Hotter grill?

[Chris in Central Ohio]

Nice replies Jim, all are spot on, but I will clarify...a buddy of mine has a Dyna-Glo, and it easily zips up to 650. His burger/steak sear was 2 times better than on my Weber...I presumed it was the higher heat, thus, the reason of this thread.

And my grill is fine. It gets to 500 in about 15-20 (warm weather/no wind), but will hit 550, but only after another 15-20, but that isa normal according to Weber...they say all their grills are designed to run at 500, so I know mine is good.

Thanks everyone for the great replies!

 

[LMichaels]

All my Weber grills exceeded 500 like it wasn't there. Well all except the Q models but Genesis and Summit all blow right past 500. Topping out anywhere from 600 to 650

 

[G Schafer]

All my Weber grills exceeded 500 like it wasn't there. Well all except the Q models but Genesis and Summit all blow right past 500. Topping out anywhere from 600 to 650

Yup, mine always have too. Makes sure the thermometer isn't stuck!

 

[Jim C in Denver]

Chris -- I ran a speed test tonight before cooking dinner. Early 2000s Genesis Silver B, three burners. Started cold and then turned all three burners on full. Temps measured with the Weber lid/meat thermometer on the far right side; that looks to measure air temp about 1 inch above the grate. NB, that thermometer is only marked up to 550, so data beyond that is my eyeball estimate.

Weber PCI grate from Home Depot. Grill maxed out at 570F after 13 minutes.

Then three interlocked GGs centered in the grill, leaving 3-4 inches on either side for airflow. Flat side up.

Needle buried at 8 minutes, well beyond the 550F mark. My guess-timate would be 700-750F.

Then I quickly turned everything down to make sure no animals, children or grills were injured in the experiment.

So if you want hotter, faster and sear-er (i.e. flat side hot metal), GGs might turn it up to 11 for you.

P.S. With the GGs full side to side, the temps were (surprisingly) a bit lower and slower. Maybe the more restricted airflow was keeping the hot below from coming up to where the temp probe was. And perhaps I was building a China syndrome fireball below the grate. : )

 

[Jon Tofte]

You do need to exercise care with a whole set of GrillGrates. Although they have decent holes, they get clogged up and inherently anyway heat is trapped below. I never run my Genesis Platinum with GG at anything above 3/4. No problem searing at that speed. The GrillGrates instructions even say that medium high may well be your new high.