9mm Stainless Steel Grate


 
H

Harold C

TVWBB Member
Got a new grate for my Perfomer!

A bit of history. 12 years ago, I bought the cast iron grate Weber used to make for the 22 inch kettle. It's a standard nickle plated grate with flip up handles for easy charcoal adding. The center of the grate is cut away, replaced by two rods that drop down half an inch to hold a standard 12 x 18 inch cast iron grate section from a Spirit gas grill:

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This thing has been awesome and is still going strong. Because the plated wire is mostly away from the fire, it has held up well. The cast iron gets so much use that it's held up well (disregard the light rust from a recent burn-off, it'll go away with the next pork roast!). But, after 12 years, I decided it was time to freshen up the insert.

So, I ordered the 9 mm stainless steel rod grate that Weber makes in that size for old Summit grills:

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Had to bend the cross bars out a bit, but then it fit like a champ:

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And, here it is in the heat of battle, so to speak:

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The last time it will ever be that shiny!
 
Now, I'll have to figure out how to sear as well on the SS rods as the cast iron. Theoretically, they should work just as well. Pretty similar materials and similar thermal mass to get really hot and hold the heat, but I'm sure there will be little nuances. The SS should definitely be easier maintenance (like none!). The main thing with the cast iron was to be sure to never get it wet and to use it often enough to keep it well seasoned.

Weber should reintroduce this grate. I like it a lot more than the BBQ system with the round searing grate. This thing is a good searing grate for most of the useful space on a kettle, with little warming spots around the edges. For direct method grilling, I leave empty charcoal baskets in the grill to keep the charcoal contained uniformly below the searing grate.
 
The Weber #9930 is a great grate. Got two in my Summit 425 from 2002 and they're still going strong. Just bought two of these to retrofit into my dad's Genesis 2. Works great!
 
It was an accessory grate Weber used to sell. A cast iron grate and the hinged nickle steel grate that holds it. I think they discontinued it shortly after I got mine, maybe 10 years ago.

I hope I never have to replace mine. It would be possible to fabric one from the BBQ system grate. It has enough width (12 inches) between the hinged handle sections. You'd have to cut out the center bars and figure out a way to rig up two bars underneath to hold the grate.

Or, just buy that grate and sit a cast iron or SS grate on top of it.
 
That weber grate is exactly what I'm looking for, I wish I could get one. I did a pot chili on the kettle last weekend in a cast iron dutch oven pot and I think I bent my grate because of the weight.

The SS looks great, from my research the CI will sear the best because of it's ability to hold heat better than SS but that is 9mm and should work well.
 


I'm doing something similar with my 26 incher from the CI grates of my previous Chargriller smoker and it's working quite well. Since the Chargriller came with 4 pieces I'm only using 2 and stored the other 2 in storage for backup. I kind of wish that it was 2 big grates instead of 4 smaller ones though.

I'm really diggin your set up Harold, that really looks clean
 
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