It's a must for lump, but using charcoal baskets helps too, from losing the little pieces. Then again, you can't put much lump into a charcoal basket necessarily due to the odd sizes.
I'm a believer in the U-bolts for a WSM's lower cook grate, because you can lift the grate and not the food to get it out. Not sure I see the benefit to adding them to any charcoal grate, especially if you have a charcoal ring already tied to the grate(s).
Speaking of tying grates or grate + charcoal ring together, today I did it with small SS cotter pins. I didn't even know you could buy SS cotter pins ... this was at Home Depot.
I was thinking "utility wire" or whatever it is most guys wire together two grates but it was either a big roll of galvanized (and I don't have any cattle fences that need mending?) or 1 packet for less than $1 for 3 SS cotter pins. Bend an end, wrap, cut off with tin snips and use the other part again. 3 cotter pins in the packet will go a long way that way!
Topic: Charcoal grate mods (Read 4089 times)
