Grillgrate


 
R

Ross W

TVWBB Fan
I know some guys on here swear by Grillgrate's and many have used them so I wanted to ask a couple questions. I know this could go in the accessory's but I specifically want to know about their use on gas grills. I am considering a full set as replacement grates for my Summit Gold A4.

I am specifically interested in if you like them for everything you grill or only certain things?
I do a lot of indirect grilling. If I have them covering my whole grill will the heat from hot side transmit to the indirect to an extent that will hurt my indirect grilling compared to traditional grates?
I need a 4 inch gap grate I was considering just not getting it so that when I do indirect I can leave a gap between the direct and Indirect sides. As crazy as it sounds the other thing I was considering putting traditional stainless rods on one side but the Grill grates on the other. That would probably get annoying twice a year when I have people over and the entire grill is covered in burgers.
 
Some people go gaga over them and frankly I see them as only a gimmick. My grills can do everything as well or better with nothing added. Just good VERY high quality stainless rod grates. Some on here like they produce a slightly more square edged grill mark but IMO that kind of thing is superfluous
 
The concept of the design is (from what I’ve read) is completely relative to direct method cookery.
For most of what I do, they are, as Larry says, superfluous. I’ve got a CI insert which I use with the Vortex for “marks”.
Usually, my guests are more interested in teeth marks on their steaks that criss cross stuff. I like my carnivore buddies!
 
Is there something wrong with the SS rod grates that came with your Summit?

I agree with Larry and Timothy. I also think you are correct that using 100% GGs (as a replacement for your SS rod grates) will hurt your indirect cooking.

You mentioned that you do a lot of indirect grilling but you did not mention how you would use the GGs. If you want an all over crust like a smash burger or steak au poivre, then get a griddle for your grill. If you want cross-hatch grill marks with your factory Summit SS rod grates, watch this Weber video:

I know that GGs are really popular on the professional steak grilling circuit. If that's the look you are going for, then consider getting a section or two of GGs to lay on top of your SS rod grates. You will get the look you want when you sear and brilliant indirect cooking from your SS rod grates when you don't.
 
I really like the GG's on my gasser. Jon is also a fan. As is Meathead (link below). Other folks don't like them so much. The pros to me are the following:

1. More even heat across the whole cooking area than with just the flav bars alone.
2. Less flare-ups than with just the flav bars alone.
3. Make the grill run a bit hotter. I really wanted my old 3 burner Silver B to run a bit hotter than its 550F max. The GG underplate heats up and provides a radiating heat source just an inch or so away from the food. Or right at the location of the food (if using the flat side like a griddle/skillet rather than the rail side). Your Summit may run hot enough for you already.
4. Really like using the flat side for steak searing or smash burgers. I like getting all-over searing from the flat hot metal vs. seared stripes from the rails. But if you dig the criss cross marks, the GG rails make nice wide grill marks.
5. The flat side is nice to use for shrimp or veggies. But since the flat side is perforated, you can't use it like a true griddle (scrambled eggs, pancakes).
6. Easy to get a little smoke on your food by sprinkling wood pellets in the valleys. I prefer the pellet/valley way to generate smoke versus foil pouch or smoker box.

For direct/indirect, the GGs work better if you burners run north/south -- like how your Summit is. That way you can disconnect the GG plates and leave a gap -- left side cool, right side hot. Works fine. But TBH, if you are cooking indirect over burners that are turned off, wouldn't just about any grates work ok?

Since my burners run east/west, I really don't do the traditional direct/indirect set up. Because of #1 and #2, I find that I can just run the grill at a nice low temp with no flare-ups. Since I can do "low even temp without flare-ups" with my GGs, I no longer feel any need to cook "indirect." Which, imo, is just one method to facilitate low even temp/no flare-up cooking. But I like that with the GGs I can use my whole cooking surface for low temp cooking rather than just half (8# of wings vs. 4#).

I started with just a couple of panels, which is a good way to do a test drive. You could also get a griddle (GG makes one of those too) for one side that would do many of these same things for you. Were I to start over, I might consider going half griddle and half GGs.

Eventually I went for the full replacement (including the gap panel). But unless I'm doing 8# of wings, I mostly use 3 or 4 panels and leave space on the sides for air circulation. After I got my GGs, I still used my PCCI grates for low/slow cooks (pork shoulder, brisket). But since I added the WSM, I really never use the PCCIs (which I liked a lot) any more.

YMMV.


amazingribs.com

GrillGrates: The Perfect Temperature Control Tool For Grills

GrillGrates are an amazing invention featuring reversible interlocking panels that increase the grill surface temperature, reduce flare-ups, and deliver perfect sears. GrillGrates also come in a variety of shapes and sizes so that you can customize them according to the size of your gas...
amazingribs.com
 
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I guess I can't stay completely on the sidelines. Do I like mine? YES!

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Can you get excellent results with quality stainless steel rod grates or cast iron grates? YES!

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Is there more to GrillGrates than just sharply defined grill marks? YES!

That is part of the controversy because they probably do fall into the "crutch" category. For me, I am fine with that. I often wrap ribs, pork shoulder and brisket (the Texas crutch) and never feel guilty about it. GrillGrates will elevate a so-so grill to a much more even cooking one. For a 13-bar Genesis, the difference isn't as pronounced. One last thing is that many also report enjoying using the flip side as a kind of griddle, especially for smash burgers but also other stuff.

Does having a "half and half" setup sound crazy? NO!

I think it is actually a good plan. One thing you need to watch if you cover your entire grill with GrillGrates is that too much heat can get trapped below them in your grill, especially if you don't keep up with keeping the important holes clear. GrillGrates recommend leaving a little bit of breathing space. A half and half setup eliminates that problem altogether.

Finally, one thing I have noticed in using GrillGrates is that most of the grease that previously would have poured down on your flavorizer bars and into the main and finally small drip pans doesn't do that with these. WIth GrillGrates, the smoky, sizzling effect happens at the grate level finally getting burned up. Very little passes through, so the rest of your grill stays a lot cleaner. Make no mistake, however. This does NOT mean that your grill is just a "griddle." There is plenty of true grilling going on. The effect of the Weber flavorizer bars is now just happening closer to your food.

One last comment. GrillGrates are made of extruded aluminum that has an anodized coating. There are contradictory opinions about cooking with aluminum and the durability of the anodized coating. I certainly support anyone who feels that the potential risk is not worth it. From years ago, I told my wife I wanted stainless steel cookware. We still have that old set of Sears pots and pans over 30 years later. I definitely would be wary of something like tomato sauce stewed for hours in an aluminum pot, even though the Alzheimers Assoc. says there is no connection between cooking with aluminum and that disease. For something like grilling on GrillGrates I guess I have decided I am OK with it and don't see it as the same as the tomato sauce example. Others do not agree, and I support them completely for doing their best in making their own health decisions.
 
J Grotz said:
Is there something wrong with the SS rod grates that came with your Summit?

I agree with Larry and Timothy. I also think you are correct that using 100% GGs (as a replacement for your SS rod grates) will hurt your indirect cooking.

You mentioned that you do a lot of indirect grilling but you did not mention how you would use the GGs. If you want an all over crust like a smash burger or steak au poivre, then get a griddle for your grill. If you want cross-hatch grill marks with your factory Summit SS rod grates, watch this Weber video:

I know that GGs are really popular on the professional steak grilling circuit. If that's the look you are going for, then consider getting a section or two of GGs to lay on top of your SS rod grates. You will get the look you want when you sear and brilliant indirect cooking from your SS rod grates when you don't.
Click to expand...

My Summit didn't come with stainless steel rod grates it came with the stainless steel channel grates which are in bad shape. Grillgrates are slightly cheaper than stainless steel rod grates to reolace. I follow the teachings of Meathead alot and my goal is to get as much of the meat covered in crust as possible not just marks.
 
I’m sorry, I thought all the Summits came with solid rod SS grates. I read the meathead piece Jim C linked. He makes some interesting points. It looks like a good product. However, I’ll stick with the RCP grates I bought earlier this year for my 1000. Between them and the 13 bar box I have the perfect amount flare up.
 
Sheeesh, hard to believe that weber would cheap on with stamped steel grates vs solid rod grates when it comes to the Summit line of grills.
 
"my goal is to get as much of the meat covered in crust as possible not just marks."

Ross -- here's tonight's steak dinner via the flat side of the GGs.

I like as much crust as I can get. IMO, the flat hot metal of the GGs imo sears more/better than hot air and hot grates. And my grill runs a decent bit hotter with the GGs than with grates.

As you can see, I'm using four panels with some gaps left on both sides. If you cover the entire cooktop with the GGs, I think you can retain too much heat in the cook box with all burners turned up on high. I don't worry about going full side to side with the GGs when cooking at lower temps (like a big load of wings).
 

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I've got some Grillgrates that came with a used 22" kettle I recently picked up. I threw a couple pieces of that set on my rusty Q320 grates and they work really well. I haven't tried using the flat side yet, but I do appreciate the tips that Denver Jim and Jon gave. Makes me want to try them out again.
They do seem like kind of a pain to clean though...
 
Thanks for the reply guys i
Bruce said:
Sheeesh, hard to believe that weber would cheap on with stamped steel grates vs solid rod grates when it comes to the Summit line of grills.
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Yeah all of the 2005 summit gold and silver a,b,c,d had the stamped grates, Only the platinum had rods.

Thanks for all of the detailed replies guyes. I've heard enough good things to want to try them for myself. I will report back, but I may hold out for a little while and see if they have a labor day sale.
 
Bruce said:
Sheeesh, hard to believe that weber would cheap on with stamped steel grates vs solid rod grates when it comes to the Summit line of grills.
Click to expand...
Yes they sure did on the 2nd generation Summits. When I fully rebuilt my brother's and did it's conversion from LP to NG for him I ordered him a fullset of Dave Santana's grates. He loves them. One of his friends mentioned GG to him and told him how much he swears by them but when he sees what my bro's old Summit does he realizes as well a good grill and good old quality grates are the ticket. Another thing to keep in mind is GGs do block heat circulation in the grill. They can and do cause internal temps to become higher than the design specs if they're laid on the entire surface. How bad is that? Well it "depends".
And honestly when you can EASILY get results like shown here by doing absolutely nothing special, and BTW what you see here was not even done with the intent of doing a hard sear. These were simply pork chops done at medium indirect heat on my dad's old Genesis 3000 that I installed a set of Summit heavy rod grates in. I am sure GGs could not have done anything better with what turned out to be absolutely delicious perfectly cooked and seared chops that any chop house would be proud to serve. Just remember most of the magic happens thanks to the magician not the wand20200820_171713.jpg
 
That is how those chops came out. Not just "lines" they had a beautiful "crust". Same thing with last nights steaks. Even the neighbor commented about how good the outer crust was. Kept asking "how did you do that?" Nothing special. I made sure the surface of the meat was good and dry. While my steaks warm up I typically like to put them between some paper towels. Once the major chill is off and they're good and dry, I season generously with S&P (and I do use pepper as I don't use blowtorch type heat there is not need). I rub the seasoning layer in really good. Place the meat on the grates and let the grill do it's magic
 
LMichaels said:
That is how those chops came out. Not just "lines" they had a beautiful "crust". Same thing with last nights steaks. Even the neighbor commented about how good the outer crust was. Kept asking "how did you do that?" Nothing special. I made sure the surface of the meat was good and dry. While my steaks warm up I typically like to put them between some paper towels. Once the major chill is off and they're good and dry, I season generously with S&P (and I do use pepper as I don't use blowtorch type heat there is not need). I rub the seasoning layer in really good. Place the meat on the grates and let the grill do it's magic
Click to expand...

There is the key!
 
Finally, one thing I have noticed in using GrillGrates is that most of the grease that previously would have poured down on your flavorizer bars and into the main and finally small drip pans doesn't do that with these. WIth GrillGrates, the smoky, sizzling effect happens at the grate level finally getting burned up. Very little passes through, so the rest of your grill stays a lot cleaner. Make no mistake, however. This does NOT mean that your grill is just a "griddle." There is plenty of true grilling going on. The effect of the Weber flavorizer bars is now just happening closer to your food.


Greetings to all. I wanted to talk about my experience with grillgrates.First when grilling chicken, I find that the grease from cooking tends to pond up beneath the rail which I find annoying. If I run the burner to try to get rid of the grease, I waste a lot of fuel.I will try next tine to wipe it down with a paper towel after it cools down. (I'm still in the testing phase.) The grill I'm using for testing is a Weber Gensis II LX 3 burner.I should point out that this grill is one of the hottest I ever used. At 50 degrees ambient temperature, in the boost mode, I measured 960 degrees at the grate ! At 60- 70 degrees and above the grate temp is well over 1000 deg. My IR only goes to 1000 deg. As far as the toast test, equal all around no hot or cold spots. What I like about this grill is if I have a crowd over for the weekend, the entire grill surface becomes a sear station! 100% of the grate you can sear.IMHO, I find this much better than a dedicated sear station. Now I'm aware meathead and wired magazine gave this grill a bad rap, I can't speak for them, however, I can testify my results are true and correct. The above test was conducted with both ss and cast-iron grates. It would be interesting to find out how far above 1000 deg it will reach. Midway during the testing of grillgrates, my grill failed to reach normal operating temp, I traced the problem to a defective regulator which Weber replaced. Now BTW.
The manufacture claims you will use less fuel. I find this to be true. With all 3 burners in the min position, I can grill the chicken at 425-450 at the rail.
At that temp the chicken is golden brown. The skin is most crisp. Please note when I grill my chicken, it is heavily marinated which could be a challenge with SS or on a charcoal grill. Relative to cooking chicken ( non-marinated) on grill grates vs SS, the grillgrate chicken is indeed more tender and juicier
than cooking the same over SS. I find this to be true with chops, steak. I grill steak at about 610 deg at the rail. If I want my steak to have a nice crust, I do not use grillgrates.
One issue I'm working on is smoke. I have a smoker tube I purchased from them and it does not work well. The nature of the defect is when you place the tube in front of the grill, the smoke does not draw across the food. How could this be? The smoke exits the top back of the hood so it never gets to draw across the food. For this to function correctly, the hood of the grill would have to exit the smoke at the bottom of the hood not the top.
When I cross examined the maker of the smoker tube, they could not find fault with my analysis, but did offer a work around. Cold smoke then grill!!
The problem now is that can add another 1-2 hours to the cook time. Hey Brad feel free to chime in.
I must conclude for me the jury is still out. More testing is needed for sure. Then there remains the cleaning issue. Sometimes they do not clean up nice.
I would just like to take a moment to wish everyone here nothing but the absolute best during these difficult times. Stay Frosty, Michael
 
Michael,
That is certainly the most powerful results I have heard of coming from a Genesis II! So, yes, I agree with you backing off on the heat if you are going to use GrillGrates. My Genesis Platinum gets pretty hot with regular grates, and I never run if past 3/4 when using GrillGrates.

I have used a smoker box underneath my GrillGrates, and as long as ventilation holes in the GrillGrates are kept clean, it seemed to me that a decent amount of smoke was coming through. Enough for me that my reaction was "What could a pellet grill with searing capability do better than this?"

Steaks & Burgers with smoke.jpeg

Please don't get me wrong, I really like pellet grills. If you have only one grill, then the Weber SmokeFire (once properly tuned up and always kept clean) seems to be able to do it all.
 
Throwing in my .02, I'm about 4-5 cooks in on my set. I bought them for my go anywhere but have been using them on a full size gasser. They definitely make beautiful marks for photo/instagram stuff. But it's not as much of a total coverage maillard reaction. Flipping them over to the back/flat side is better in that regard, but at what point do you just use a griddle? I have used pretty much every grate available and greatly prefer super thick SS rods, or a soapstone for steaks/burgers.

My use-case is pretty specific, I wanted grates I can pack into my WGA. If I had bought a full set of these for a genesis or kettle I would probably send them back

Edit: Also one of the things I don't like is you really can't get them totally clean. I know a lot of people are fine with that, and I don't mind seasoning or carbonized grease, but I really don't like that there are actual chunks of food that get stuck in the valleys and are difficult to remove.
 
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