Kettle Stainless Steel Grate


 
R

Ryan-Arlington

New member
I recently purchased a Build Your Own Master Touch on weber.com, and upgraded to the stainless steel grate. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed when the stainless steel grate broke - on only the second cook.

The welding was very poor as the bars detached from the the circular grate frame (see 1st photo).

I filed a warranty claim online and they sent me a replacement. However, my question is - how do I know they actually sent a stainless steel replacement and not the plated version? There was no part description in the box. And this one looks a bit shinier than the original - kinda has a plated look (see 2nd photo).

Maybe I’m being paranoid. Thanks!IMG_0991.jpeg
 

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I personally thing you want aftermarket grates. I bought grates from Weber and they were plated and rusted quickly. Granted, I can wire wheel them clean, but why have to if you don't have to?

KiilGrilla is going out of business soon. They have quality stuff and somewhat of a "going out of business" sale going on

 
Check the first one with a magnet. If it's good quality 304 stainless steel, the magnet will not stick or will only stick a tiny bit. The replacement should be the same. If the original was not magnetic, but the replacement is, then they sent you the plated steel grate.
 
Production welded grates out of bar stock are usually jigged up and electricity applied to weld the contact points without filler. The weld I see in the pic looks like either poor contact (not in the jig right,) or dirty stock (such as oil contamination.) There is a contact divot there, I'd lean towards a contamination problem.
 
A Lee said:
Check the first one with a magnet. If it's good quality 304 stainless steel, the magnet will not stick or will only stick a tiny bit. The replacement should be the same. If the original was not magnetic, but the replacement is, then they sent you the plated steel grate.
Click to expand...
Interesting; great tip. I also own an 18in WSM with plated grates. There is no discernible magnetic difference in any of them - a magnet sticks to all three grates. So maybe Weber’s stainless steel is low quality.

I will say that when comparing the apparent stainless steel grates to the WSM plated grates, the stainless steel do have a thicker gauge. So maybe that is an indication that they at least sent me the correct part - irrespective of the quality or lack thereof.
 
Hunsaker makes replacement grates out of 304 stainless, with and without the center cutout for the GBS:

www.hunsakersmokers.com

Hunsaker 22" & 26" Kettle Premium Stainless Steel Food Grate: The Ultimate Cooking Surface for Your Kettle Grill

Made in the USA, this stainless steel food grate is ready to cook for many years without rusting. We only use heavy gauge 304 stainless steel to ensure quality
www.hunsakersmokers.com www.hunsakersmokers.com

www.hunsakersmokers.com

Hunsaker Heavy Duty Stainless Steel Food Grate for 22" Kettle Grills | The Perfect Way to Upgrade Your Grill

Made in the USA with 304 stainless steel cooking grate for the 22" kettle grills including the 22" Weber Kettle Grill. Built with heavy stainless steel to last.
www.hunsakersmokers.com www.hunsakersmokers.com
 
Ryan-Arlington said:
I recently purchased a Build Your Own Master Touch on weber.com, and upgraded to the stainless steel grate. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed when the stainless steel grate broke - on only the second cook.

The welding was very poor as the bars detached from the the circular grate frame (see 1st photo).

I filed a warranty claim online and they sent me a replacement. However, my question is - how do I know they actually sent a stainless steel replacement and not the plated version? There was no part description in the box. And this one looks a bit shinier than the original - kinda has a plated look (see 2nd photo).

Maybe I’m being paranoid. Thanks!View attachment 77653
Click to expand...
I had that happen to a new plated one, never knew they offered a SS version.
I paid a C note for the Killa grilla with the fold up sides ,solid ,no center cut out.
If you don't mind, what did the SS upgrade cost?
 
Ryan-Arlington said:
Interesting; great tip. I also own an 18in WSM with plated grates. There is no discernible magnetic difference in any of them - a magnet sticks to all three grates. So maybe Weber’s stainless steel is low quality.

I will say that when comparing the apparent stainless steel grates to the WSM plated grates, the stainless steel do have a thicker gauge. So maybe that is an indication that they at least sent me the correct part - irrespective of the quality or lack thereof.
Click to expand...

I guess you can also try scraping a small area of the new grate. If you see any copper colored metal when the plating is scraped off, it's a plated grate.

Actually, did the replacement part have a part number on the box? It should say part # 65057 if it is stainless.

I bought this Onlyfire Stainless grate recently and it was non-magnetic 304 SS

tvwbb.com

Onlyfire Stainless GBS Grate

Perusing the Amazon yesterday, I found something interesting. It looks like Onlyfire has finally jumped into the game and started producing a stainless GBS replacement grate. I’m guessing that it’s currently at some kind of introductory price, since it’s presently only four bucks more than...
tvwbb.com tvwbb.com
 
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A Lee said:
It's part # 65057 and is $82.04
Click to expand...
I paid $75 for the “upgrade” when purchasing the grill - so nearly full replacement cost.

Feels like they should give more than a $7 upgrade discount if you buy with the original purchase of the grill (given they otherwise would need to still ship a standard grate). But oh well.
 
A Lee said:
I guess you can also try scraping a small area of the new grate. If you see any copper colored metal when the plating is scraped off, it's a plated grate.

Actually, did the replacement part have a part number on the box? It should say part # 65057 if it is stainless.

I bought this Onlyfire Stainless grate recently and it was non-magnetic 304 SS

tvwbb.com

Onlyfire Stainless GBS Grate

Perusing the Amazon yesterday, I found something interesting. It looks like Onlyfire has finally jumped into the game and started producing a stainless GBS replacement grate. I’m guessing that it’s currently at some kind of introductory price, since it’s presently only four bucks more than...
tvwbb.com tvwbb.com
Click to expand...
Thanks. There were no part numbers on the box - totally nondescript. I did end up calling Weber this afternoon and they promised they shipped part #65057.
 
timothy said:
I had that happen to a new plated one, never knew they offered a SS version.
I paid a C note for the Killa grilla with the fold up sides ,solid ,no center cut out.
If you don't mind, what did the SS upgrade cost?
Click to expand...
$75 if you upgrade with the original purchase. Or slightly more ($82) if you call in and order as a replacement part.

I don’t think they market it on their normal sales page as an accessory - I think it’s only available via replacement part or initial upgrade for the Build Your Own Master Touch.
 
Michael Chen said:
Hunsaker makes replacement grates out of 304 stainless, with and without the center cutout for the GBS:

www.hunsakersmokers.com

Hunsaker 22" & 26" Kettle Premium Stainless Steel Food Grate: The Ultimate Cooking Surface for Your Kettle Grill

Made in the USA, this stainless steel food grate is ready to cook for many years without rusting. We only use heavy gauge 304 stainless steel to ensure quality
www.hunsakersmokers.com www.hunsakersmokers.com

www.hunsakersmokers.com

Hunsaker Heavy Duty Stainless Steel Food Grate for 22" Kettle Grills | The Perfect Way to Upgrade Your Grill

Made in the USA with 304 stainless steel cooking grate for the 22" kettle grills including the 22" Weber Kettle Grill. Built with heavy stainless steel to last.
www.hunsakersmokers.com www.hunsakersmokers.com
Click to expand...
With Mark Baron owner of KillaGrilla retiring, I am glad we have Hunsaker. I bought their upper and lower cooking grates for my “restoration in progress” WSM 18. Not quite as thick as KillaGrilla but still definitely very high quality. If I go for another kettle grate, they would be my first stop.

p.s. Regarding Weber stainless GBS grates, a few years ago I had the opportunity to buy one in Germany at the Weber company store there and somehow get it back on the plane. Very nice but definitely not 304 stainless - probably 430. Still a huge improvement over plated steel. But I think the Hunsaker one would be a better choice.

IMG_5705.jpeg
IMG_2912.jpeg
 
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Ryan-Arlington said:
I recently purchased a Build Your Own Master Touch on weber.com, and upgraded to the stainless steel grate. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed when the stainless steel grate broke - on only the second cook.

The welding was very poor as the bars detached from the the circular grate frame (see 1st photo).

I filed a warranty claim online and they sent me a replacement. However, my question is - how do I know they actually sent a stainless steel replacement and not the plated version? There was no part description in the box. And this one looks a bit shinier than the original - kinda has a plated look (see 2nd photo).

Maybe I’m being paranoid. Thanks!View attachment 77653
Click to expand...
Hey Ryan, I'm one of the Global Charcoal Product Managers at Weber, and the Build Your Own Master-Touch program is one of my projects. I'm very sorry to learn about the trouble you had with your cooking grate. It never should have shipped out with a bad weld. It's hard to tell from the photo if the replacement grate is SS or not from the photo, but it does look a bit too shiny for me to feel confident that you were shipped a SS replacement. Shoot me a message and I'll be happy to help.
 
John Burns said:
Hey Ryan, I'm one of the Global Charcoal Product Managers at Weber, and the Build Your Own Master-Touch program is one of my projects. I'm very sorry to learn about the trouble you had with your cooking grate. It never should have shipped out with a bad weld. It's hard to tell from the photo if the replacement grate is SS or not from the photo, but it does look a bit too shiny for me to feel confident that you were shipped a SS replacement. Shoot me a message and I'll be happy to help.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much, John. Appreciate it. Just sent you a private message.
 
Jon Tofte said:
With Mark Baron owner of KillaGrilla retiring, I am glad we have Hunsaker. I bought their upper and lower cooking grates for my “restoration in progress” WSM 18. Not quite as thick as KillaGrilla but still definitely very high quality. If I go for another kettle grate, they would be my first stop.

p.s. Regarding Weber stainless GBS grates, a few years ago I had the opportunity to buy one in Germany at the Weber company store there and somehow get it back on the plane. Very nice but definitely not 304 stainless - probably 430. Still a huge improvement over plated steel. But I think the Hunsaker one would be a better choice.

View attachment 77677
View attachment 77678
Click to expand...
John, that appears to be the same one I have on my Performer with GBS. So far in 3 years of use its held up great, and I think it is much better quality than the original plated models . I also have the poultry insert, cast iron one for steaks as well. No griddle as I already got that covered when wife picked up a PitBoss ceramic 2 burner which works real well. Now that Marks' place has closed though, I think Hunsaker-or Weber-could put out something like the one Killa I should have bought-part # KG7436 , flip up door one side.
 
Slow N Sear sells grates made of 304 with the flip up door on one side to go with their charcoal basket products: https://snsgrills.com/collections/grill-grates-griddles/products/easyspin-grill-grate-22

I have not seen these in person, but from the photos and user reviews, they do not seem as substantial as the Hunsaker ones, and they’re certainly nothing like Mark Baron’s products. I feel like I saw SNS touting the thin bars as a “feature” in one of their articles or blog posts, but I don’t remember exactly where I saw it. I’ll let you all imagine the face I’m making at that notion…
 
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