Top Grate vs Bottom Grate

[A Harrison]

I see a lot of people smoking briskets and larger cuts on the top grate.

For those of you that do is there much of a temperature difference? Difference in amount of smoke?

Was going to do a brisket on the top grate but wanted to get inputs first.

On my WSM 18 the temperature difference between the two was negligible.

 

[Shane - glitchy]

I think a lot of it is to position drip pans on the main grate below. When you start putting a packer and huge drip pans in you change airflow so I rely on my Fireboard to know what the temps are at versus the SmokeFire controller. It seems that often I have to set the grill 25 degrees higher to get the temp I’m really after setup like this, but they’ve been tweaking software with updates regularly, so I don’t expect anything cook to cook and run the FB every long cook.

 

[Rich Dahl]

Don't have a SmokeFire but my Camp Chefs lower grates are right above the grate that's slotted for grease removal and also the let the heat out for cooking. On higher heat cooks and large pieces of meat where I run a drip pan I prefer to use the upper racks because like Shane said the air flow gets restricted with the drip pan or meat. With the meat on the upper racks it cooks more evenly.

 

[AHoneyman]

On the SF, the exhaust ports are at the same height as the top shelf. The meat that I have cooked on the top grate appeared to cook on the bottom as the heat went out the vent. I ended up moving the meat back to the bottom grate, where it cooked from all sides.

 

[Scott Quimby]

I put big fatty cuts on the main grate with drip pans down below. Ribs right now are on the top grate. Wings and steaks on the main grate. Tenderloins on either, depending if you want some char.

 

[A Harrison]

I did a 2lb chuck roast on the top grate 225F for 8hrs) with a large drip pan with water. Couldn’t really tell any difference in results other than the drip pan with water was a large heat sink.

Definitely simplified cleanup.