The coal grate and ring that comes with the WSM are great, but it would be nice to have a way to pick the whole thing up and shake the ashes off the partially used charcoal. A mod I saw showed how to create a "fire basket" with two handles just for that purpose. I later thought about it and decided if I put four such "handles" I could set my upper cooking grate on them and be able to direct grill over the charcoal.
I bought the following from Home Depot:
18.5 replacement coal grate
Stainless Steel Eye Bolts, nuts, flat and locking washers. (set of 4)
Stainless Steel Zip Ties
For health reasons, make sure to get Stainless Steel.
First, I laid the 18.5 coal grate on top of my existing grate, but rotated it 90* to create a cross hatch design. This will help keep small pieces of coal from falling through. I set the coal ring on top (fits perfectly with the 18.5 grate) and then using the stainless steel zip ties, attached all three together.
Note: Stainless Steel Zip Ties are tightened with a specialty tool. The following video shows how to tighten them with needle nose pliers:
Next, I installed my "handles" at the 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock, and 9 o'clock positions through the grates.
When all done, it looks like this:
Throw the top cooking grate on it:
And I can grill directly over the coals on it like this:
