Eric-NH
TVWBB Pro
What makes the coated cast iron a hazard? I've been liking mine
When To Replace Grill Grates
- Thread starter Willard
- Start date
Steve Hoch
TVWBB Hall of Fame
They are fine until the coating starts to flake off.
The thing with cast irons is you have to treat them like a cast iron pan..... There is NO reason to ever take them over 400 (350 really) to burn the crud off ---- EVERYTHING scrapes off really easy ~350 --- its foolish to carbonize it onto the grates and THEN have to CHISEL it off. Also swapping grates side to side and flipping them 180 every so often is key --- keep the grease/oil on them and they will never rust. The older 'heavy porcelain' grates were terrible --- too many high heat cycles would crack it and they would just rust away..... The newer CI with a 'thin porcelain' seem to be pretty robust and durable --- I'm still running the original CI grates on my Spirit 200 and the swap&flip keep them going without any rust anywhere. The problem is without burning them out at 500+ is that the grill needs to be cleaned much more often to prevent grease fires, but I'm okay with that to make sure I don't torch any meat anyways.
As far as rod grates ----- 7mm rods are fine, even tho everyone wants the 'big' 9mm ones.... what I've seen that is more important is the spacing between the rods - some of the chineeseir ones save on less bars and bigger spaces - not good. I've also picked up a couple of flipper grills that had rod grates that were 'just barely' deep enough to fit on the ledges -- barely measuring 17.25" in depth - WITH the cross bars right at the ends of the bars!!!! How anyone put up with those for so long is beyond me -- they almost fall into the firebox every time you brush them because the round cross bar is barely on the ledge. Pay attention to the depth - they 'should be' 17.5" - 17.4 OK - 17.3" dicey but probably not an issue --- anything less stay away.
As far as rod grates ----- 7mm rods are fine, even tho everyone wants the 'big' 9mm ones.... what I've seen that is more important is the spacing between the rods - some of the chineeseir ones save on less bars and bigger spaces - not good. I've also picked up a couple of flipper grills that had rod grates that were 'just barely' deep enough to fit on the ledges -- barely measuring 17.25" in depth - WITH the cross bars right at the ends of the bars!!!! How anyone put up with those for so long is beyond me -- they almost fall into the firebox every time you brush them because the round cross bar is barely on the ledge. Pay attention to the depth - they 'should be' 17.5" - 17.4 OK - 17.3" dicey but probably not an issue --- anything less stay away.
Jon Tofte
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Well said, Jim!
I think a lot of people got turned off by the cast iron when Weber went with the thick porcelain coating that sure was good at peeling off onto your food
. The newer type is definitely better. The best to me, though, is if you can find an ORIGINAL set of Weber uncoated cast iron that has managed to survive. I have maybe two sets. They are even more work to keep seasoned, but the old Weber ones were thick, and I think worth the effort. Even if lightly rusted, they can be restored and reseasoned like a cast iron frying pan.
You can tell if you have one of the really old ones by the Patent # you can see on the bottom right corner of the restored grate on the right:
Many will say that quality stainless rod grates, at least 7mm and, as you say with adequately tight spacing, will do just as well with a lot less work. I do agree overall. Definitely a lot less work and probably does do just about as well. Still, for me, there is something primal and special about cooking on cast iron
.
I see these as summertime grates to be put away in a dry place when it is time to convert to winter grilling with snow, ice, and sleet assaulting my daily driver grill outside.
I think a lot of people got turned off by the cast iron when Weber went with the thick porcelain coating that sure was good at peeling off onto your food
. The newer type is definitely better. The best to me, though, is if you can find an ORIGINAL set of Weber uncoated cast iron that has managed to survive. I have maybe two sets. They are even more work to keep seasoned, but the old Weber ones were thick, and I think worth the effort. Even if lightly rusted, they can be restored and reseasoned like a cast iron frying pan.You can tell if you have one of the really old ones by the Patent # you can see on the bottom right corner of the restored grate on the right:
Many will say that quality stainless rod grates, at least 7mm and, as you say with adequately tight spacing, will do just as well with a lot less work. I do agree overall. Definitely a lot less work and probably does do just about as well. Still, for me, there is something primal and special about cooking on cast iron
.I see these as summertime grates to be put away in a dry place when it is time to convert to winter grilling with snow, ice, and sleet assaulting my daily driver grill outside.