Argentine grate

twlangan

Here is the Argentine v-grate I just made. I cannot for the life of me figure out what advantages it gives me since it lacks a drip tray, but it provided me with a project to try my new mig welder out on. 😁

caliking

Wild (uninformed) guess, but maybe the channels catch juice/drippings and add something to the flavor?

I imagine it'll function somewhat like grillgrates, and be great (!) for burgers, steak, veg at the least. But, way cooler than grillgrates. 

alaskanassasin

Routes the grease to the outside away from flames?

kanye_twitty

Its (theoretically) all of those things. These are like the grids in Hasty Bakes. They claim that it vaporizes juices for extra flavor and moves grease away from the meat. Is it better than just letting juices and fat fall straight into the lump? I doubt it but this is why marketing departments exist. 

twlangan

On an Argentine grill, v-grates like this are often an expensive upgrade over expanded metal. The idea on those is that they channel fats/juices away from the meat to prevent flame-ups. They are usually at a bit of an incline and the lower end runs into a drip tray. You then can either dispose of the fats or use it to baste the meat.

As we know, flame-ups are not a problem on an Egg if the dome is kept closed. I only have issues with it if I have the dome open too long and the lump is getting full access to air. Maybe this will help in that rare occasion? Either way, like I said - it was a fun project to kill some time on a Sunday and gave me an opportunity to play with my welder and get used to how that works. 

Botch

Grilled Peas!    

loco_engr

Botch said:

Grilled Peas!    

 

Canugghead

Broil King has been doing it for years. Teepee pointed side for overrated sharp grill marks, reversible grooved side to collect juice for vaporization and basting (marketing stuff)
https://broilkingbbq.com/which-grill-grates-are-the-best/

On the grooved side, each channel has stop at both ends to contain grease/juice.

njl

kanye_twitty said:

Its (theoretically) all of those things. These are like the grids in Hasty Bakes. They claim that it vaporizes juices for extra flavor and moves grease away from the meat. Is it better than just letting juices and fat fall straight into the lump? I doubt it but this is why marketing departments exist. 

My concern with this, is that by routing the grease to the edge (and having it fall through, outisde the fire box), you're setting yourself up for an eventual grease fire below the fire box.

twlangan

njl said:

My concern with this, is that by routing the grease to the edge (and having it fall through, outisde the fire box), you're setting yourself up for an eventual grease fire below the fire box.

Yep, that was a thought that had crossed my mind as well. I recently did two very large pork butts. I did not have a decent drip pan for that cook and had a lot of fan render off that ended up pooling in the bottom of the Egg. I cut her loose after removing the butts to do a clean burn and had a good fire going in the ashes. In fact, some of the fat seeped right through the bottom of the Egg and started to drip on my deck.

One idea I have if this becomes an issue - I would use a cutting disk on a 4 ½" grinder and cut some slots in random places in the bottom of the grooves to allow grease to drip through and burn off. Most of the cooks I would use this grate for would burn it rather than allow it to pool like a low-n-slow does.

alaskanassasin

maybe flip it over for low and slow.

Legume

Dukane did something similar but has them convex up for more surface area.  I think their marketing was sear bars.  Probably just a way to make up for their underpowered grills.

nolaegghead

I've made grates and extenders, etc that fit in the grill.  One take-away is if you use regular commodity hot-rolled steel, it will not hold up to very high heat (sag, bend).  You might be ok there as you're not going to put a lot of weight on that.  Just an observation.

Not sure if cold-rolled is more resistant to thermal deformation, it's certainly much harder and a better (smoother) surface.

SS and cast are very heat resistant, many other alloys of steel are too.

Maybe @fishlessman could chime in.

fishlessman

carbon steel has a higher yeild than stainless at higher temps but with the shape and purpose either would work well. if it were a flat thin grill plate stainless would warp into a soup bowl, theres a reason the maverick griddle plates are not stainless

Mark_B_Good

My buddy in South Africa has one, and yes, the v groove basically catches drippings, and here's the catch, his is sloped to the front of this grill, so the drippings self drain to the edge. Helps keep the grill hot, avoids flare ups, less smoke ...

SonVolt

The real benefit to those V-channels is the drip tray in the front they flow into- you're supposed to continuously baste your meat APL-style with the drippings. 

twlangan

First cook on these grates tonight. They sure make some mean grill marks!