Who here has used a BGE grid extender?


 
P

Paul Pearson

TVWBB Super Fan
I have an 18.5" WSM and have been looking for ways to increase my capacity. I have read through the capacity section of the main website and am thinking I want to go the BGE grid extender route for the top rack, but it has some bad reviews on Amazon for being flimsy and not connecting securely to the grill grate.

I have been doing a lot of reading and searching here about it and haven't found a lot of opinions specifically about that so I thought I would ask directly.

Those of you that have them, what model/size did you go with, and how is the fitment? How much weight can you safely put on them before worrying?
 
I'm glad you posted that, I need to look into getting some for my 22". I really hate getting to the bottom shelf and cleanup would be easier if I just put a big foil pan down there.
 
I find the "search" function pretty useless so:

I posted this a while ago.

All you need is the extra rack and some empty tall boys.

If you need a third level, use 4 empty Tall Boys on the bottom rack, put your extra rack on top of those cans. If your top rack comes too close to the meat on that middle rack, add four more empty Tall Boys on that middle rack. Problem solved.

The meat on the top rack may extend into the dome. Makes no difference.

I'm sure you can find a couple of empties lying around
Click to expand...

You could even use some bricks instead. (although repeated heat/cool cycles may cause them to eventually crack).
 
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I think I ran across that comment at one point. I was looking for something to solidly attach (while being easily removed) to the grill grate, or a ring device to hold another grate that I saw on here.

Plus, cans take up cooking space ;)
 
They are placed along the edge where you don't want to cook (heat rising along the edges).

Or you can use long carriage bolts. Not as easily removed though.


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I made an extra grate for the bottom section and a small one for the top section for my WSM 22.5. All supplies ordered off of Amazon, so you may be able to find better prices at your local hardware super-store.

They look basically like what Len just posted, but just sit on top of the grate, and lift off. Nothing to attach or detach, just load grate, add grate, load grate, add grate, load, add, load.. Sorry, lost track there. Same concept as other people using bricks, beer cans, chunks of wood, etc... Only more stable and re-usable.

Total cost of project = $61.44

U-bolts $29.97 for ten delivered.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B005IZ3TS2/tvwb-20

25 nuts for $5.38

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B004XMWLPS/tvwb-20

25 washers for $7.61

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B009OL4W8C/tvwb-20

17 inch charcoal grate for $10.99

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000WEKNMY/tvwb-20

13.5 inch cooking grate for $7.49

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000WEIKL0/tvwb-20

These particular U-Bolts are "square" so the business end of them are flat and make a nice sturdy leg to sit on top of the other grates. Just screw the nuts/washers up through the bottom of the grate. Doing three "legs" per grate, spaced evenly, assures that the angle of the "legs" never line up with the slots of the grate it's sitting on, so always has a secure surface.

I used 3 U-Bolts for "legs" on both grates.. And two U-Bolts for "handles" for the lower grate addition. If you wanted to skip the top grate/rack, you would just need the 17 inch charcoal grate, 5 U-Bolts, 10 nuts, and 10 washers. Didn't price these out at these quantities, but I'm guessing you could do the bottom grate only for around $30-35? Or, if you wanted to do just the top grate, would require the grate, 3 U-Bolts, 6 nuts, and 6 washers. You could probably use a little bigger grate than he 13.5, but I couldn't really find anything in the 14-15 inch range.

I have pictures, will try to load them here if anyone wants to see. I doubt I'll ever use all for grates(two stock and two home-made)... But it was just one of those things that I kept out-thinking myself on.
 
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I would be curious to see that kind of setup if it isn't too much trouble. I won't always need that much space, but for larger gatherings it would be nice. My uncle and I did bbq chicken for Christmas day and used 2 kettle grills in addition to the wsm.

It looks like the you double posted the washer link fyi.
 
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Slow getting photobucket figured out, but here's a couple views of what I did. Adding approximately 370 square inches of grill space between the two.







 
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Paul, check out the Ceramic Grill Store. Their Adjustable rig is just what you are looking for. Provides several additional layers of grill space with a ton of versatility to adjust.
 
I saw the ceramic store setup mentioned somewhere else but couldn't quite figure out at first glance how it would work with the wsm. Maybe I will try to do some research on that. Ideally whatever I get could easily go from 2 gates to 4 and back.
 
For not too much more money you could make a mini wsm, much more versatile than an extender.
 
I've got a couple of the BGE extenders, and I like them a lot. One is more stout than the other....sadly, I don't remember which I bought first. Regardless, both work fine. I like the ability to flip one side up and get at whatever is below.

I think I paid $20 each at my local True Value (they happen to be a BGE...and Weber....and Holland....and Traeger...and...well, they've got a lot of cool stuff.)

Jarrod
 
I found a dealer somewhat close by so I am going to stop in and see if they carry any of hand. Their website says they sell weber products as well so maybe I will be able to mock things up in the store.
 
I stopped by a BGE dealer yesterday and after poking around it a bit I was not impressed. Unless I put it on the grate wrong there was only about 1.5 or 2" of clearance between the grates and when I pushed down to simulate loading the Rack it dropped another half to 3/4". It didn't feel very solid to me. I think I will start looking for a steamer rack instead.
 
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