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" V " shape Grill grate vs standard SS bar grate?

S

SmokeRingsMatter

is Blowin Smoke!
Joined
Jan 31, 2020
Location
Bergen Town
Name or Nickame
Poppy Pellet Pooper
I recently bought a Mr Steak 2 ceramic IR burner portable gas grill. Uses a 20lb tank. Reaches 1000F.



I have to be honest, i don't like the results of the "V" shape grill grate. All the videos i seen using this grate style result in wide band charred steaks.


Don't get me wrong, I love some nice diamond pattern grill marks, but not from this "V" shape design.


I am wondering if i put my "Grill Grates" on top of the V shape grate, or standard SS bar grates on top, will i get better or worse results?



Reason being, My grates wont fit unless i put then on top of the V shape grate. And i would hate to have to buy new (larger "grill grates"


Anyone else swap this V style out?


NOTE: The best grill marks ive got were from a Char broil X200 that uses a " AAAA " shape grill grate. Sadly, I had to replace two regulators in less then 6 months. And the regulator is proprietary so it can't be replaced with a better regulator.
 
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I did not know there was a Mister Steak until this post (ok- I don't get out much)

I saw most of the hype trains that ran thru this site over the last 7 years or so- I don't recall seeing this one. So maybe it was not one of those "gotta have it items"?

You might be better off doing some hands on experimenting until you find the grate style that suits you. If you decide a bar grate is your thing, you might be able to get one that's pretty close on-line. You might have to modify one- but that is part of the fun.

Good luck on your hunt.
 
I don't have any grill grates, but have seen numerous people here who set them on top of their regular grates either normal orientation or upside down with fantastic results. It should work fine unless there isn't much clearance between the v grates and the lid, or top of cooker. I'd say give it a try.
 
The purpose of the V grates is to catch and direct as much fat and juices away from those burners so you get as clean a sear/cook as possible without grease flare ups. I have no idea what the clean up process is for those burners, but reg SS rod grates are going to allow lots of fat and juices to fall on those burners. As a result, you will be battling more and bigger flare up. The idea is the same as Argentinian style grill grates. Placing rod style grates on top of the V grates will still allow them to do their job and give a not so crusty or large mark as you are stating. I would assume you will get the smaller marks, but I dunno. Those are some serious burners so the larger grill marks may still appear as the V grate is still being used. Grill Grates might work better than rod grates.

Bob
 
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BobBrisket said:
The purpose of the V grates is to catch and direct as much fat and juices away from those burners so you get as clean a sear/cook as possible without grease flare ups. I have no idea what the clean up process is for those burners, but reg SS rod grates are going to allow lots of fat and juices to fall on those burners. As a result, you will be battling more and bigger flare up. The idea is the same as Argentinian style grill grates. Placing rod style grates on top of the V grates will still allow them to do their job and give a not so crusty or large mark as you are stating. I would assume you will get the smaller marks, but I dunno. Those are some serious burners so the larger grill marks may still appear as the V grate is still being used. Grill Grates might work better than rod grates.

Bob
Click to expand...



Yeah, It crossed my mind removing the V grates would probably cause a lot of flare ups, especially with skin on chicken, so i would be better to leave the V grates on for chicken.


And El Ropo also made a good point, About the "grill grates brand" ive seen a lot of people using them on top of their regular grates with good results on grill marks.


My only concern is that the V grates don't allow for a lot of open area as the V bars are solid, and wide so very little open area for heat to escape.
 
I bet you'll be fine with the grill grates right on top of the Vs. Through radiation or direct conduction the grill grates are going to get super hot.
 
SmokeRingsMatter said:
Yeah, It crossed my mind removing the V grates would probably cause a lot of flare ups, especially with skin on chicken, so i would be better to leave the V grates on for chicken.


And El Ropo also made a good point, About the "grill grates brand" ive seen a lot of people using them on top of their regular grates with good results on grill marks.


My only concern is that the V grates don't allow for a lot of open area as the V bars are solid, and wide so very little open area for heat to escape.
Click to expand...

How low is the lowest flame setting? With the longer cook time on chicken to get it just right, I think you would see a lot more charring on bird as it will need to cook longer. Can you run one burner only? Maybe that would be a good way to cook bird.

IMO, on a searing grill, the V's are there to channel away fat and liquid so you can quickly get a steak done with minimal flare up and still protect the burners from getting all that fat on em.

On an Argentinian style grill the idea is the same, but most times those grills are packed with larger cuts or different types of meat, so their best benefit is being able to allow for longer cooks and channel off the fats to avoid flare up during extended cooks.

How do they recommend cleaning the burners?

Bob
 
BobBrisket said:
How low is the lowest flame setting? With the longer cook time on chicken to get it just right, I think you would see a lot more charring on bird as it will need to cook longer. Can you run one burner only? Maybe that would be a good way to cook bird.

IMO, on a searing grill, the V's are there to channel away fat and liquid so you can quickly get a steak done with minimal flare up and still protect the burners from getting all that fat on em.

On an Argentinian style grill the idea is the same, but most times those grills are packed with larger cuts or different types of meat, so their best benefit is being able to allow for longer cooks and channel off the fats to avoid flare up during extended cooks.

How do they recommend cleaning the burners?

Bob
Click to expand...


I believe the temp ranges were 250F - 1000F.


The burns are ceramic infrared so they are self cleaning. Did you mean, how to clean the V grates? Mr Steak makes a wooden paddle with V grooves that makes cleaning the channels easy. Coincedentally, it just so happens to fit perfectly in the Caveman 1500F steak broiler. Which now doubles as a pizza peel.
 
SmokeRingsMatter said:
I believe the temp ranges were 250F - 1000F.


The burns are ceramic infrared so they are self cleaning. Did you mean, how to clean the V grates? Mr Steak makes a wooden paddle with V grooves that makes cleaning the channels easy. Coincedentally, it just so happens to fit perfectly in the Caveman 1500F steak broiler. Which now doubles as a pizza peel.
Click to expand...

Okay, that's what I was thinking. Basically, the build up is burned off and just brushed off etc to get loose material off the burners. Looks like it goes low enough to do stuff like chicken.

Cool looking little grill. Look forward to seeing some cooks from it.

Bob
 
BobBrisket said:
Okay, that's what I was thinking. Basically, the build up is burned off and just brushed off etc to get loose material off the burners. Looks like it goes low enough to do stuff like chicken.

Cool looking little grill. Look forward to seeing some cooks from it.

Bob
Click to expand...


You will definitely see some cooks on it soon. I am just deciding what grates to use. I have "GrillGrates" that i cut to fit my X200 (which is significantly smaller so i will lose some cooking real estate. I also want to try using the X200 cooking grate as well which is more of a "A" shape which puts amazing grill marks on steaks. Just sucks the X200 has such a crappy regulator. Also, my wife wants me to sell the X200 for like $50 since i am not replacing another regulator (it was kinda part of the deal we made about me buying the Mr Steak, lol) so if i sell it i will have to include the original grate.


I also have an assortment of thick SS bar type grates from grills i threw away over the years, so will see how they fit as well.
 
Just did a test run with my "GrillGrates". IR gun registered 794F and i only let it preheat for 5 minutes. So far its looking very promising.
 
I left the SS grates on for around 10 minutes. I pointed the laser on the IR gun right on a center bar which registered 867F. Fitment is pretty good, the lid still rests on the rubber pads even though the grate is slightly larger then the V grate.


20201006-171018.jpg



20201006-171642.jpg



20201006-171900-0.jpg
 
SmokeRingsMatter said:
Yes i am back. I find it interesting how its made public someone gets put in the corner when they misbehave. Now, how bout you actually contribute to this thread instead of starting trouble?
Click to expand...
Forget your rebuttal, stay focused on the topic. We have faith in you. You can do it.
 
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