Monday, May 28, 2012

Replacing Old BBQ Grates with GrillGrates

Five 18.5" GrillGrates fit my Charbroil perfectly.
This is a long over due message and a story about letting your customers show you the way. When we introduced GrillGrate in 2008 they were designed to lay on top of the old surface to form a new one; much like resurfacing a road. We knew GrillGrate was more than grilling accessory to be used occasionally. Customers tell us they never grill without them. But, the demand and interest to remove the old surface and cover the entire grill with GrillGrates slowly grew until Meathead of amazingribs.com called two years ago. He asked if I would cut him a special length 18.5” for his gas grill. I knew better than to say no and cut 5 for his Charbroil. We also heard from many customers who were buying 20” GrillGrates (for commercial grills) and cutting them to fit their grills.

Meathead's enthusiastic response along with the barrage of pictures I was receiving from delighted (and handy) customers was enough to make me make cut GrillGrates for my grill. I have the same 4 burner Charbroil that Meathead does. I've had five of the standard GrillGrates on it for 2 years and never felt the need to cover the uncovered portion.  But from the moment I removed the old cast iron grates, I was amazed at the difference in how my grill performed. It ran much hotter a lot faster and was very responsive. I had a new learning curve too. Medium is the maximum I use even with steaks and the heat control and responsiveness is amazing.

GrillGrates cook food the same whether they are on top of the old grates or not. It was the difference in my grill that was the eye-opener. Here is a summary of the performance aspects of replacing the existing grilling surface with GrillGrates:
  • Gas Grills run much hotter with only GrillGrates: GrillGrates trap a grills heat much more efficiently than any other grate. Heat can only escape up through the holes in the bottom of the GrillGrate or via the metal.   GrillGrates act as a heat exchanger- capturing the heat of your grill and transmitting it up to the cooking rails. NOTE:  Be careful not to overheat your grill.  Stay below 900F!
  • Grills heats up twice as quickly: Light your grill just a few minutes before you are ready to cook No long warm-up needed or the grill will be at 700F or more. The cool down is equally fast if the grill does get too hot. Open the lid, turn down the gas and the aluminum is very responsive in dropping temperature quickly as well.
  • GrillGrate make Gas Grills incredibly efficient when the original grates are removed. Caterers cooking on large 8 burner grills that require two tanks have reported using 1/3 the fuel compared to grilling without GrillGrates.
  • A GAP at the edges is a good thing. The only other place heat can escape is at the sides. (as the front to back is covered) A small gap on each side allows for strong convection into the hood. AND
  • Veggies roasting at 350F on left, Steaks grilling at 650F on right
    A GAP in the middle by separating GrillGrates creates a two-zone grill. Disconnecting 3 GrillGrates on the left from two GrillGrates on the right in my case allows me to roast vegetables on the left at 350F with burners low or even off, while grilling steaks on the right at 650F with the burners at medium. We're creating a video and a separate post about this discovery which has made my gas grill even more efficient and versatile.
My Charbroil is a like a souped up Chevy Nova! Faster, Hotter and Even More fun!

After 2 years of testing and customer feedback we now offer 5 standard lengths:
  • 13.75”- standard / universal GrillGrate
  • 17.375”   Ideal for many models of Weber gas grills
  • 18.5”  Fits Charbroil, Jenair, Treager and many others.
  • 20” GrillGrates for many event grills
  • 24” GrillGrate for restaurants and institutional grills. 

    Thank you to all our grrrrrate customers who are helping us improve GrillGrate and your grilling experience!

    Updated May 21, 2013

11 comments:

shane said...

Hi There!

Extremely interested in replacing my grates with grill grates after all the awesome reviews I've read.

My question is, how do you cut them to size? Just a hacksaw?

Unknown said...

Any metal cutting blade- even a hack saw, but a table saw, or band saw is better. OR take them to your local hardware store. Most ACE and True Value have chop saws in the back and they can cut them in a flash. Easy to cut from the back. Your grill will be better than new.

Unknown said...

Hopefully someone answers this, I bought the grillgrates for my charbroil grill a week ago. I have since used it over five times. I love how it prevents flair ups and moistens the meat, but the temperatures haven't been significantly higher than the factory grates. I used a laser temp probe and the grillgrates were only at 550, 30 degrees hotter than factory. Is there something I'm doing wrong?

Unknown said...

If you have a lot of area around the GG uncovered- then you will convect a lot of heat out of the grill as before so added heat will not be as much. 550F AT the GrillGrates is pretty hot. You are doing nothing wrong- and you are seeing the tender, juicier aspects. Good thing you have a laser as you really know your Grate temps. Anything over 600F is really hot and lays down black sear marks- which is a matter of taste! Thanks for posting. Brad

Anonymous said...

Self cleaning oven works awsome on grates!

STEVIEM said...

HI -

I have a built-in brick BBQ and it's time to replace the grate. I would like to try this product. My BBQ grate area is 16" x 24". My question is how wide are these grates? Would it be wise to lay them along side of
each other?

Thank you.

Stephanie M

STEVIEM said...

HI -

I have a built-in brick BBQ and it's time to replace the grate. I would like to try this product. My BBQ grate area is 16" x 24". My question is how wide are these grates? Would it be wise to lay them along side of
each other?

Thank you.

Stephanie M

Ninh said...

Why can't we heat our grills over 900? Just curious...

Unknown said...

I am very impressed with this article. The content of this blog is very good and useful for built in bbq's

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Brian Taylor said...

A normal three burner gas Grill Size is 450-500 square inches of cooking space, which is plenty for most families. Grills with five or six burners and 550-650 square inches of the cooking surface may be preferred by those who often host big gatherings or who have large families.