrasive chemical cleaners and steel wool, not to the mechanical use of a food-grade pumice block. Bricking the ATMG and ATTG plates is standard commercial practice and does not void the warranty.
Manual ATMG models: ATMG-24, ATMG-36, ATMG-48
The ATMG-24 is the entry-point commercial griddle for food trucks, small footprint lines, and concession setups. Manual burner control means the operator manages the bricking temperature by hand: bring the burners down to low, wait for the plate to drop to 250-300 F, brick in six to eight lanes, and rebuild seasoning at the same manual control. The compact size makes bricking fast; full sequence runs about 45 to 60 minutes. The ATMG-36 is the workhorse manual griddle: two burners across the plate width, manual control. Brick time runs 10-15 minutes for two passes. Watch for the cooler zone between the two burners during seasoning; the heat map of the manual burners leaves a slightly cooler band in the middle that needs a longer hold during the seasoning pass. The ATMG-48 is the high-output manual griddle, three burners across, common in burger joints and breakfast diners. Brick time runs 15-20 minutes for two passes. Use a brick holder; hand-bricking the full plate is hard on the cook. The three-burner heat map produces two cooler zones between the burner sections; allow extra hold time on those zones during seasoning.
Thermostatic ATTG models: ATTG-48, ATTG-60, ATTG-72
The ATTG-48 matches the ATMG-48 in plate size but adds thermostatic control. The thermostat holds the plate at a setpoint, which makes the bricking-temperature step easier: drop the setpoint to 275 F and the plate equilibrates without manual intervention. Seasoning is also more consistent because the thermostat holds the smoke-point temperature without operator adjustment. The ATTG-60 is the 60-inch thermostatic griddle for high-volume lines, with five-foot plate width and multiple burners. Brick time runs 20-25 minutes for two passes; a brick holder is mandatory at this size. Plan the deep-clean shift around the plate availability, since the full sequence including seasoning runs ninety minutes to two hours. The ATTG-72 is the largest standard commercial griddle in the Atosa line at 72 inches, with three thermostatic zones, three independent setpoints, and a six-foot plate width. Brick the zones independently if needed, or brick the whole plate at once with a two-operator approach. Brick time runs 25-30 minutes for two passes. The independent zones make seasoning very controllable; set all three to the seasoning temperature for the full re-season.
| Control Type | Models | Bricking Temperature Control | Seasoning Temperature Control | Operator Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manual burner | ATMG-24, ATMG-36, ATMG-48 | Burner valve, infrared thermometer | Burner valve, watch for smoke | Higher (manual judgment) |
| Thermostatic | ATTG-48, ATTG-60, ATTG-72 | Thermostat setpoint | Thermostat setpoint at oil smoke point | Lower (thermostat handles it) |
The full Atosa griddle guide covers model selection in detail. For broader equipment context, the commercial griddle pillar compares Atosa against other commercial brands. The full commercial griddle collection ships with free freight on qualifying orders.
Bricking After a Chemistry Deep Clean
The single highest-value bricking moment in commercial griddle maintenance is the brick step that follows a chemistry deep clean. This sequence is what separates a re-seasoning that holds for weeks from a re-seasoning that fails in three days. The brick after the cleaner is not optional, and the order matters.
Why chemistry alone leaves a rough surface
A high-temperature alkaline cleaner like ATGC101 dissolves carbon, grease, and the polymerized seasoning layer chemically. The chemistry penetrates the layer, breaks the bonds, and lifts the residue. When the chemistry is rinsed off, what remains is the bare steel substrate, but the steel surface that emerges from under the failed seasoning is not the same micro-smooth surface that the factory delivered. It is rough, etched at the microscopic scale by the bonds that were broken, and porous to the next oil application. If oil is applied directly to this rough chemistry-exposed surface, the polymer bonds unevenly: the high points polymerize cleanly, the low points trap oil and never reach smoke point. The new seasoning layer looks finished but has weak bonds across the surface, and within a few days of service the weak zones lift and the layer flakes. The operator blames the oil, blames the technique, blames the chemistry, but the actual cause is the missing brick step. The companion cleaning guide handles the chemistry side of this same workflow.
The correct post-chemistry sequence
Run the chemistry, rinse, scrape any residual debris, and then brick lightly with the GBK-348 before any oil hits the plate. The brick smooths the micro-roughness and exposes a uniform fresh iron substrate. Rinse the brick slurry off completely, dry the plate, and proceed to seasoning. The brick step takes five to ten minutes and saves a full re-season cycle three days later. The post-chemistry brick is not a full restoration brick; the chemistry has already removed the carbon and seasoning, so one light pass in lanes with moderate pressure is enough. Heavy pressure or multiple passes are wasted effort at this stage because the substrate is already clean.
The full chemistry-plus-brick deep clean
| Step | Action | Tool | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Drop temperature to 250-300 F | Burner / thermostat | 10-15 min |
| 2 | Scrape loose debris | SCRP-12 / SCRP-14 / SCRP-16 | 2-3 min |
| 3 | Apply chemistry, dwell | ATGC101 | 5-10 min |
| 4 | Scrub with screen or pad | Griddle screen | 3-5 min |
| 5 | Squeegee, rinse, repeat chemistry if needed | Squeegee | 2-5 min |
| 6 | Light brick pass for surface smoothing | GBK-348 | 5-10 min |
| 7 | Rinse brick slurry completely | Hot water, squeegee | 3-5 min |
| 8 | Dry fully with heat | Towels, burner | 5-10 min |
| 9 | Apply 4-6 thin oil coats | Oil bottle, towel | 30-45 min |
| 10 | Cool with final coat in place | Burner off | 30-60 min |
Cleaning the Brick and Caring for the Tool
The brick itself needs care between uses. A clean brick cuts faster, lasts longer, and avoids cross-contamination between sessions. The protocol is short.
Rinse, store, and inspect
The brick comes off the plate loaded with slurry: pumice dust, lifted carbon, residual oil, and chemistry residue. Rinse it under hot water immediately, working the surfaces against each other to clear the trapped residue. Squeeze excess water out; pumice does not need to be dried fully but should not sit waterlogged. Store the brick on a wire rack or in a vented holder so air can circulate around it. A waterlogged brick stored in a sealed container develops mildew and odor, which then transfers to the next plate. Before each use, inspect the brick for visible texture and sharp edges. If the working faces are smooth, rounded, and shiny, the cutting edges are gone and the brick will skate; swap to a fresh block from the GBK-348 case. Cracked bricks are still usable as long as the pieces are large enough to hold; small fragments should be retired.
Replacement and disposal
Replace the brick when it becomes too small to grip safely with a holder or a folded towel, when the edges have rounded to the point where they can no longer reach into the corners of the plate or sit flat against the side splashes, when it leaves residue on the plate that does not lift with a fresh hot water rinse, when it produces excessive black dust during work, or when it develops cracks that compromise the structure. The functional criterion (can it still reach corners and hold an edge) matters more than the size criterion (is it more or less than half-thickness); a half-thickness brick with sharp square edges still works, and a near-full brick with rounded corners does not. For a high-volume kitchen, expect replacement every two to three weeks of regular use; moderate volume runs every four to eight weeks; low-volume kitchens stretch to every two to six months. Used grill bricks are compressed pumice, a natural volcanic mineral. They are non-toxic and biodegradable. Dispose in regular trash; not in food waste streams (the carbon residue contaminates compost) and not in hazardous waste streams (the brick is not hazardous). Wrap the used brick in newspaper or a plastic bag to contain the black residue during disposal.
Bricking a Neglected or Used Griddle
A used commercial griddle picked up from an auction, a closed restaurant liquidation, or a back-of-house equipment swap typically arrives in poor seasoning condition. Rust spots, flaking seasoning, hardened carbon islands, and uneven color are common. The restoration sequence is longer than a routine bricking, and the first pass establishes the baseline that the next year of routine maintenance builds on.
Inspect before starting
Run a clean dry hand across the plate (when cool) and visually scan for the four major defects: rust (orange or brown patches), flaking (visible chips and lifted edges), carbon islands (raised hardened zones), and pitting (visible holes or cratering). Pitting is the only defect bricking cannot fix; a heavily pitted plate may need professional resurfacing or replacement. The other three are restorable.
Scrape, chemistry, and brick passes
Heat the plate to 250-300 F and run the matching Winco scraper aggressively across the whole surface. Lift any loose carbon, flaking seasoning, or surface debris into the trough and empty the trough. Apply ATGC101 generously, dwell ten minutes, and scrub with a griddle screen to lift everything the chemistry softened. Squeegee and rinse. Repeat the chemistry pass if the plate is heavily contaminated. Then brick the entire plate with the GBK-348 in two full lane passes: vertical first, then horizontal. Use firm pressure and refresh chemistry as needed. Expect to use a full brick or more on a heavily neglected plate; the working faces wear faster on a heavily contaminated surface.
Rust treatment and foundation seasoning
Rust spots that survived the chemistry and the first brick pass need an oil-lubricated brick. Apply oil to the rust zone, work the brick over the zone with the oil as lubricant, and the rust comes off as a dark slurry. Wipe and rinse. Repeat until the steel is uniform color. The oil keeps the brick from scratching the cleaned steel as the rust comes off. Rinse the entire plate with hot water and squeegee, wipe dry with clean towels, and bring the plate up to 350 F to drive off the last moisture. Confirm dry by inspecting; any water film will compromise the rebuild. Then apply six to eight thin seasoning coats. A restored plate often needs more coats than a routine re-season because the bare steel substrate is consuming the seasoning bonds more aggressively after the deep abrasion. Patience pays back; a well-seasoned restored plate runs as well as a new one for the next year of service.
Used griddle restoration cost in time
| Plate Condition | Brick Passes | Restoration Time | Coats Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light flaking, no rust | 1 full pass | 2-3 hours | 4-6 |
| Moderate carbon, no rust | 2 full passes | 3-4 hours | 5-7 |
| Heavy carbon, light rust | 2-3 full passes | 4-5 hours | 6-8 |
| Heavy rust, flaking | 3 full passes with oil lubricant | 5-7 hours | 6-8 |
| Pitted, salvageable | 3 full passes, focus on pits | 6-8 hours | 7-8 |
| Pitted, heavy | Professional resurfacing | Outsource | After resurface, 6-8 |
Daily Maintenance Between Brick Sessions
Between weekly or biweekly brick sessions, the daily maintenance keeps the seasoning layer in working condition. This is the routine that defers the next brick session and stretches the seasoning rebuild interval.
Between-ticket and end-of-shift routine
During service, scrape the active cooking zone between proteins, between batches, and between tickets if heavy. The matching Winco scraper handles this; push debris into the trough and wipe with a folded line towel. Total time per scrape is fifteen to thirty seconds. At the end of each shift, run the standard chemistry-and-screen sequence: drop temperature to 300 F, scrape, apply ATGC101, scrub with the screen, squeegee, wipe, and oil. Total time ten to fifteen minutes. This is the workhorse routine that holds the seasoning between brick sessions. The companion cleaning guide covers the chemistry-and-screen routine in full detail and serves as the daily reference for line cooks.
Daily oil top-up and weekly inspection
After the end-of-shift clean, apply a thin oil coat across the plate while it is still warm. The coat protects the seasoning overnight and feeds the polymer layer. Use the same seasoning oil as the rebuilds (refined avocado, grapeseed, or refined canola). Wipe the coat thin so the plate is ready for the next service. Once a week, run a visual and tactile inspection: look for flaking, look for rust, look for uneven color, feel for stickiness. Any of these means the next end-of-shift clean should escalate to a chemistry-plus-brick session. Catching seasoning failures early defers the full restoration.
| Frequency | Action | Tools | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Between tickets | Scrape, wipe | Scraper, towel | 15-30 sec |
| Between proteins | Scrape, light chemistry if needed | Scraper, ATGC101 | 1 min |
| End of shift | Full chemistry + screen | Scraper, ATGC101, screen | 10-15 min |
| End of day | Chemistry + screen + oil coat | Scraper, ATGC101, screen, oil | 15-20 min |
| Weekly | Visual inspection, escalate if needed | Eyes, hands | 5 min |
| Weekly or biweekly | Full brick + re-season | Scraper, ATGC101, GBK-348, oil | 60-90 min |
The Bricking Kit: What to Keep on the Line
A complete commercial griddle bricking kit is short, durable, and lives within arm's reach of the station. Building the kit once and replacing components on a schedule is cheaper and faster than improvising during a deep clean. We ship every component below with free freight on qualifying orders to the commercial address.
Bricks, scrapers, and chemistry
A case of twelve Winco GBK-348 grill bricks covers most commercial operations for six to twelve months; the case quantity matches the typical replacement cadence. Keep the case in a dry, vented storage location; do not let the bricks sit in a damp area. Three scrapers cover the standard plate sizes: the Winco SCRP-12 for 24- and 36-inch plates, the Winco SCRP-14 for 48-inch plates, the Winco SCRP-16 for 60- and 72-inch plates. Keep two scrapers per station so a fresh sharp blade is always available; the second scraper covers the moment the first one chips or burrs. A case of Atosa ATGC101 High Temp Griddle Cleaner covers a typical commercial kitchen for one to two months of daily cleaning. Each five-ounce bottle handles one shift on a 36-inch plate or a partial shift on a 48-inch plate. Order in case quantity; ordering single bottles is more expensive and breaks the supply rhythm.
Screens, holder, squeegee, oil, and thermometer
A griddle screen for daily abrasive work, a brick holder for safe brick use on 36-inch and larger plates, and a squeegee for moving slurry into the trough complete the abrasion side of the kit. A non-abrasive pad in a different color from the screens is useful for chrome-safe and stainless-safe applications even if the main plate is steel. Keep a gallon of refined avocado, grapeseed, or refined canola oil dedicated to seasoning, separate from the cooking-oil supply, in a small squeeze bottle with a fine pour spout for measured application during seasoning. Marker the bottle clearly as seasoning oil so it does not end up in the fryer. A handheld infrared thermometer pays back the small investment in better temperature control during bricking and seasoning: the brick step calls for 250-300 F, the seasoning step calls for 350-400 F (or higher for avocado), and reading the plate temperature directly removes guesswork.
| Item | Quantity | Replacement Cycle | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| GBK-348 case | 1 case (12 bricks) | 6-12 months | Weekly bricking |
| SCRP-12 | 2 | 3-6 months | 24- and 36-inch plates |
| SCRP-14 | 2 | 3-6 months | 48-inch plates |
| SCRP-16 | 2 | 3-6 months | 60- and 72-inch plates |
| ATGC101 case | 1 case | 1-2 months | Daily chemistry |
| Griddle screens | 1 box | Weekly | Daily abrasion |
| Brick holder | 1 | 1-2 years | Brick safety |
| Squeegee | 1 | 1 year | Slurry handling |
| Seasoning oil | 1 gallon | 1-3 months | Seasoning coats |
| Infrared thermometer | 1 | 2-3 years | Temperature reads |
Grease Trough and Drawer Maintenance
The grease trough and the grease drawer underneath collect everything that comes off the plate during service and during bricking: lifted carbon, slurry, hot grease, brick fragments, and rinse water. Empty the drawer daily at end of shift, scrub it with a degreaser, and rinse it before reinstalling. A grease drawer that sits more than 24 hours becomes a bacterial breeding ground and a fire risk: the radiant heat from the burners directly above can ignite accumulated grease, and a full drawer that overflows onto the burner shelf turns a routine cleaning into a service call. During bricking sessions specifically, check the trough and drawer for brick fragments before disposal; small pumice chips can damage the disposal stream and need to go in regular trash, not in the food waste line. Wipe the trough channel with a clean line towel after each chemistry pass to keep the next rinse clean. The trough drain should run free; a clogged trough backs the rinse water onto the cooking surface and contaminates the dry step. On Atosa ATMG and ATTG plates, the grease drawer slides out from under the front of the cabinet; the Atosa griddle guide covers drawer location and reinstallation by model.
Safety During Bricking and Seasoning
Bricking and seasoning a commercial griddle is hot, slippery, and chemistry-adjacent work. The injury rate is low when the protocol is followed and high when it is not. The safety practices below are not optional.
Heat and oil splatter protection
The plate is at 250-400 F throughout the bricking and seasoning sequence. Use heat-resistant gloves rated for at least 500 F. A brick holder or thick folded towel protects against direct brick-side heat; bare hand contact with the plate causes immediate burns. Long sleeves and an apron protect the forearms from oil splatter during seasoning. Oil hitting a hot plate splatters in the first ten to thirty seconds after contact. Step back during the initial application. Use a long-handled spreader rather than a hand-held towel for the first wipe if the plate is at full seasoning temperature. Eye protection is reasonable for the first coat application.
Chemistry, slip, and fragment hazards
The ATGC101 chemistry is a high-temperature alkaline cleaner. Wear chemical-resistant gloves for any extended contact. Avoid spraying directly into a hot zone where flash vapor can rise into the face. Turn the hood on before chemistry application. The floor around the griddle during bricking is wet, soapy, and slippery; squeegee the floor between steps if water pools, wear non-slip kitchen shoes, and mark the area as wet to keep other staff out of the slip zone. A worn brick can break unexpectedly during work; a fragment falling on the foot or into the cooking surface is both an injury risk and a contamination risk if a fragment ends up under the next seasoning coat. Inspect the brick before each use; replace if cracked or worn thin.
What Bricking Will Not Fix
Bricking is a powerful restoration tool, but it has limits. The three failures below are not brick-resolvable and require a different approach.
Warped plates
A warped plate is a structural deformation, usually from thermal shock (cold water on a hot plate) or from manufacturing defect. The plate sits unevenly, food cooks unevenly, and oil pools in the low spots. Bricking does not flatten a warped plate. Severe warping requires plate replacement. Mild warping may be tolerable with adjusted technique (oil placement, scraper angle) but will get worse over time.
Deeply pitted plates
Heavy pitting from extended rust, chemical damage, or impact creates craters in the steel surface. Bricking smooths the surface above the craters but cannot fill them. Pitted plates cook unevenly, leak oil into the pits, and tend to develop carbon islands where the pits trap residue. Mild pitting is tolerable; heavy pitting requires plate replacement or professional resurfacing.
Burner or thermostat failures
If the plate is cooking unevenly because the burners are uneven or the thermostat is out of calibration, no amount of bricking and seasoning will fix it. The fix is a service call on the burner or thermostat. Bricking a plate that is being heated unevenly will produce uneven seasoning that matches the burner pattern, which an operator may misread as a seasoning problem.
Damage to the cabinet, splash guards, or trough
Bricking is a plate-surface operation. The cabinet, the trough, the back splash, and the burner compartment all have their own cleaning protocols. The cleaning guide covers the non-plate components. Bricking the splash guard is unnecessary and will damage the finish.
| Problem | Brick Fixes | Real Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Warped plate | No | Plate replacement |
| Deep pitting | No | Professional resurfacing or replacement |
| Burner imbalance | No | Burner service call |
| Thermostat drift | No | Thermostat calibration or replacement |
| Cabinet grease buildup | No | Cabinet degreaser cleaning |
| Trough drainage | No | Manual cleaning of trough and drain |
| Splash guard discoloration | No | Stainless cleaner, non-abrasive pad |
Recordkeeping and Documentation
A bricking and seasoning log is a small operational discipline that pays back in equipment lifespan, warranty defense, and training continuity. A simple logbook at the station, or a column in the existing cleaning log, captures what was done and when.
What to log and why
Log the date of the brick session, the operator who performed it, the time taken, the brick block used (track by brick number from the case), the chemistry used, the number of seasoning coats applied, the oil type used, and any observations (rust spots, flaking, sticky zones). If the seasoning fails, the log shows whether the failure follows a particular operator, a particular oil change, a particular chemistry batch, or a routine pattern. The log also defends against warranty disputes; an operator who can produce a maintenance log has a far stronger case than one who claims to have followed the protocol with no record. The log trains new staff as well: a clear record of what was done last week sets the expectation for what to do this week. A simple table format works fine, with columns for date, operator, plate, brick session yes or no, chemistry yes or no, coats applied, oil type, and notes. The log can live on a clipboard at the station, in a maintenance binder, or in a digital kitchen-management app. Format matters less than consistency.
Sample log row
| Date | Operator | Plate | Brick | Chemistry | Coats | Oil | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-05-09 | J. Lopez | ATTG-48 #1 | Yes, 2 passes | ATGC101, 2 bottles | 6 | Grapeseed | Light flaking before brick, smooth after |
| 2026-05-09 | J. Lopez | ATTG-48 #2 | No (routine clean only) | ATGC101, 1 bottle | 1 refresh | Grapeseed | Seasoning healthy |
| 2026-05-16 | M. Chen | ATTG-48 #1 | No | ATGC101, 1 bottle | 1 refresh | Grapeseed | Stable |
Training Line Cooks on Bricking
Bricking is a skill that benefits from supervised practice. A line cook who has never bricked a plate before will under-pressure the brick, miss zones, and run the chemistry too short. Two or three supervised sessions are usually enough to bring a cook up to independent performance.
Three supervised sessions to competence
The first session is pure observation: the new cook watches the lead cook or manager run a full bricking sequence. The manager narrates the steps as they go: why the temperature has to drop, why the chemistry has to dwell, why the lanes have to overlap, what the slurry should look like, what the brick should feel like when it is cutting versus skating. No hands-on yet; just observation, for the full 60-90 minutes. The second session is hands-on with supervision. The new cook runs the sequence with the manager standing next to them, correcting pressure, lane width, chemistry refresh timing, and seasoning coat thickness in real time. Most mistakes are caught in this session. The third session is independent with checkpoints. The new cook runs the sequence alone, with the manager checking in at the bricking step, at the rinse step, and at the final seasoning coat. The cook walks through their reasoning at each checkpoint. Successful completion of the third session marks the cook as competent for routine bricking.
Keeping the skill warm
A cook who has not bricked a plate in three months will be slightly out of practice. Rotate the bricking shifts across multiple trained cooks so the skill stays warm. Document the rotation in the schedule so coverage is clear, and reference the cleaning guide for the parallel chemistry-and-screen routine that the same cooks will run between brick sessions.
Frequently Asked Questions About Bricking and Seasoning
How often should I brick a commercial griddle?
Frequency depends on operation type. A high-volume breakfast diner needs weekly bricking; a burger joint or ghost kitchen runs every two weeks; a casual dining operation runs every three to four weeks; a food truck or hotel banquet kitchen runs monthly. The trigger is visible seasoning failure, hardened carbon, or rust, not a calendar tick.
Should I brick my griddle every day?
No. Daily bricking strips seasoning faster than it can rebuild, which adds an hour of re-seasoning labor to every shift and shortens the life of the plate. Daily routine cleaning uses the scraper, chemistry, and a griddle screen, not a brick. Save the brick for scheduled restoration.
How do I know when my griddle needs bricking versus just a routine clean?
Visual cues: flaking or chipping seasoning, hardened carbon islands that the scraper rides over, rust spots, sticky surface that persists after a chemistry clean, rough texture across the plate. Any of these means the next clean should escalate to a brick session. A plate that looks dark and smooth and scrapes cleanly does not need bricking.
Should I brick before or after service?
Always after service or during a scheduled closed period. The brick-plus-re-season takes 60 to 90 minutes during which the plate is unavailable. Never brick mid-service. Most operations brick at the end of the last service before a closed day, so the plate has overnight to set up.
What is the difference between bricking and a deep clean?
A deep clean uses chemistry to dissolve carbon and grease at the chemical level. Bricking uses pumice to abrade the surface mechanically. The two work together: the chemistry softens the residue, the brick cuts it. After a chemistry-only deep clean, the surface is rough at the micro level and needs a light brick pass before re-seasoning.
Should I brick after using ATGC101 or other commercial griddle cleaners?
Yes. The chemistry strips the seasoning and exposes a slightly etched bare steel surface. A light brick pass smooths that surface before the new seasoning coats lay down. Skipping this step is the single most common cause of seasoning failure within a week of a deep clean.
What size grill brick do I need for my commercial griddle?
The standard Winco GBK-348 brick at three and a half by four by eight inches fits every commercial plate width. The brick is always smaller than the plate. The selection that matters is whether to use a brick holder. Holders are optional on 24-inch plates, recommended on 36-inch plates, and required on 48-, 60-, and 72-inch plates.
What is a grill brick made of?
Compressed pumice, a natural volcanic glass. The pumice in commercial bricks is food-grade, FDA-cleared for food-contact surfaces, and pressed into a uniform block. The structure is full of trapped air pockets, which is what gives the brick its abrasive cutting action.
Are all grill bricks the same?
Commercial grill bricks are largely the same composition across suppliers. The variations in density and grit are minor. What matters more is freshness: a new brick has sharp cutting edges; a worn brick rounds off. Keep a case of GBK-348 on hand and rotate to fresh bricks as the working face wears.
Can I use a grill brick on a chrome griddle plate?
No. A grill brick on a chrome plate causes permanent damage. The pumice scratches the chrome layer, exposes the steel substrate underneath, and the chrome cannot be re-plated in the field. Chrome plates require water, a Palmetto brush, and a food-safe chrome polish only. Using a brick on chrome voids the warranty and ruins the plate.
How do I tell if my commercial griddle is chrome or steel?
Chrome plates have a mirror-bright reflective finish when new and stay bright through service. Steel plates start dull gray and develop a brown-black patina within weeks. Chrome cannot take a seasoning layer; steel must take one. Atosa ATMG and ATTG models use carbon steel plates and are brick-compatible.
What is the best oil to season a commercial griddle?
Refined avocado oil (smoke point 500 F), grapeseed oil (smoke point 420 F, very high polyunsaturated content), and refined canola oil (smoke point 400 F, low cost) are the three workhorse choices. Avocado is the premium option, grapeseed builds the hardest layer, canola is the cost-effective standard. Avoid butter, lard, olive oil, corn oil, and any animal fat.
Why does seasoning oil selection matter?
Polyunsaturated fats cross-link more aggressively under heat and build a harder polymer layer. Saturated fats do not cross-link and produce residue rather than seasoning. The seasoning layer is a chemical polymer bonded to the iron, not just a coating of oil, and the chemistry depends on the oil chosen.
What does polymerization mean for griddle seasoning?
When oil is heated above its smoke point, the fatty acid molecules break their double bonds and cross-link with neighboring molecules and with the iron atoms of the steel surface. The result is a hard polymer network bonded to the steel. That polymer is the seasoning. Polymerization requires the right oil (high in polyunsaturated fats), sufficient heat (above smoke point), and thin coats applied repeatedly.
Why do I need multiple thin coats instead of one thick coat?
Polymerization happens at the air-side surface of the oil. A thick layer polymerizes on top while the interior stays liquid or partially cross-linked, leaving a sticky, soft underlayer that fails under service heat. Thin coats polymerize through their full depth and bond completely to the iron. Four to six thin coats vastly outperform one thick coat.
How often do I need to re-season a commercial griddle?
Full multi-coat re-seasoning is needed after every bricking session and every chemistry deep clean. Daily routine care needs only a light oil top-up at end of shift. A full re-season runs four to six thin coats and takes thirty to forty-five minutes.
Does cooking on the griddle season it over time?
Yes, but slowly and unevenly. Cooking adds polymerized fat to hot zones (over burners) but not to cooler zones (edges, between burners). Active re-seasoning after cleaning is necessary to maintain a uniform coating across the plate.
What are the most common mistakes when bricking a commercial griddle?
Bricking a chrome plate (destroys it). Bricking at full service temperature (oil splatter, burns). Skipping the chemistry pass before the brick (wastes brick life). Not rinsing the brick slurry off (contaminates new seasoning). Applying too thick an oil coat after bricking (sticky surface). Not doing enough coats (seasoning fails early).
What happens if I use too much oil when re-seasoning after bricking?
Excess oil pools rather than spreading thin. The pooled oil does not polymerize fully; the interior stays liquid or tacky. The visible surface looks finished but the underlayer is gummy, transfers to food during cooking, and attracts carbon buildup faster than a properly thin coat.
When should I replace a commercial grill brick?
Replace when the brick is paper-thin (less than half the original thickness), broken into small pieces, leaving residue on the plate, producing excessive black dust, or developing structural cracks. For commercial daily use, expect replacement every two to six weeks; a twelve-count case of GBK-348 covers six to twelve months for most operations.
How do I dispose of a used grill brick?
Used pumice grill bricks are non-toxic and biodegradable. Dispose in regular trash; not in food waste streams (the carbon residue contaminates compost) and not in hazardous waste streams (the brick is not hazardous). Wrap in newspaper or a plastic bag to contain the black residue during disposal.
Do I need to brick a brand-new commercial griddle before first use?
No. A new griddle has a factory-finished surface that does not need bricking. Remove the factory protective coating with mild dish detergent and warm water on a non-abrasive pad, rinse, dry completely, and proceed to seasoning with four to six thin coats of high-smoke-point oil. Atosa ATMG and ATTG manuals specify this exact first-use process.
How do I brick and re-season a used or neglected commercial griddle?
Scrape loose debris, run a full chemistry pass with ATGC101, brick the plate with the GBK-348 in two full lane passes, treat any rust zones with oil-lubricated brick work, rinse the slurry completely, dry with heat, and rebuild seasoning with six to eight thin coats. Plan three to six hours for the full restoration.
What is the correct order: deep clean, brick, season?
Drop temperature to 250-300 F. Scrape loose debris. Apply ATGC101 and dwell five to ten minutes. Scrub with screen or pad. Squeegee, rinse. Light brick pass with GBK-348 to smooth the chemistry-exposed surface. Rinse brick slurry completely. Dry fully with heat. Apply four to six thin coats of high-smoke-point oil, polymerizing each coat fully. Cool with final coat in place.
Can I brick my Atosa ATMG or ATTG griddle?
Yes. The Atosa ATMG and ATTG plates are carbon steel and brick-compatible. The manual warning against abrasive cleaning materials refers to abrasive chemical cleaners and steel wool, not to the mechanical use of a food-grade pumice block. Routine bricking on these plates is standard commercial practice and does not void the warranty.
Why is my griddle flaking black after seasoning?
Two common causes. The seasoning layer was applied to a contaminated surface (residual chemistry, water, or pumice slurry), and the polymer did not bond to the iron. Or the layer was built too thick from over-oiling, and the outer shell is cracking off. The fix is to strip back to bare steel with a brick pass and rebuild with thin measured coats.
Why is my griddle surface sticky after seasoning?
Oil was applied too thick. The outer layer polymerized and sealed in an unpolymerized interior, which telegraphs through as stickiness. Fix by stripping back with chemistry and a brick pass, then rebuild with measured thinner coats that wipe almost dry after spreading.
Can I brick chrome to remove discoloration?
Never. Chrome discoloration is addressed with a food-safe chrome polish on a non-abrasive pad. The chrome layer is too thin and too fragile to tolerate any abrasive contact. Bricking chrome to remove discoloration destroys the chrome and exposes the steel beneath, which then rusts. Use polish only.
How long does a griddle seasoning rebuild last?
A properly built six-coat seasoning on a healthy plate lasts one to four weeks of regular service before the next brick session is needed. High-volume breakfast operations are at the one-to-two week end; moderate operations are at the three-to-four week end. Daily oil top-ups extend the rebuild interval.
Should I use a brick holder or just a folded towel?
A brick holder is faster, safer, and produces more consistent pressure. On 24-inch plates a folded towel is workable; on 36-inch plates a holder starts to make sense; on 48-, 60-, and 72-inch plates a holder is essentially required for operator comfort and consistent results.
Can I brick a stainless steel griddle plate?
No. Stainless plates scratch under brick abrasion just as chrome does. Stainless plates use stainless cleaner, non-abrasive pads, and with-the-grain wiping. The stainless steel griddle guide covers the stainless protocol in detail.
What is the difference between a grill brick and a griddle screen?
A brick is aggressive pumice for restoration and stripping. A screen is a finer mesh abrasive pad for daily cleaning that preserves the seasoning layer. The brick strips; the screen cleans. Use the screen daily; use the brick weekly or as needed.
How hot should the plate be when bricking?
Drop the plate to 250-300 F. Cooler than 250 F and the chemistry does not work well; hotter than 300 F and the oil splatter risk during the subsequent seasoning step is too high. The 250-300 F window is the safe and effective range for the brick step.
Can the same oil be used for cooking and seasoning?
Functionally yes, but keep the seasoning oil supply separate from the cooking oil supply so the seasoning oil does not pick up flavors and residues from cooking applications. A dedicated gallon of refined avocado, grapeseed, or refined canola oil marked as seasoning oil prevents cross-use. The cooking oil bottle can be the same product but kept in the line, not the seasoning kit.
About The Author
Sean Kearney
Sean Kearney is the Founder of The Restaurant Warehouse, with 15 years of experience in the restaurant equipment industry and more than 30 years in ecommerce, beginning with Amazon.com. As an equipment distributor and supplier, Sean helps restaurant owners make confident purchasing decisions through clear pricing, practical guidance, and a more transparent online buying experience.
Connect with Sean on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, or Facebook.