Will this do as a smoker grate?

[holehogg]

I bake pies in my smoker and was chatting with the guy who supplies me with the pies, he showed me the grates he uses in his oven and has more than he needs and said I could buy some of the excess he has.
I was wondering if they will work for smoking in place of my expanded metal grates. The perforated holes are 2mm in diameter (5/64") and looked like its Teflon coated. This is a partial photo of what it looks like.

[RonB]

It should work, but will probably discolor. I would not expose to direct heat or high temps - especially if Teflon coated. And be careful cleaning it. Whatever the coating is probably won't stand up to wire brushes.

There may be a potential with it out-gassing harmful stuff, but that should be OK with a smoker used outdoors.

[holehogg]

The guy cleans his with a plastic bristle brush and everything just falls off, but that's pie pastry and some spillage from a pie or 2. Says it cleans very easily. I am only assuming its coated with Teflon it may be something else. Will investigate further.

[Bob's BBQ]

Most Teflon is rated for a little over 500 degrees. Should be O.K. in a smoker.

[Frozen Smoke]

I agree with RonB on the drawbacks. I could see using them for certain items like veggies or shrimp that you don't want falling through your grates but I'm not so sure about every day useage.

[holehogg]

I hear you. They are fairly expensive and don't just want to purchase if the only use does not include meat cuts.

[Spinaker]

I think they will standup to the heat, if he is using them in an oven. So, no issue there. The issue I see is those small holes that may get plugged up by the moisture and fat in the smoking chamber. The inside of a smoker is a bit messy when compared to a regular oven.

[holehogg]

That was my concern given the size of the holes and how the fats etc would affect airflow.

[Spinaker]

I think if you put the meat on one side and keep the others clean, it will be okay, But I would opt for larger holes in the grate. holehogg

[Henrik]

Yep, I'm with Spinaker, get sheet metal with larger diameter holes.

[jfmorris]

Personally, for smoking meat I would stay with the expanded metal grates - these seem like too little of the bottom side of whatever meat you are smoking will get exposed to smoke, versus just being up against metal, in comparison to the expanded metal.

[holehogg]

Good point Sir.

[jfmorris]

holehogg this is something I notice even with a kettle wire grate or expanded metal on my smoker - you end up with the bar or diamond pattern on one side of whatever you smoke. It's led me to sometimes flip items like Boston Butts halfway through the cook just to even up the bark. I don't always though, but picture bark formation on the bottom side being really bad with a grate like you show.

[holehogg]

I'm with you on that. We dont have all the fancy goods available like grill grates for example and I'm always on the look out for something to improvise wherever possible. Maybe not a bad thing because I might be out of pocket by now. I usually just go ahead and buy something hoping it might do a job and end up being disappointed. Now I get to bounce it off you guys and get good advice. Thanks.

[Santamarina]

I’m not a fan of Teflon - even in low heat situations. I prefer to cook without the fear of chemicals leaching into my food.

[texastweeter]

Bark would suffer, and i think it would clog, as well as restrict airflow too mucho an a vert smoker.

[holehogg]

Thanks for confirming my fears.

[holehogg]

texastweeter my meat is all in the stall and I want to hold in cambro for min 1 hour. Will be serving around 8pm. I was thinking of cranking the heat from 240 to around 300 at around 4pm to speed things up. Good idea?

[texastweeter]

holehogg is it crutched? If so, yeah, I many times raise it to around 275°. Remember that if you do, the hold is even more critical, as the rendering of connective tissue is about time at temp as much as it is about HITTING temp.