SS or porcelain castiron grate?

[snapshotmd]

Hi everyone!

I'm curious on what your experiences on which grate fairs better when it comes to heat dispersment.

I'm leaning towards a stainless steel cooking grate, but I've heard the "pros" say that the porcelain disperses heat better... Better than what? a plain wire grid? or is it the best?

I've had the porcelain coated wire grates and while I like them, I hate it when they chip. It's inevitable! That's why I'm looking for stainless. I also could see that once a coated cast iron grate chips, it'll rust like not tomorrow.

What do you all think?

Ken

[Niagara River Smoker]

Last summer, I replaced the grates and flavorizer bars on my older Weber Genisis 2000 and was planning on going with stainless all the way around. I ended up going with PCI grates because they are so much heavier which allows them to sear much better than the lighter grates. The SS grates are basically the same stamped, coated grate that comes with most Weber grills, only they're stainless. There are a couple good threads over on TVWB that covered this subject last year if you're interested...There was a 3rd but I can't find it..

Thread 1 (http://tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x/a/tpc/f/6440039023/m/4810024152/r/4810024152#4810024152)

Thread 2 (http://tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x/a/tpc/f/6440039023/m/2940024152/r/2940024152#2940024152)

Hope this helps.. :)

And welcome to Sharky's Place! :cool:

[snapshotmd]

Thanks for the threads Niagara!

Looks like PCI is the way to go. I'm not too crazy about the coating though. Just did a search and all I could find was PCI. Are bare cast iron grates not available???

Ken

[StPeteBBQ]

Even if you could get bare cast iron, would you really want them? I have a cast iron insert for one of my kettle grills and while it cooks wonderfully and I love it, I wouldn't want it to be the only grate I had. Too much of a pain to care for in an outside grill.

PCI rocks!

[Niagara River Smoker]

If you don't mind the hassle of taking care of them.. But, I'm like StPete...Too much trouble for me. You can get them if you search around a bit...Here's (http://www.clagrills.com/allgrillparts/all-grids.htm) a link I found...I'm sure you can get better prices though... Check near the end for an assortment of cast iron grates...

[gregtx]

i use ceramic coated cast iron.. for better heat holding capabilities... i just make sure not to use anything that could crack or damage the coating... and scrape lightly.. lol

[snapshotmd]

Much to my surprise, I found ONE raw cast iron Weber grid at Home Depot. I took it home with me, figuring I could buy the Weber cast iron griddle later to make a 50/50 setup. The only problem is it I bought a Weber Summit Gold B, 4 burner grill. The grids are too small, width wise, and there would be a 4-inch gap. OTOH, if I would've gotten the 6 burner version, this wouldn't have been a problem since it takes 3 of these grids.
I think I'll just order the solid 3/8 SS grid that comes with the Summit Platinum direct from Weber.

Oh well.

snaps