High-que Grate

JerkChicken · April 2012

I bought the hi-que about a month ago and I like it but there was a bit of a learning curve. The definite benefit of using one is no more clogs. No more wiggle rod usage.

However, if you clean your ashes out too frequently you will be wasting the smaller pieces of lump that fall through the grate. But as someone mentioned above, if you leave them in there they will burn eventually.

The thing that is more difficult for me about using the hi-que (besides the astronomical price) is that once too much lump is burning, or you have overshot your temp, the vents have to be almost completely closed with just a sliver of airflow just to maintain 350, whereas with the standard grate it was a little more predictable in my opinion.

RichardBronosky · April 2012

The price of the High Q grate makes me want to learn to weld.

R2Egg2Q · May 2012

The large is easier to use the ash tool in and the hole below the high que grate is bigger. The hole on the small can easily fill up after 1 decent cook. Also the ash tool isn't as easy to use on the small since the opening is much smaller. The grate is nice it makes the smalls airflow issue go away I just haven't ever had an airflow issue with my other eggs and think my money is better spent on other toys.

I'm in agreement with Lit on the Small. My Small ash tool is my least used accessory and the firebox hole on my Small needs to be emptied pretty much after each cook. Here's how it typically looks and this was after a 2 hour cook/burn time:

Cleaning it out doesn't really bother me as I often clean my Eggs after every cook. Yeah, I'm kind of weird about it.

I bought the High-Que in the hopes of improving the airflow to the point of getting my Small to act more like my Mini. I feel that it does help with the airflow. Here's a recent example where I was cooking indirect around 250-275 and then removed the plate setter/drip pan, put in a cast iron grid, and opened up top & bottom vents in preparation for a reverse sear:

5 minutes later, 500+

I don't recall my Small ever getting up to searing temps that quickly with the stock fire grate.

Now I've tried the High-Que in my Mini once and didn't really see a noticeable benefit as my Mini really doesn't have any airflow problems and it has even less space for ash & small bits of lump under the High-Que. I know some folks swear by them in a Mini so maybe I'm missing something here.

Austin Egghead · May 2012

The large small and mini all have the a High Q. When I get down to the small pieces of lump I will 2 highQ turned 90 degrees to each other this prevents the small pieces from falling thru. Works like a charm.

Eggdam · May 2012

I have my high que grate now installed and it works great. Comes up to temp quicker then before. Also after a low and slow at 225 for 6 hrs or so it will crank up to a high temp no problem. No more clogs or ash settling blocking flow. It cuts quite abit of time of my preheating also. I have noticed my bottom vent is damped down much more then before to keep the same temp as the cast grate would have.

eggo · May 2012

I have my high que grate now installed and it works great. Comes up to temp quicker then before. Also after a low and slow at 225 for 6 hrs or so it will crank up to a high temp no problem. No more clogs or ash settling blocking flow. It cuts quite abit of time of my preheating also. I have noticed my bottom vent is damped down much more then before to keep the same temp as the cast grate would have.

My exact findings with the high Q.

High-que Grate

Comments

Categories