GrillGrate Review

I have not tried flipping them over to sear on the flat side yet but I haven't done many steaks or burgers due to the cost of beef right now.
 
As promised, here is my follow-up with pictures of how the GrillGrates perform on my Bull. I report this only because I am a satisfied customer, and not because I have any interest, financial or otherwise, in GrillGrate.

Here is what I bought for the test, a strip steak 1-½” thick and weighing just under a pound. I let the steak come to room temp while I pre-heated my Bull with GrillGrates, one with flat side up and two with grate side up. My plan was to cook both sides of the steak for 3 minutes total. One side would be cooked on the flat side, and the other would be cooked on the grate side, flipped 90* at the 1.5 minute mark.

I used recteq ultimate blend pellets, the outside temp was 85*, and my Bull was in the shade. After about 30 minutes, the Bull maxed out at 546* IT, and an IR thermometer registered a max temp on the GrillGrates of 680*. I cooked on the grate side first, rotated mid-way, then flipped to the flat side for the final 3 minutes. The final internal temp of the steak registered right at 140*, which is actually a little more done than what I prefer for a steak.

I cut the steak in half, shared it with my wife, and served it with a baked potato topped with a poblano pepper and cheese sauce along with okra, corn, and tomatoes from my garden. My experience with the GrillGrates on the Bull is that they are worth the investment, and they really shine on the super-hot Bullseye. As with anything in life, YMMV, and if so, how about posting your actual results rather than attacking mine?
 

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As promised, here is my follow-up with pictures of how the GrillGrates perform on my Bull. I report this only because I am a satisfied customer, and not because I have any interest, financial or otherwise, in GrillGrate.

Here is what I bought for the test, a strip steak 1-½” thick and weighing just under a pound. I let the steak come to room temp while I pre-heated my Bull with GrillGrates, one with flat side up and two with grate side up. My plan was to cook both sides of the steak for 3 minutes total. One side would be cooked on the flat side, and the other would be cooked on the grate side, flipped 90* at the 1.5 minute mark.

I used recteq ultimate blend pellets, the outside temp was 85*, and my Bull was in the shade. After about 30 minutes, the Bull maxed out at 546* IT, and an IR thermometer registered a max temp on the GrillGrates of 680*. I cooked on the grate side first, rotated mid-way, then flipped to the flat side for the final 3 minutes. The final internal temp of the steak registered right at 140*, which is actually a little more done than what I prefer for a steak.

I cut the steak in half, shared it with my wife, and served it with a baked potato topped with a poblano pepper and cheese sauce along with okra, corn, and tomatoes from my garden. My experience with the GrillGrates on the Bull is that they are worth the investment, and they really shine on the super-hot Bullseye. As with anything in life, YMMV, and if so, how about posting your actual results rather than attacking mine?
Awesome @Greg Jones. Great review.
 
As promised, here is my follow-up with pictures of how the GrillGrates perform on my Bull. I report this only because I am a satisfied customer, and not because I have any interest, financial or otherwise, in GrillGrate.

Here is what I bought for the test, a strip steak 1-½” thick and weighing just under a pound. I let the steak come to room temp while I pre-heated my Bull with GrillGrates, one with flat side up and two with grate side up. My plan was to cook both sides of the steak for 3 minutes total. One side would be cooked on the flat side, and the other would be cooked on the grate side, flipped 90* at the 1.5 minute mark.

I used recteq ultimate blend pellets, the outside temp was 85*, and my Bull was in the shade. After about 30 minutes, the Bull maxed out at 546* IT, and an IR thermometer registered a max temp on the GrillGrates of 680*. I cooked on the grate side first, rotated mid-way, then flipped to the flat side for the final 3 minutes. The final internal temp of the steak registered right at 140*, which is actually a little more done than what I prefer for a steak.

I cut the steak in half, shared it with my wife, and served it with a baked potato topped with a poblano pepper and cheese sauce along with okra, corn, and tomatoes from my garden. My experience with the GrillGrates on the Bull is that they are worth the investment, and they really shine on the super-hot Bullseye. As with anything in life, YMMV, and if so, how about posting your actual results rather than attacking mine?
I believe you think all I want to do is argue but I really don't. I just want to understand where the additional heat comes from using the grates. In your example 131 degrees. Do you think it is because the internal RT probe is a couple of inches above the grates or maybe you are shooting the grate temp directly above the fire pot? I understand with the grates almost completely covering my gas grill the heat is trapped under the grates and the cooking surface is hotter. I cannot wrap my head around it working on the RT that is for all intents and purposes is a convection oven.
 
Thanks Greg but I saw that while researching before purchasing them for my gas grill. They make no suggestion the the grates increase the cooking temperature. I'll buy eliminating hot/cold spots and reducing flareups but that's about it. It just bugs me that people think the are converting a pellet fired convection oven into a high temp steak cooker for a hundred bucks. I said it before... They have their place but a pellet grill isn't it. The exception might be the guy who only has a pellet grill and wants sear marks on his food. Did I post this picture yet? About 15 minutes to 165 wide open on my 4 burner Weber gas grill with the plates.
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Thanks Greg but I saw that while researching before purchasing them for my gas grill. They make no suggestion the the grates increase the cooking temperature...
“There are none so blind has those who will not see.”

They absolutely make the claim that it increases the cooking temperature. It’s in the article I linked and I posted above the graphic from the article that shows what increase one can expect based on the type of grill. I’ve also posted pictures here of the ambient temps of my grills and the IR gun results of the temps at the GrillGrates, and still... And your sear marks on a gasser don’t remotely compare to the pics I posted of my own results on my lowly Bull.

Look, at this point it appears that it might be best to agree to disagree, and not respond to one another in this or other discussions on GrillGrates or whatever on this forum. Sound like a good plan?

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“There are none so blind has those who will not see.”

They absolutely make the claim that it increases the cooking temperature. It’s in the article I linked and I posted above the graphic from the article that shows what increase one can expect based on the type of grill. I’ve also posted pictures here of the ambient temps of my grills and the IR gun results of the temps at the GrillGrates, and still... And your sear marks on a gasser don’t remotely compare to the pics I posted of my own results on my lowly Bull.

Look, at this point it appears that it might be best to agree to disagree, and not respond to one another in this or other discussions on GrillGrates or whatever on this forum. Sound like a good plan?

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Just answer this last question and I'll leave you alone. My wife's double oven is calibrated for baking. If I set it to 500 degrees with the Grill Grates inside will the grates exceed the temperature I have the oven set at? You have to be smoking some pretty good stuff to answer yes. It isn't possible.
 
Just answer this last question and I'll leave you alone. My wife's double oven is calibrated for baking. If I set it to 500 degrees with the Grill Grates inside will the grates exceed the temperature I have the oven set at? You have to be smoking some pretty good stuff to answer yes. It isn't possible.

In the above example the grates could be slightly higher but will not be to much. The oven is sealed quite a bit more so once it heats up its fairly stable temp wise. The bull is a different beast and with the temp probe off to one side there will be areas of the chamber that are quite abit hotter than what the probe feels. For instance if you took the grates and the drip pan off, the fire pot cover with be significantly hotter than set temp. The drip pan a bit less and the drip pan over the fire pot (radiated heat) hotter than either far end. The hunk of metal that is the GG will be hotter than that air simple from the fact that the metal retain heat better. Now to what degree, you need some serious math to calculate that.

My overall takeaway is at full blast mine barely hits 500 and has a hard time staying there. I have never checked gg temp just my experience was not good and hence i dont use them on the pellet. Plus its so much more efficient to put a few coals in other grill and fire up, am up to temp is far shorter time and can choose to use cast iron or aluminum grate for searing.
 
In the above example the grates could be slightly higher but will not be to much. The oven is sealed quite a bit more so once it heats up its fairly stable temp wise. The bull is a different beast and with the temp probe off to one side there will be areas of the chamber that are quite abit hotter than what the probe feels. For instance if you took the grates and the drip pan off, the fire pot cover with be significantly hotter than set temp. The drip pan a bit less and the drip pan over the fire pot (radiated heat) hotter than either far end. The hunk of metal that is the GG will be hotter than that air simple from the fact that the metal retain heat better. Now to what degree, you need some serious math to calculate that.

My overall takeaway is at full blast mine barely hits 500 and has a hard time staying there. I have never checked gg temp just my experience was not good and hence i dont use them on the pellet. Plus its so much more efficient to put a few coals in other grill and fire up, am up to temp is far shorter time and can choose to use cast iron or aluminum grate for searing.
Sorry but you don't offer any evidence to support Greg's claims. I am waiting for someone to explain to me how the plates miraculously make the cooking surface hotter on a pellet oven. Drinking the cool-aid and spending your $$$ only means you drank the cool-aid and spent your $$$. Nothing else!

.
 
The grill grates site does a great job of explaining the science so i wont go into that. As far as what Greg showed I cant specifically speak too but i can tell you my greats get ridiculous hot over flame. And my experience with them over said flame is fantastic, pellet on the other hand has been disappointing at best. But the science behind how they work is sound at least when they are grate side up.
 
Just answer this last question and I'll leave you alone. My wife's double oven is calibrated for baking. If I set it to 500 degrees with the Grill Grates inside will the grates exceed the temperature I have the oven set at? You have to be smoking some pretty good stuff to answer yes. It isn't possible.
Look at it this way, put a steak or burger on the stainless grid and another on the grill grates. You will have a lot more sear from the aluminum then you will from stainless. Same reason people buy cast iron grates for their grills.

What the probe reads when running at 500 lets say is reading the air around it. Air is a poor conductor of temp. What aluminum, cast iron, copper etc does is absorb the heat. Does that make sense? So yes, aluminum will read higher then stainless, a poor conductor of temp. Take a IR temp reading of the grill grate and compare it to your “actual temp” on the grill. It will be higher.
 
The grill grates site does a great job of explaining the science so i wont go into that. As far as what Greg showed I cant specifically speak too but i can tell you my greats get ridiculous hot over flame. And my experience with them over said flame is fantastic, pellet on the other hand has been disappointing at best. But the science behind how they work is sound at least when they are grate side up.
Thank you. I couldn't agree more. I got the grill grates to try to salvage a Weber 410 I got a year or so ago. Weber increased their warranty by reducing the BTU output of their grills. I couldn't even cook a hamburger on high heat with the hood open much lees a steak or chops! The grill was nothing more than a 500 degree gas oven with the door closed. I custom ordered Grill Grates that cover every square inch of the Weber grilling surface but a half inch on either side. The grates trap the heat from the 4 burners. It's not perfect but better than it was.
 
Thank you. I couldn't agree more. I got the grill grates to try to salvage a Weber 410 I got a year or so ago. Weber increased their warranty by reducing the BTU output of their grills. I couldn't even cook a hamburger on high heat with the hood open much lees a steak or chops! The grill was nothing more than a 500 degree gas oven with the door closed. I custom ordered Grill Grates that cover every square inch of the Weber grilling surface but a half inch on either side. The grates trap the heat from the 4 burners. It's not perfect but better than it was.
Does you food seem to have a better flavor now with the grates?
 
Sorry but you don't offer any evidence to support Greg's claims. I am waiting for someone to explain to me how the plates miraculously make the cooking surface hotter on a pellet oven. Drinking the cool-aid and spending your $$$ only means you drank the cool-aid and spent your $$$. Nothing else!

.

A pellet grill is designed to deflect heat from the fire pot and move it in a convection. The heat is deflected to travel through the air gaps. The grates sit over the air gap and collect this heat. Since aluminum is an excellent heat conductor, the whole plate warms from this air, which is hotter than the less efficient built-in grates and air temp. This will work best when you have the cooker on full and the fire is burning continuously.

Anywho. The flat side is great for burgers and grilled onions. Also toasting buns. I was reluctant to buy them, but picked them up on the Father’s Day sale. I wish I knew about these when I had my gas grill. I might be getting one for the BGE next time they do a sitewide sale.
 

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