MHP SearMagic vs Grill Grates

[louisparks]

5 years later, I'll re-visit this post. My 15 year old MHP IR hybrid is still alive and hot as ever. I did finally decide to replace the grates. I ended up replacing with the MHP "sear-magic" as they just fit perfect and don't need to be custom cut. While I have never cooked on "Grill Grates" I feel the experince is probably the same as these. Same design and material. The only thing I can think of is instead of little round holes there a longer oval holes. I'm curious if anyone has any thoughts on how these would compare to GG. I always cook everything on the flat side rather than ribbed side as I personally find it delivers a deeper more even crust.

Attached are pics the old vs new "sear magic" grates after 15 years of use, and a pic of the inside of my recently cleaned hybrid.

[Attjack]

Looks like they warped because you used them over your sear burner. When I use GrillGrates on my grill with a sear burner I switched that grate panel with a regular stainless steel section of grate to avoid damaging the GrillGrates (I also remove my heat deflector).

[Spinaker]

I actually like the look of those better. I stopped using Grill Grates on my stuff cause they always seemed to move around all the time. Not to mention they would warm or melt under really high heat. Really, the movement of the grates were my biggest complaint.

it looks like these have held up pretty well, even though they are aluminum. A cast iron, stainless or wrought iron version would be more attractive to me.

[jfmorris]

Yeah, on a charcoal grill or on top of stock grates, Grillgrates move around a lot. They are a better experience as replacement grates on my Weber Genesis grills, since they drop in place of the original grates and can't move.

I can attest to super high heat warping them though. I lost 2 panels due to an out of control grease fire that also warped the cast aluminum body of my 2 year old Genesis II grill last year...

I've gone back to using Weber's cast iron grates more since that experience...

[gboss]

Cast iron, stainless, or wrought iron do not have the same thermal conductivity that aluminum does, for what that's worth. The performance would suffer a bit.

I definitely bowed one of my grill grate panels trying to flip them over mid-sear. No grease fire, just a stupid-hot kamado.

The movement is VERY annoying too, I agree.

[Spinaker]

You can still get plenty of sear out of cast iron and the like. I would take them not melting over the slight advantage of connectivity, if that really even matters at high temps. gboss

[Potkettleblack]

Hehe... I had Grill Grates, but warped them so much that they wouldn't slide together... stupid channel.

I replaced with a SteelMade griddle top... now that's a piece of metal. And the sears are better. With less heat being channeled.

[Rob Johnston]

Very happy with my Grill Grates!

[Mudkat]

Use my gg’s all the time. Haven’t warped them yet (fingers crossed). When you guys say move around do you mean sliding at the channels? Mine do but it doesn’t seem to move much or bother me.

[Spinaker]

Use my gg’s all the time. Haven’t warped them yet (fingers crossed). When you guys say move around do you mean sliding at the channels? Mine do but it doesn’t seem to move much or bother me.

yeah, mine are always moving around on my Kamado. Such a PITA, so much so that I just got rid of them. I do miss the flare up protection though.

[fzxdoc]

For me, the flare up protection is worth most of the aggravation of an unsecured GG. I did the same as jfmorris , replacing my GGs that sat on top of my SS grates with ones that custom fit my gasser a few years back. They're so much better! No more sliding around.

That said, I switch them out for regular grates at times, depending on what I'm cooking, or make a hybrid grate surface for half GGs and half Weber SS grates. I like the flexibility of fitting the type of grate to the job.

Because the custom GGs don't slide around, I don't even bother with connecting them together any more. I just abut them and get on with the cook.

Kathryn

[jfmorris]

Yeah - after using them for 5 years or more, I find that rail side of Grillgrates ARE a hassle to clean, but the flareup protection they offer is worth it depending on the type of cook I am doing. The set I have for the Weber kettle (which fits my SNS Kamado) is the only way I know to have a full grill single zone med to high heat cook on my kettle without burning up the chicken, burgers or whatever else I am grilling with direct heat.

[fzxdoc]

Mine clean pretty easily, Jim, jfmorris , with a big wad of aluminum foil. I clean the tops of the rails first then shape the foil to exactly fit into the groove and go back/forth a couple of times. Cleans them up nicely.

Of course I wear my kevlar arm sleeve and super heat-proof gloves to do this, since the grates are 700°F when I clean them. The gloves are rated for 900°direct contact.

https://www.northernsafety.com/Product/2452/Chicago-Protective-Apparel-Aluminized-Back-Hi-Temp-Gloves

K