Does anyone else do this?


 
~Mark~

~Mark~

TVWBB Pro
I have a Performer that the wife picked up for me about seven years ago now. I use it almost strictly indirect with the coal bins. What I like to do is flip the grill grate upside down and let the two grate doors sit against the inside of the bins. This makes it super easy to add wood, and it also helps to keep the wood from missing the bins.
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Sorry about the short rack, it's just the wife and I now:p

I also took dimensions from my brothers rotisserie and had my local tin smith bend me one. I measured from the coal grate to the grilling surface and from that I measured up the ring and put in four 1/4 20 screws. Now I can use another grill grate at this second level and double up what I'm cooking. That makes for a lot of leg quarters! I also use this grate upside down and have a nice wood shoot to the coals.

The two levels seem to cook very evenly and if your doing beer can chickens it's great to have the lid away from the birds.

Lastly I recently picked up a stainless pan that I know not what it was used for, but it has lips on both sides that lay on the coal rack edges perfectly and still leave about a quarter to five sixteenths of an inch between the side of the pan and the coal bins. I fill this with water and it flat-lined my cooking temperature. The grill grate sides sit inside the pan about a quarter of an inch and keep the wood chips from falling into the water.

Sorry for the long winded post.
 
I have NEVER done that but now that I see what you are doing I will ALWAYS do that. Your a pure genious! Thanks for the awesome tip.
 
Hmmm, doing that you could also add foil to the hinged part that drops down to act as a heat shield if needed.

Way to think outside the box on this one.
 
Not long winded at all. That's a great idea. I appreciate the tip. I didn't quite understand the second layer concept though. Got any pictures of that?

Seeing your idea makes me think of another idea. The flaps on the grate could be covered with foil or even a perforated piece of metal that could act as a shied from the coals. I'm thinking, especially in the case of a turkey, this might protect the food just the right amount. I've never cooked a turkey on the grill. I bought a WSM less than 3 months ago now. I have been hoping to try a turkey on it for the holidays. But, reading up cooking a turkey, I'm not sure the WSM will be better than the kettle. Your concept seems like it may tip my preference to the kettle.
 
Neat idea for some cooks!
I was going to try this after seeing a CL ad for an 18.5 shown with the grate upside down.
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I also have a performer that I use mostly for indirect, that is a perfect solution to fighting with the gate doors and keeping everything in the coal trays. I'll try it tonight.
 
You guys sure know how to make a new guy feel welcome.:D

Not long winded at all. That's a great idea. I appreciate the tip. I didn't quite understand the second layer concept though. Got any pictures of that?
Click to expand...
This is the best picture I have of the second grate setup. This is my brothers grill with the original Weber rotisserie ring with the second grate added. You can see where he drilled the four holes and added the bolts to hold up the grate. What this does is double the capacity of the grill while keeping all the cooking even.
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This also shows his grill grates not turned over, he uses mettle spring clips to hold his wings up, but since this picture was taken he's taken his upper grate wings off. I still like having them to make that shoot for the wood chips.
Next time I bust out the Performer I'll get some good shots of the one I had made. It was only about $25.00 and I use it all the time.
 
Great idea!!! It's a first for me.
That's why we are all in this forum to learn for each other and share ideas.
Make friends along the way. :)
 
Today I pulled out the Performer so I decided to take some pictures of what I was talking about.
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The ring was made at the local tin shop, and painted with Grill Black.
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I drilled four quarter inch holes and added quarter inch by two inch pan head screws with nuts three inches down.
I also had to cut notches in the bottom of the ring where the lid holder bolts went.
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Then the only thing left to do is add a second grill grate and your ready to do some serious grillin.
With the grates turned upside down it also gives you a nice way of lifting the top grate off if you need to do some basting.
Another thing I like about the ring is when you do turkeys or beer can chickens it moves the lid farther away and seems not to char the top of the birds.
Here is a picture of my beer can chickens that I did today.
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I set up the grill like normal.
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I add the ring and wood chips.
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Bingo it's chicken!!
 
Looks cool and very useful... I'm really hoping that weber will eventually come out with a 26 3/4 Performer Platinum to help with the grilling space issue... It would be sweet...
 
Hey Mark; that's a great set up and like all the others here I hadn't thought of this or seen it before. Definitely going to work this into some of my cooking. Thank you!
 
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