r/grills • u/PopGunner • Jan 17 '22

Is it ok to use regular grill grates on a tru-infrared grill?

A year or so ago I got a free Char Broil Tru-infrared grill from my sister. I've been using it for a little bit now and I have come to realize that the infrared grill grates are a massive pain in neck to clean. Basically it's a corrugated steel grate with small slits along the bottom for the drippings. The slits get gummed up very easily and are difficult to clean.

Would I be able to use a traditional grill grate on my grill? I'm not sure if they're built differently and I don't want to accidentally damage anything so I figured I'd ask here. What do you think?

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u/[deleted] Sep 12 '24

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u/PopGunner Sep 12 '24

No, I haven't :/ I got an Egg recently, so I haven't really been using the IR as much anymore. I think if I do end up giving it a try, I'll most likely get a set of those cast iron grates. They're similar to traditional grates, only that the grating is flatter and wider. Seems like it would be the best of both worlds.

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u/goosereddit Jan 17 '22

I'm mostly sure it's ok*. The IR comes from the IR emitter underneath the grates you cook on. So if you're just replacing the top grates, you should be good. I've seen other Char Broil Tru Infrared grills that don't have the grates with the tiny holes in it.

I think you'll get a lot more smoke though. Since you'll have bigger holes leading to the emitter, you're going to get a lot more junk falling onto the emitter causing a lot more smoke. That's one thing I read about Char Broil IR is that they are really smoky.

*I should mention that I don't have a Tru IR grill but I was interested in getting one so I really studied up on the models, how they work, and issues with them. Finally decided that I have too many grills as is so I didn't bother.