Lightweight Alternatives to Stone Heat Deflectors?

SonVolt

Anyone used GrillGrate half-moons (or another material) to deflect heat?   I'm using half-moons for relatively quick 2-zone grilling setups and not low 'n slows.  I have the OEM stone half-moon that works great, but it's heavy, so difficult to remove once it gets hot. I'd like something a little more lightweight that can be easily added/removed at any point during the cook. 


https://www.grillgrate.com/products/grillgrate-half-moon-extra-large-egg/?sku=BGXLMOON-0001

Langner91

I love my GrillGrates, but I am not sure how well they work for heat deflectors.  I suppose they work as some form of indirect piece, because I see my dome thermometer drop when I put them in.  They are hotter than the dome thermometer reads.

I just haven't tried cooking "over" them, I have only cooked on them.

FYI, two of those half-moons (13.75" long) and one rectangle 13.75" long panel make up the LBGE set.  The two half-moons, without the center rectangle, is what is used on the MMBGE or SBGE setup.  I bought for my MiniMax, and then added a center panel separately.  

Also, adding one more rectangular panel gives you a PK grill setup.  So, they are very flexible.

SonVolt

Interesting. I really just need something to stop the intense updraft long enough to let a thicker cut of meat to come up to temp. The stone halfmoons works great for this, but I don't like their heft or fragility. 

Langner91

I missed the XL part of your post.  My apologies.  Most of what I typed doesn't apply.  

It would be worth a try.  If they don't work, you will have a good smash-burger surface and a great steak searing surface for the toolkit.

fishlessman

primo makes a half moon drip pan, 1/8 inch of sand in it and its a heat shield. ive used sand in other applications on 1200 degree pizza cooks.

4TheGrillOfIt

 The Grill Grates, I believe, are actually hotter than the regular grids.  They will give your steak perfect grill marks, though, if you like that sort of thing.

Photo Egg

No reason it shouldn’t work.
As long as you have enough airflow to reach your target temp and your not looking for high temp grillgrate warping cook temps. Actually seems perfect for low and slows…
Wonderful idea

SonVolt

@Photo Egg Can you explain what you meant by warping? As in grill grates can warp under high heat?  I rarely get the dome temp above 500-600F when grilling. 

SonVolt

4TheGrillOfIt said:

 The Grill Grates, I believe, are actually hotter than the regular grids.  They will give your steak perfect grill marks, though, if you like that sort of thing.

I know the grill grates themselves will get hot, but I'd be using the Eggspander's elevated grate above them. 

fishlessman

tin foil works too, fold it a couple times and leave it fluffy with a couple air spaces. in my mini i drop this right on the burning lump and drop a fry basket directly on it, it works. the airspaces stop the direct hot airflow.  you can buy alot of disposable foil for low dollars and cleanup is a breeze.

theres no grid in there, just loosely folded foil as a barrier

Photo Egg

SonVolt said:

@Photo Egg Can you explain what you meant by warping? As in grill grates can warp under high heat?  I rarely get the dome temp above 500-600F when grilling. 

Some make the mistake of trying to get the Egg temp super high when using the Grillgrates. Like you, 500-600 is the highest I ever need. Have seen some past posts of members searing with temps above 600 and warping their aluminum Grillgrates.

SonVolt

Gotcha. Supposedly the half-moons for the XL are made from their "pro" line which are thicker gauge and a tighter ridge pattern than the traditional grill grates. 

Kent8621

you could wrap the grill grate in foil to utilize the air trapped between the layers of foil as your deflection.   your only going to get 20-30 minutes of actual heat deflection, 30 if you double wrap it. after about 30 minutes you you will likely lose most of the heat deflection and it will only reduce the overall heat from the fire around 40-50%.  so if you need slightly longer you may have to look at how your controlling the fire.  

Photo Egg

Kent8621 said:

you could wrap the grill grate in foil to utilize the air trapped between the layers of foil as your deflection.   your only going to get 20-30 minutes of actual heat deflection, 30 if you double wrap it. after about 30 minutes you you will likely lose most of the heat deflection and it will only reduce the overall heat from the fire around 40-50%.  so if you need slightly longer you may have to look at how your controlling the fire.  

Cooking in a lower temperature range like 225 to 250 on the Big Green Egg you have such little airflow compared to most cookers because of how well it’s insulated. The heat that’s being let through the holes on the grillgrates will quickly mix with the ambient temperature of the air in the dome that is passing around the grillgrates and helps stabilize the overall temperature.
So if you’re using the grillgrates in place of a plate setter or other heavy ceramic piece and your cooking grate is 4 inches or so above, you should get a pretty even temperature.
At least it’ll be interesting to find out what the results are. I think on the low and slow cook it’ll be outstanding. I think the higher temperature that you try to cook at the less effective it will be. There are many members on this forum did you low and slow without any kind of a deflector. They just go slightly raised direct with a minimal fire. And they have no issues. This should only help make it easier.

SonVolt

I'll give a review after a few weeks of use.  It'll mainly be for finishing off steaks, chicken, bread etc once they're browned to my liking. 

HeavyG

Anybody ever given any thought to using a Slow 'N Sear in an XL to easily set up a 2 zone low/scorching situation?

SonVolt

The "Pro Series"  half-moon grill grate finally arrived.  Does this look any thicker or heavier duty to you guys than the regular grill gates?  It feels pretty substantial and seems like it's going to work great for temporary heat deflection. 
   

Langner91

Without side by side comparison, it is hard to tell.  However, they look cast, instead of extruded, from your photo.  Something else I notice, is you have no "half holes" where the holes break through the edge of the panel.  Mine have places where the miter cut hits a hole.  Your holes are spaced to prevent that.

Also, the regular grill grates are miter cut, not round the way these are.  I am betting they created a mold for the "pro-series" and are casting them, whereas the regular ones are simply saw-cut from extruded "bars" of grill grate material.

Something else I notice, is you have no "half holes" where the holes break through the edge of the panel.  Mine have places where the miter cut hits a hole.  Your holes are spaced to prevent that.

But, that is purely a guess by a guy who has worked with a lot of metal.

EDIT:  I see they do have some round cut pieces.  I didn't realize that.

Kent8621

Photo Egg said:

Kent8621 said:

you could wrap the grill grate in foil to utilize the air trapped between the layers of foil as your deflection.   your only going to get 20-30 minutes of actual heat deflection, 30 if you double wrap it. after about 30 minutes you you will likely lose most of the heat deflection and it will only reduce the overall heat from the fire around 40-50%.  so if you need slightly longer you may have to look at how your controlling the fire.  

Cooking in a lower temperature range like 225 to 250 on the Big Green Egg you have such little airflow compared to most cookers because of how well it’s insulated. The heat that’s being let through the holes on the grillgrates will quickly mix with the ambient temperature of the air in the dome that is passing around the grillgrates and helps stabilize the overall temperature.
So if you’re using the grillgrates in place of a plate setter or other heavy ceramic piece and your cooking grate is 4 inches or so above, you should get a pretty even temperature.
At least it’ll be interesting to find out what the results are. I think on the low and slow cook it’ll be outstanding. I think the higher temperature that you try to cook at the less effective it will be. There are many members on this forum did you low and slow without any kind of a deflector. They just go slightly raised direct with a minimal fire. And they have no issues. This should only help make it easier.

yeah you will have to wrap it completely like a grill grate present.  the foil will trap air and provide 20-30 minutes is my rough guess.  the grill grate it self will do very little to slow heat transfer, its literal purpose is to heat up for pretty marks and thats all.  

Botch

Langner91 said:

Without side by side comparison, it is hard to tell.  However, they look cast, instead of extruded, from your photo.  

How could they be cast, with that negative release angle at the top of the fins?  (there may be a way, just trying to understand)

Langner91

Vertical.  You gotta think four dimensionally.

Langner91

The more I look at it, I really have no idea.  The holes have me perplexed.

They are certainly different than the ones I have.

theyolksonyou

The bottom side looks milled, but I’m on my phone. 

SonVolt

Ok, the half-moon grill grate worked exactly like I hoped.   I got just enough heat deflection to finish off larger cuts in a high-heat cook, but with a much more satisfying sizzle action as fat dripped onto the aluminum grates and then back up.  Chicken placed skin-side-down over the grill gates continued to brown and render much better than my stone deflector.  This was hands down the best chicken I've cooked on the XL to date, rivaling my rotisserie. Paired it with some stuffed veal cutlets. I'm temped to order another to cover the whole grid if needed.

I'm done with stone deflectors. 

Legume

@SonVolt you probably just cost me some $

SonVolt

To clarify, food never came in direct contact with the grill grates. I cooked on the Eggspander's top grate with the grill grate sitting underneath on the bottom stock gate.

Well... I did place one of the veal rolls on the ridges briefly for shiits 'n giggles and it did pretty much what I expected - instantly burned grill marks onto it and not in a good away (scorched).  

fishlessman

is it really deflecting the heat or just making it more uniform compared to the pizza stone

SonVolt

I think it's deflecting a lot of the heat, but not as much as the stone.  At 600F dome temp, the chicken set skin-side-down over the grill grate continued to brown and render, but didn't burn or split open like it would have had there been no deflector - or - stop browning altogether like with my stone half-moon. 

Buckwoody Egger

Interesting--- I have a raised grid setup (medium half grid on ss threaded rod) that usually just gets a sheet of foil under it for what you are after here.  With tongs its easy to handle as I roll the foil into a ball or whatever.  But I also have a weber go anywhere charcoal with grill grates that never gets used.  Kind of annoying since the gg for it is 3 pieces.  Worth a shot for me to try the gg in the egg and like you tried with the veal rolls, maybe experiment with a little scorch shelf lol.

SonVolt

Yeah, what I liked about the pro series is no interlocking grates - just 1 solid piece of thick gauge aluminum. Those interlocking ones seemed a bit flimsy where they joined when I saw them in person.