GrillGrates and smoking

[grinnan5150]

Hello. New to the forum...first post. I've had my Traeger for about a month and it is the best purchase for smoking I could have made! I recently just purchased a set of GrillGrates (which work great for searing by the way!). My question is for anyone else here that uses GrillGrates....do you leave them on the Traeger while you smoke other meats or do you remove them once you're done searing and ready to smoke something? I just wasn't sure if leaving the GrillGrates in the Traeger while you smoke something affects the temperature inside or not?

 

[VDAngelo26]

Hello. New to the forum...first post. I've had my Traeger for about a month and it is the best purchase for smoking I could have made! I recently just purchased a set of GrillGrates (which work great for searing by the way!). My question is for anyone else here that uses GrillGrates....do you leave them on the Traeger while you smoke other meats or do you remove them once you're done searing and ready to smoke something? I just wasn't sure if leaving the GrillGrates in the Traeger while you smoke something affects the temperature inside or not?

I would take them off since they are specifically designed to sear so its safe to assume they would get much hotter than the grates that come with the grill. you don't want the grates to actually cook the meat you are trying to smoke, ya know what I mean? Better safe than sorry, especially if you are doing a 7-12 hour smoke.

 

[grinnan5150]

I would take them off since they are specifically designed to sear so its safe to assume they would get much hotter than the grates that come with the grill. you don't want the grates to actually cook the meat you are trying to smoke, ya know what I mean? Better safe than sorry, especially if you are doing a 7-12 hour smoke.

Thanks for your input. That’s what I was thinking also. Easier (lazier) to leave them on but I certainly don’t want to mess up a 7-8 hour smoke by leaving them on.