Weber baby Q accessory find

[AndrewC]

Hi All,

Just thought I'd share my find that I have bought. I have a baby Q which I personally hate. We never roast stuff and only seem to cook stuff that need a flat plate.

Given the fact that webers are useless to cook with the lid open and the two sorts of accessory flat plates that they offer are in convient sizes, prompeted me to look fo an after market plate.

So I found this:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Topnotch...ltDomain_15&hash=item2a2d1475ee#ht_717wt_1161

It suits my type of cooking better and I am hoping that I may even be able to cook with the lid open if I want. It is the cooking grade of stainless which dispurses heat better then regular 304 or 316 stainless. It is basically poor quality stainless steel.

Anyway, will let you all know what I think after I use it for the first time.

They also have this which I am considering buying to use instead of my weber if the new plate idea does not work

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Genuine-...ltDomain_15&hash=item27d2a078eb#ht_769wt_1161

Andrew

 

[fishinglizard]

I am the same, I never roast anything because I am the only one in family that eats it (it sux dont worry) if you just fry stuff, save your money, I use a 20 dlr butane burner I have had for years and 20 dlr frypan from kmart. I used 2 cans of butane in 2 weeks last holiday.

 

[leesy]

Ther have been a few other thread about hot plates for Q's over time, whilst we love our Q and roast quite a bit on it the eggs and bacon thing can be hard without a hot plate.

 

[greynt]

G'day AndrewC, we have a Q220 and love it. Must admit I was a bit hesitant buying it first off because of no solid hot plate. Within a couple of weeks we ordered a Topnotch plate to suit and it's great. We use ours for roasting as well so we now have the best of both worlds. Don't know that I could go back to a normal BBQ now.
Cheers
greynt

 

[leesy]

yeah we love ours, when its time to replace the home one it will be a big Q for sure

 

[Hubble80]

We have a babyQ in our Expanda and a big Family Q at home. I think $120 is a bit rich for a "test" however I hgave found on our babyQ that if you are trying to cook something requires regular turning ie seafood, marinated stuff etc, the plate doesn't hold heat as you keep opening the lid.

 

[17triton]

Ther have been a few other thread about hot plates for Q's over time, whilst we love our Q and roast quite a bit on it the eggs and bacon thing can be hard without a hot plate.

Just cut one of those teflon bbq sheets to size and throw on the grill.

 

[Xpandafan]

Hubble and Triton are on the money. I was a sceptic. I now have the BabyQ in the Expanda hatch and the FamilyQ on the deck. I use the BBQ sheet that Pace put me on to. And for a big fry up I use the butane burner. Great for stir fry or fish and chips in the wok as well.

 

[Lara]

We have the BeefEater Sportzgrill and absolutely love it! Wasn't cheap but Andrew rates it better than our Weber genesis we have at home.
One half is grill plate and the other half is solid plate, and when you remove the plates there is a 2 burner stove top underneath! Is great, multipurpose, and can be used with legs, or take them out and use as a table top BBQ.
We can now cook anything and everything outside. Bacon and eggs, roast, snags and onion Best part is the stove top option, we can cook anything, great for Spaghetti Bol, pot of boiling pasta one side, meaty Bol in a frypan on the other side! Love it!

 

[Ligedy]

Andrew, I have a Topnotch but in the half plate for my Weber Q220 - for the same reason, I like cooking up somethings on a solid plate too.

Before you buy it – ask Topnotch if the full plate will sit in the Weber without the grill in place. I have a feeling their plates have slightly smaller OD than the weber grill and as they are designed to sit on top of it (I asked after buying one).

The weber has small tabs around the inside for the grill to sit on and from memory I don’t think there is much movement to play with.

I was going to cut my grill in half (I have a spare one) then fit the Topnotch half plate to make a hybrid weber but it would work because of this – i.e. two half plates were too unstable because they can slip of the support tabs. I’m thinking this shouldn’t be a problem for a full plate but it might pay to check first.

Topnotch plates do work as intended but it’s just one extra weighty thing I have to carry (along with cast iron grill in my case), it all adds up and is also one extra thing to keep clean.

Thus, I have ordered what the good fellas above have mentioned – a Teflon BBQ sheet. It’s tremendously lighter and they work. On the last trip I used the weber disposable drip trays (a clean one…) to fry up onions and vegies, etc. because it was easier and quicker than using the half plate for small quantities of food.

Don’t get me wrong solid plate it works as designed. You have to let it heat up for a good 20+ mins on high lid down but I reckon you still need to keep the lid down as much as possible with a full load on the Q. I also place the half plate in the middle of the Weber and use as heat deflector/disperser when cooking pizzas, cakes and roasts, etc. so the heat doesn’t come straight up form underneath if you get my drift.

I must admit, I had a solid plate BBQ all my life but now I’m a convert – I will always have a Q and am getting more and more used to the grilling style on of the Webers.

 

[Capt. Gadget]

I must admit, I had a solid plate BBQ all my life but now I’m a convert – I will always have a Q and am getting more and more used to the grilling style on of the Webers.

Same same Ligedy I am now a grill plate convert and love the way it cooks so much quicker

 

[Cootay]

I've got a top notch plate as always with stainless steel plate at home. Haven't used the plate as much as I thought I would especially after finding the egg / muffin tin solution.....

 

[achjimmy]

Just keep in mind the 3CR material they talk about will corrode unlike full Stainless. 3CR is NOT considered a food grade stainless (or wasn't)

 

[AndrewC]

I think it's food grade and corrosion properties are better the a mild steel plate though haha! Not really worried about the grade, just the heat dispersion. I am sure it will suit me just right, I hope!

 

[AndrewC]

Well gave the plate a run tonight and this what I concluded:

Plate is well made and a good thickness. Plate can either be installed on top of existing grill or existing grill can be removed so that new plate sits on grill mounts in Weber (this is the way I opted to install it).

I wanted to give the plate the ultimate test so I turned on the BBQ and let it preheat for 10min with the lid open. I then proceeded to cook my sausages and onion with the lid open the whole time, something I could never do before.

To my surprise, my dinner was cooked in 10-15 minutes with plenty of heat in the plate with the lid open the whole time. Awesome, just what I wanted !! This thing will now do the best breakky meals.

Will I bother taking the grill away now? No, its in the shed already as its not needed for my style of cooking.

NB: I was only cooking a handful of sausages and onion. If I were to load the plate full of meat, then I may not have had the same outcome. However, I do know that the amount that I cooked tonight with the lid open, could not be done previously either with the old grill and grindle combination.

This new plate will also allow us to do stir fry style of meals now too where the food needs to be constantly moving.

Whilst this plate might not float everyone's boat, it definitely floated mine.
Hope someone finds this useful because to took me forever to write it with one arm in a sling and only my left hand typing!

Cheers, Andrew

P.S. Heat dispersion was also even through the whole plate

 

[Brad]

Nice one Andrew. You have won me.
i love a good accessory.

 

[Dandy]

Hi guys, was interested in the hot plate idea and followed your link, had decided to buy one then we were looking at annexes at TEBBS in Dandenong and saw they have a version on display for about half the price. Looks different as the drain hole is in the centre. Can't comment on the quality but it seemed to fit the 100q on display. I'm probably going to pick one up with the annex.

 

[AddItUp]

@Dandy Can you visit Tebbs in Dandenong? Do they have a showroom?

 

[crmmg]

Aldi had this teppanyaki grill plate on sale last week or so for $12. Fits the weber baby q range nicely. May be in luck with some still left at Aldi.

 

[Stan Lee]

Wow the look good!! Wouldnt u have to have the lid closed to heat it up??