Upper grate or griddle

Taeter

New member
Took advantage of the Memorial Day sale and ordered a 2 Star General. Now I find out that I have a bunch of poppa points. Sweet! So what do you think is the best bang for the buck (or points).

I’m new to pellets and smoking in general. I can’t imagine at this point of doing more than 1 brisket, 2 pork shoulders, 4 racks of ribs and maybe a turkey. So what would get more use. The griddle or a full upper rack. Full upper because I’ve read that if needed I could use it as a lower rack and use 1 of the existing lowers as a 1/2 upper. Is that right?

Or is there another accessory that you just can’t live without.
I also have the MAK Mobile coming so take that off the list.

Thanks
 

rwalters

New member
Welcome to the MAK family :) My most used MAK accessory is hands down the full upper grate. That’s what has my vote!
 

Taeter

New member
Thanks for the input rwalters
Just realized I also need to ask why an accessory is your fave.
Like with the full upper grate. Is it because it’s better for veggies, food gets more even smoke at the top than the bottom, or you consistently cook for the neighborhood and need the extra space.
 

TentHunter

Moderator
The griddle or a full upper rack. Full upper because I’ve read that if needed I could use it as a lower rack and use 1 of the existing lowers as a 1/2 upper. Is that right?


Here's my 2¢ worth (and you can keep the change ;)).

If you have to choose between one or the other, then get the FULL upper rack now, and add the griddle later (but definitely add it)!



Full upper rack versus 3/4 upper rack

Yes... I know that the 3/4 upper rack is more "popular," but the let's discuss this for a moment because I believe that how and what you cook most often will determine which rack you should get.


3/4 Upper rack advantages

● 75% more cooking capacity.

● Easier to reach smaller food items on the rear of the bottom grate.

If you tend to fill your grill with a lot of smaller items, then, a 3/4 rack absolutely DOES make it easier to reach underneath without your arm touching a hot upper rack.



Full Upper Rack advantages

● Doubles cooking capacity.

● As mentioned... You can use the full rack on the bottom, and use one of the bottom 1/2 grates as an upper 1/2 rack (I do this often).




My take:
I get a lot more use from a full upper rack than I ever would a 3/4 rack, BUT... again, this is based on how I cook!

I rarely need to reach smaller items on the bottom, because I tend to cook larger items on the bottom (chicken, pork shoulders, etc.), and put other items up top. And when I do this, most often a 1/2 rack suffices for what I need to put up top.

When I do need to reach smaller items and have the full upper rack in place, it's very easy to slide out the upper rack and set it aside while flipping food, etc.

Three or four times per year I actually need the doubling the capacity that a full upper rack offers. I do a handful of large cooks per year for the local marching band, birthdays, graduations, etc.

Hope this makes sense!
 

Salmonsmoker

New member
I have the searing grate and the 3/4 upper rack. I don't use the searing grate much and I don't know why, because I do a fair amount of searing. I think I just forget that I have it, it works well. There are many times when I could have used the full upper rack. That would get my vote.
 

rwalters

New member
Why is the full upper grate my fave accessory? Well, i’d have to say that it gets used for pretty much 100% of my low n slow cooks. More often than not the full upper is plenty big for my low n slow cooks. By using it vs the main grate, I find two advantages. 1) I can place a pan or piece of foil with the edges turned up underneath the meat to catch the drippings making for much easier cleanup. 2) Knowing that the upper grate runs about 20ish° hotter than the lower I am able to sets the controller to 210° for my low n slows and have an actual cooking temp closer to 230°. And we all know, the the lower the set temp on a pellet cooker, the more smoke production were gonna see. A win win if you ask me :)
 
Congrats on the 2 Star! I have both full upper rack and griddle. I definitely use the upper rack more. Both are great, but for first purchase I would recommend the upper rack.
 

Taeter

New member
Looks like the vote is 5 to 0 for the upper rack and I am hearing ya.
Full grate is ordered plus a brush and Meatheads The Science of Great BBQ and Grilling. Being a newbie I figure I should get some basics down before turning a brisket into dog food.
Used all my points and then some.

Thanks all for the input. Especially the info on the temp differential between the upper rack and the pellet boss readout.
 

Salmonsmoker

New member
Looks like the vote is 5 to 0 for the upper rack and I am hearing ya.
Full grate is ordered plus a brush and Meatheads The Science of Great BBQ and Grilling. Being a newbie I figure I should get some basics down before turning a brisket into dog food.
Used all my points and then some.

Thanks all for the input. Especially the info on the temp differential between the upper rack and the pellet boss readout.

Also check out Aaron Franklin who has a brisket video on YouTube and Big Poppa cooks section on BP Smokers website.
 

sschorr

Member
Looks like the vote is 5 to 0 for the upper rack and I am hearing ya.
Full grate is ordered plus a brush and Meatheads The Science of Great BBQ and Grilling. Being a newbie I figure I should get some basics down before turning a brisket into dog food.
Used all my points and then some.

Thanks all for the input. Especially the info on the temp differential between the upper rack and the pellet boss readout.

I presume you have the 2019 model with the roaming Thermocouple, meaning you can place the TC close to what you are cooking. So, if you use the upper rack for cooking, and place pan or foil on the main as RWALTERS suggests, you can place the TC on the upper. The pellet Boss is then measuring the temp at the upper rack and the temperature differential goes away! Well, rather the pellet Boss will read the temp at the upper and work to maintain it. So, placing the TC on the upper, set to 225 or 250, and that is what the cooking temp will be (on average since the Pellet Boss uses an averaging algorithm).

Hope that is no too confusing. I use this method almost all the time - pork butt, ribs, brisket, etc. all on the upper with pan/foil below. This also makes it easy to drop anything that you want "wrapped" into that pan and cover it. Very useful for wrapping to get through the "stall" on various cooks.
 

rwalters

New member
I presume you have the 2019 model with the roaming Thermocouple, meaning you can place the TC close to what you are cooking. So, if you use the upper rack for cooking, and place pan or foil on the main as RWALTERS suggests, you can place the TC on the upper. The pellet Boss is then measuring the temp at the upper rack and the temperature differential goes away! Well, rather the pellet Boss will read the temp at the upper and work to maintain it. So, placing the TC on the upper, set to 225 or 250, and that is what the cooking temp will be (on average since the Pellet Boss uses an averaging algorithm).

Hope that is no too confusing. I use this method almost all the time - pork butt, ribs, brisket, etc. all on the upper with pan/foil below. This also makes it easy to drop anything that you want "wrapped" into that pan and cover it. Very useful for wrapping to get through the "stall" on various cooks.

Totally off topic... but I see you have a Weber Summit. Knowing how well the MAK’s grill, just curious to know how often you use it and for what types of cooks?
 

sschorr

Member
Totally off topic... but I see you have a Weber Summit. Knowing how well the MAK’s grill, just curious to know how often you use it and for what types of cooks?

:) Totally off reply.... I actually use the Weber quite often for grilling and griddling. I have Grill Grates on the Weber. So, SWMBO does not like smoked foods. She will eat some pulled pork, and bacon, but that's about it. Burgers, fish, chicken, steaks, fajitas, veggies are almost always done on the Weber using either the flat side or grill side of the GGs.

I smoke 2-3 times a month on the MAK, either when we have guests or I just want some dang, good smoked food. For example, I really love smoked meatloaf, pulled pork, brisket, Tri-tip, so I will smoke that up (and reverse sear the Tri-tip on the gasser 'cause its right there, gets to very hot in 10 minutes, sear for 5 mins and done) for myself. I smoke my ribs (of all kinds) on the MAK, but make hers in the oven. I'll make chicken drums or wings on the MAK for me and cook hers on the Weber. Half or whole chicken (spatchcock) on the Weber 'cause she won't eat chicken that is smoked.

Bottom line for me is that the Weber gets really, really hot (up to 700-800) on the GGs in 10 minutes, so it is my go-to for reverse searing and grilling.

You may ask "why did you have a smoker at all?" - 'cause southern Orange County does not have any good BBQ joints, and the ribs or brisket or pulled pork that most restaurants serve around here is pretty bad IMHO. Plus I love the whole process of cooking, and smoking my own foods is such a good thing in Life. :cool:
 

rwalters

New member
Makes perfect sense for your situation! I have a gasser, but mine happens to be a 48” Camp Chef griddle that I absolutely LOVE!! Use it all the time :)
 

Taeter

New member
Thanks for the reminder on moving the tc sschorr. Right now I’m on the bottom end of the learning curve. No place to go but up.
Did a pork roast and put a pan under it while cooking to keep the grill clean. Saw that on a utube vid. Also saw where people put a bowl of liquid in the pit to add moisture. So I put some apple juice in the pan and then put foil formed to the pan above the apple juice.seemed to work good. Juice evaporated and the foil caught the grease.
Did you say that you would put the meat in the greasy foil? I understand why you would foil the meat but that foil was lookin kinda gross.
Btw the pork turned out pretty good. The wife had 2 sandwiches and she’s not a big pork fan.
 

sschorr

Member
Thanks for the reminder on moving the tc sschorr. Right now I’m on the bottom end of the learning curve. No place to go but up.
Did a pork roast and put a pan under it while cooking to keep the grill clean. Saw that on a utube vid. Also saw where people put a bowl of liquid in the pit to add moisture. So I put some apple juice in the pan and then put foil formed to the pan above the apple juice.seemed to work good. Juice evaporated and the foil caught the grease.
Did you say that you would put the meat in the greasy foil? I understand why you would foil the meat but that foil was lookin kinda gross.
Btw the pork turned out pretty good. The wife had 2 sandwiches and she’s not a big pork fan.

Taeter - for a pork butt, I would definitely put it into the pan with the drippings in the case of choosing to wrap the butt. This usually happens if the butt has hit the "stall" (at about 160*-180*) and I want to wrap it to finish. Drop in the pan and tightly cover with foil. After the butt hits finish temp and rested, I would pull into a fresh pan, leaving the fatty chunks and stuff behind. Pour juices into something to separate fat from juice, and save the juice for using reheated PP. Very tasty stuff in that juice!
 

TentHunter

Moderator
Also saw where people put a bowl of liquid in the pit to add moisture. So I put some apple juice in the pan and then put foil formed to the pan above the apple juice.seemed to work good. Juice evaporated and the foil caught the grease.

People sometimes talk about adding a water pan as if it's something you should either always do, or never do. A little bit of common sense is needed here because it greatly depends on where you live and/or the time of year. Adding a pan of water is helpful if you live in an area that is arid, or it's a time of year when the air is dry (Winter).

For instance here in NE Ohio, during the colder weather months the air gets VERY dry. That is when I notice a pan (or a couple cans) of water helps. During the warm months, when it gets humid, a water pan has little effect.

The smoke ring can be a good indicator of this, because moisture is needed in order for the nitric acid to form on the surface of the meat (from the nitric oxide release when wood combusts). Moisture is also needed for the smoke particulates (syringol & guaiacol) to effectively move into the meat.


For the water pan, just add water when needed (apple juice or anything else doesn't really add anything). I usually add hot water because it can start adding moisture immediately. Cold water has to heat up first.

A little apple juice, beer, etc. is fine to add with the meat as a braising liquid when you foil the pork.


Hope this makes sense and helps!
 
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