A bit of grease weeping out is normal, especially with designs that have an overhanging skirt on the cups. Gravity and road shock ensure that excess grease will migrate down and out.
BUT you need to wipe that off before it attracts dirt and grit. Otherwise the sheering action between the exposed and unexposed grease will cause mixing as you turn the bars back and forth. What you're probably hearing isn't dirt in the bearings, but dirt up in the small gap between the crown cup's skirt and crown race.
Unfortunately you won't know until you take it apart.
For future reference, don't over pack bearings, and avoid this issue.
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Last edited by FBinNY; 11-20-16 at 04:05 PM.