BBQ Plate?

Mild steel if ya keep it seasoned and out of the weather, else SS.

That's not barbeque (at least not in Texas), that's a grill. A former supervisor had one of the most unusual rigs for that I've seen. He had a huge barbeque pit with smoker constructed from an old butane tank, mounted on a tandem axle trailer with 100 gal. water tank and wood storage. The firebox on the end was about a 3' cube. The top of the firebox was used as a grill and cooktop. This was a piece of 1/2" inconel clad plate he had purchased from the plant salvage sale. It conducted heat well and didn't corrode. He could do bacon, eggs, and pancakes for a mob on that while the barbeque started, and at the same time use it as a cook top for pots of sauce and beans.

Wonderful stuff if you could find a piece for a reasonable price. I think Ed's right about the stainless, although it'd be fine as expanded metal for the meat racks inside the pit.

Pete Keillor

Yeah, I think that's what he's describing. That's why I asked.

Stainless makes a great rack-type grill, too. I spent 'way too many hours making one for camping once upon a time. Then I forgot the damned thing at a campground -- one that was about 300 miles away.

-- Ed Huntress

It might be chrome covered stuff they refer to...

Maybe surgical stainless is safer / approved?

Stainless steel is harmless as a cooking surface, however it requires constant coating with oil, because food sticks like crazy to it. Unlike carbon steel, stainless steel does not develop an oxide layer that can trap oils. That oxide layer on carbon steel and cast iron is what makes it such a good cooking surface. Cast iron is even better because it is a much better heat conductor. Stainless steel is the worst heat conductor of all, so it develops hot spots very easily.

Nonsense!!!

If there's any doubt, make sure you get 316 stainless, which is the least chemically reactive of the 300 series stainless alloys.

Harold

Blink. Blink. Never used?

Surely, you jest!

Harold

A study:

Tom

One of my clients

Gunner

It's better to be a red person in a blue state than a blue person in a red state. As a red person, if your blue neighbors turn into a mob at least you have a gun to protect yourself. As a blue person, your only hope is to appease the red mob with herbal tea and marinated tofu.

(Phil Garding)

About ninety percent of the world's manufactured foods are manufactured in

316 or 316L stainless steel vessels as is most of the world's pharmaceutical products. Beer is brewed in stainless vessels in all modern breweries. The main reason NOT to use stainless steel plate for a barbeque is that stainless is a relatively poor heat conductor and requires a larger burner than a mild steel or copper. Also , for some reason , the food tend to stick to a stainless steel plate much more strongly than to a mild steel or cast iron plate. I've had all three, stainless stell,cast iron and mild steel. I much prefer cast iron for that reason.

Tom Miller

Building a BBQ are we ? We BBQ 12 months a year ourselves.

What I advise - go to the local hardware store and look for repair parts !

Might get a nice grill made for a large Weber or another and a periodic retro fix...

Just make to match.

Martin

Martin. Post some pics to alt.binaries.food if ya can.

That must be why my Weber is all stainless.

Only one thing to watch out for. Some stainless materials (such as T304) suffer from "green rot" (sometimes called grain rot, and something like intergranular exfoliation--can't remember exactly) when held at 600 to 1200 degrees. The temp varies with the stainless mix so the numbers given are for T304. 99+% of time you won't see and real problems caused by this but it is possible that the carbides will migrate in the stainless and you end up with large grains of material instead of a uniform mix of metal. The result is that the stainless will become brittle and may start corroding.

We do use T304 in roasters for vegetables at about 750 F and haven't yet had green rot problems that caused any failures of stressed components.

They had similar problems in some military weapons of stainless where (In pics, and I don't know squat about guns) it appeared the metal around where the hot gasses escaped looked like it had been disolved.

To the best of my memory, the problem occurs more when held at these temps rather than because of passing through these temps. That is, you can run the T304 at 1300f as long as you get there fast and cool off fast but if you let it pass slowly through the middle temps, things will degrade.

People like the BBQ hot and a plate/skillet may be used for "blackened" fish and similar which would require both a grate and plate to spend a lot of time between that 600 and 1200 mark.

So...after all this blowharding...I'd still use stainless myself

Koz

I think he's referring to what in some parts of the Empire is called a BBQ (my experience is from Australia and New Zealand where I have family and friends... not sure if the same holds true in England). They differentiate clearly between grills, smokers and what they call BBQ's... which are essentially gas or charcoal fired skillets.

Clay-

-- Standard Disclaimer: My Employer gives my internet access, but I don't speak for them... So blame me for saying something dumb, not them.

Clay Cahill 2004

"I would just like to say that after all these years of heavy drinking, bright lights and late nights, I still don't need glasses. I drink right out of the bottle." - David Lee Roth

Since BBQ is NOT a piece of equipment, but the meat produced via a specific method of cooking, perhaps the Empire needs to differentiate a bit more, wot. :-)

Dave -

Must be a novice at the grand BBQ instrument. We cook 12 months a year on ours. We cook all sorts of meat as you say, cook corn in the shuck, beans in a pan, and various bread and bread like materials. Meat is 'fried' or baked. Others are rotated. Some are speared. The best was a birthday cake when the family oven did a nose dive some 30 years ago. The cake came out perfect.

It is simply the kitchen wood burner transformed into a propane burning cooker.

Martin [ still learning on that machine ]

differentiate a bit more,

Aye... But "Shrimp on the Barbie" sounds so much better than "Srimp on the gasser with a sheet of steel on top."

Clay-

-- Standard Disclaimer: My Employer gives my internet access, but I don't speak for them... So blame me for saying something dumb, not them.

Clay Cahill 2004

"I would just like to say that after all these years of heavy drinking, bright lights and late nights, I still don't need glasses. I drink right out of the bottle." - David Lee Roth