Anyone tried tiered grates?

[mikebarish]

I recently saw the Hovergrill recommended by Meathead, but it doesn't look like it would fit inside the PBC. Has anyone tried any mods or workarounds to have two tiered grates in the PBC? I'm curious if it's possible to add surface area for more meat if I didn't want to hang.

[Stoney]

Not exactly what you asked, but this past thanksgiving, I used my Hovergrill over my PBC's charcoal basket to hold the gravy pan under the bird....worked well in that respect. As for on top of the stock grate, I'll check once I get home from work, but I am sure if it does fit, there will not be room left for food of any size, and probably block the rebar holes.

Edit: fzxdoc The bird was a little more than 11 lbs, PBC was running about 280 or so, think the gravy pan was absorbing alot of the heat and disrupting the airflow. My GF and I thought the gravy was just as good as last year, when I did something similar in my Weber kettle. This was my first turkey in the PBC, used the all purpose PBC seasoning on it, and I felt it was better than either of the two I did last year. Skin crisped up more it seems. If I recall it took 2.5 to 3 hours to get the ITs I wanted, but an hour into the cook, I hung 3 lbs of canadian bacon in the pit with it, so that may have slowed it down a bit as well.

[fzxdoc]

Good idea about putting the hovergrill over the coals to catch the turkey drippings, Stoney. Do you remember the details: the size bird, the PBC temp, and how well you liked the final turkey product? Did you get a lot of drippings?

Kathryn

[mikebarish]

Thanks!

[fzxdoc]

I've used a tiered grate a few times when smoking 4 chuckies or 2 large briskets in my PBC. Once the meat is taken to 180 deg F on the hooks and wrapped, I have crammed it back in to the PBC to reach the magic 203 (or 208 in the case of chuckies).

I have a second grate that I sit atop two foil-covered bricks for extra space and stability, and I put the extra foil-covered meat on it.

I can't say I like the setup much. To my mind, when the PBC gets overloaded, unless it is tricked out like Jerod Broussard 's PBC, the cook becomes compromised. I can't see how there is much air flow between the two grates in the 4 inches or so between the two. I wouldn't cook meat in an oven that way, so why should I cook foil-wrapped meat in a PBC that way was my thought process. The cook times were longer for me, doing it that way.

At that point, to my mind, once it's wrapped, heat is heat, whether it comes from a 225-250 degree oven or the PBC.

Now if I could rig a setup where the racks were separated by as much as 8 inches or so such that there was 3 or 4 inches between the top of the meat on the lower grate and the bottom of the meat on the upper grate, I might think differently.

Kathryn

[PappyBBQ]

I agree with fzxdoc. Once it's wrapped an oven is just as good. I would worry about messing with the convection current of the PBC by adding a second rack. Maybe a 55 gal UDS wouldn't be affected by a dual tier setup but it would be a bit snug in the 30 gal PBC. To this point I haven't had to cook that much meat at one time in my PBC. It's just me 'n the wife and two college age daughters. We do invite folks over for dinner a lot, but that still doesn't stuff enough meat into the PBC to overtax it. Now I AM starting to get "requests" to do cooks for neighbors (so far a couple of smoked XMAS turkeys) and they will "wander over" on a Saturday morning to see what I'm up to and to see if I can maybe throw an "extra" chicken or rack of ribs in the smoker for them to go along with whatever I'm cooking since I've got it up and runnin' and all that! I always accommodate those requests as to me it's an honor. They like what comes outta my Q and what comes out is a direct result of this fabulous site and the host of wonderful folks who contribute here.

[Jerod Broussard]

I add a rack on every cook that has more than 2 briskets. The reason is I need to start barking up the top of the flat using the grate, and I need room for the other briskets waiting their turn. Most get done in the oven once they get wrapped, no reason to keep them in the PBC unless they are the last two and I have plenty fuel left.

I just use a standard charcoal grate to stack the ones on top. The grate just lays on the bottom two.

I have used bricks for spacing b/n the two grateswhen doing country style ribs.

[PappyBBQ]

The amount of stuff you cook at once NEVER ceases to amaze me! Rock it bro!

[Jerod Broussard]

If it ain't FULL, why you cookin'?????

I get calls and the first thing they ask is, Ya got room for.....?

[eugenek]

I created a basket of sorts that was initially designed to hold together jiggly pork belly as it was getting seared. I've since increased the height and used it as an additional rack in the WSM. Just be sure to use stainless hardware.

[Jerod Broussard]

That is sweet. I used some bolts like that for an extra rack for my offset.

[fzxdoc]

Now that's a kewl setup, eugenek . The problem with using the foil-wrapped bricks for spacers between the two grates is that the bricks take up valuable real estate. You don't need the bolts/washers on top of the top grate, just on the underside of the top grate right (and of course ditto for the bottom grate)? The top grate could slip right over and rest on the bolts/washers spaced several inches above the lower grate. I've got to give this idea a try on my PBC.

Thanks!

Kathryn

[eugenek]

Yeah exactly, easy on and easy off!