cold grill grates

[huckleberry hog]

Any reason for grill grates not to get hot at 450 degrees internal temp?
I put 6 grill grates on a rt-700, laid them at 90 degrees to the grates on the grill, in other words they are going from the temp probe to the drip pan.
At 450 they showed about 465 after being on the grill for 20 min.
Cooked hamburgers until done, about 15 min and checked the temp again at still less than 475.
On My gasser the grates are about 600 at indicated 450 internal temp, burgers usually cook in about 8-9 minutes.
Is there anyway that too many grates might disrupt the air flow or anything like that going on possibly.
The grates just do cover the drip pan area, if I can use them it should cut down on cleaning chores and end up being quicker cooks on burgers,
chicken, and steaks and add more flavor to the meat.

Other than this little problem, this bull rocks.
HH

 

[Waterboy]

You may have been getting a false reading on your grill temp. Putting the grates so close to the pit probe was probably messing with the controller’s ability to get a true 450 pit temp. Try three on the right side only and see if that works better.

 

[huckleberry hog]

I decided to try it like You suggested with only 3 grates in the center of the grill so bbq'ed 6 chicken thighs at 425, took about the same amount of time that is does without the grates and when the grill showed 425 the grill grates showed 368.
Turned at 25 min and took off at 50 min, grates showed 365 when I got the chicken on the plate.
Infrared thermometer seems to be reading ok on other things.
Might put the other 3 grates back on and just cook to temp,
Cook steaks and burgers on gas or charcoal, temps will go to 700 plus like that.
HH

 

[Waterboy]

Sorry that didn’t help. I had a problem with temps one time when I put a water pan too close to the thermometer.
I’m doing a reverse sear tri tip using grill grates followed by some chicken thighs this afternoon. I’ll check my temps as now I’m curious.

 

[Gonefishin]

I know nothing about grill greats, but I don't think you can compare a gas or charcoal grill with a pellet grill. Charcoal gets up over 1000 degrees, and while a Weber is rated up to 500-550, the heat is closer to direct then a Rec Teq.

 

[huckleberry hog]

Its not like I am comparing pellet grills to gas or charcoal, its knowing that if I run My gas grill at 400 the grill grates run around 500 to 550, if I put grill grates on a charcoal grill it will easily go over 700 degrees.
When I cover half or all of the drip pan on the Bull, the grates do not reach the temp that the grill is set at.
Recteq sells the grates as a "sear kit" so I'm pretty sure they are supposed to go at least 100 degrees hotter that the set temp on the grill.

 

[Waterboy]

So my cook tonight I preloaded the grill grates on the right side and started my tri tip on low. The pit temp was 180 and my grill grates were at 199. I took the tri tip off to ramp the temp up to 450 for searing. I checked right when the grill hit 450 and the grates were at 468. At the end of searing (with meat on the grill grates) they were at 485. I don’t think you’ll get 100 degrees over the pit temp because the RT uses convective heat but they put a nice sear on the tri tip. BTW I seared with the grates flat side up.

 

[huckleberry hog]

Sounds like Your grates are doing just like Mine. The convective heat and what I assume is indirect heat should be about the same on gas and pellet grills as long as they are both using drip pans. But at the same time You are probably right about the convection type of heat that is not letting the grates get as hot as I think they should. The fan might have something to do with the grates not coming up to temp.
I guess that I will just use the full grate system and mentality add or subtract about 20-30 degrees to the pit temp and trust in the probes for internal temps.
Thanks for the report.
HH

 

[Gonefishin]

I've not seen a gas grill that has a drip pan above the fire.

 

[huckleberry hog]

The two that I know of are the Holland grill, that I used to own, and the Wilmington grill, that I have now Prevents grease fires.

 

[Steele]

Same issues/variability at times. If it helps, if I'm going to use my grill grates I have them in from heat up till cook at full/500 degrees.
I also had to really increase my overall temp from what I first ssumed. 500 degrees/full to achieve any sear whatsoever. Anything less was sub par.

 

[huckleberry hog]

Mr Steele, sounds like You and Mr Waterboy and I are all having our grills doing about the same thing.
I'm kinda disappointed in the fact that the grates don't run as hot on the rt700 as I thought they would.
But then at the same time, there's nothing wrong with a rib eye over charcoal every now and then.

 

[sherman]

I use the Bull for smoking, and then I move the meat over to my gas grill with Grill Grates for the final sear. I then let the meat rest.

This seems more efficient than removing the meat, cranking the bull up to 500, then searing on the Bull. Plus it uses less pellets, and the Grill Grates get hotter on the gas grill.

 

[Waterboy]

I actually like the char I get on my grill grates. The number on my thermometer wasn’t as high as I expected but the end results were excellent. That said, sometimes I sear on grill grates on my gasser because I can take my steak or tri tip right from the smoke to the sear. Frankly I don’t see much difference in the end result it’s just faster.

 

[huckleberry hog]

I'm sure there are several ways to offset the temp loss on the grill grates that I don't know about, I'm still learning about pellet grill cooking as I have just put the fourth bag of pellets in.

Besides the lower temps My biggest disappointment was cooking chicken, not much difference in the taste but the skin was like a piece of rubber, tried different things off the net like soda and mayonnaise but still nowhere close to crispy.

Just got thru eating the best grilled chicken I have ever cooked, pellet, gas or charcoal, finally got it figured out.