Customer Reviews

Weber 7526 Cooking Grate

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A leading cooking publication explained the benefits of having a cast iron grill and, in a nutshell, it's all about heat retention.

Recently, I had the misfortune of having the original steel grates on my Weber completely rust through and decided there had to be a better alternative. After a little research, I found that stainless steel replacements were readily available and was going to go with them. As I was doing my research on Amazon, I saw that there were cast iron units also available and decided to research a little further. What I learned was that it takes a temperature of around 300 degrees to brown meat and that cooking drops the temperture of the grates rapidly. For stainless steel, it took about 15 minutes to preheat a grill to 500 degrees. Once the meat was added, it took only 2 minutes for the grate temperature to drop down to 300 degrees. With the cast iron, preheat time increased to 21 minutes, but the grates stayed above 300 degrees for over five minutes. In my own experience with the cast iron, the extra time made a huge difference in how well the grill cooked both burgers and steaks, adding nice grill marks and enhanced flavor.

Cast iron will eventually rust, but these grates are heavy and are enameled so I think they will last alot longer than the original steel, even stainless will degrade over time. You should always preheat your grill and these cast iron grates will make a difference.

I spoke with Weber regarding the rough and matte texture on the most recent shipments of their porcelain enameled cast iron grates. These are in fact still enameled, just with a different method that results in a more traditional cast iron appearance while retaining the durability benefits of the porcelain coating.

This is simply the best upgrade you can add to your Weber. With the amount of grilling I do, I quickly wore out the standard enameled steel grates. They were easy to maintain, but they are too light to hold the heat and began to disintegrate. So I replaced them with Weber cast iron grates. These grates produce beautiful grill marks on your food and really hold the heat. But even with proper seasoning and the best upkeep, they are difficult to maintain. I found that they would start to rust just from humidity and rain or from lack of use. Enter Weber's enamelized cast iron grates--the best of both worlds. They are incredibly heavy, hold the heat and provide even cooking, produce great grill marks, but are virtually maintenance free. Just crank up the grill to high when you're done and brush them down. No seasoning or oiling necessary. After going through the first two sets of grates over 4 years, I've had these for 5 years now, and they are in the same condition today as when I bought them.

Ones that gave this item a poor review about it not being porcelain coated perhaps didn't see this:

From the Manufacturer:

The Weber cooking grate is made of porcelain-enameled cast-iron and fits the Genesis Silver B and C and Spirit E-310 gas grill. The porcelain enamel is COOKED INTO THE CAST IRON TO PREVENT RUST but it still really feels and looks like regular cast iron. (CAPITALS added by reviewer)

I have the Weber Genesis Platinum, which is nice because the exterior is stainless steel and the grill is well constructed. Unfortunately, it also came with stainless steel flavor bars and grates. While I haven't worried about replacing the flavor bars, I did purchase the replacement case iron grates. After using them 4 - 5 times per week all summer, I find them to have superior heat conduction, and provide better flavor due to improved grill marks on the food that I cook. With the stainless grates I would have to superheat the grill prior to putting my food on, and then transfer the food to a different area after flipping so that it would get reasonably marked. With these is seems effortless due to the improved heat conduciton and retention. I only wish I had bought them years ago. Please be careful what you buy, though, as there are two similar looking Weber products that are markedly different in construction. The easiest way to ensure you are purchasing the high quality version is to look at the price and the weight. I recommend spending the extra money to get the heavier product, as I believe it will make a huge difference in your food.

I have a Weber Genesis Silver B outdoor grill that has been aging beautifully over the last 8 years. Two years ago, the grill's output started getting rather weak so I decided to perform some maintenance by replacing the burner tubes and propane gas line/regulator assembly. All of the other parts were in good condition, although one of the cast iron greats had a small chip in the porcelain coating.
After six years of heavy seasonal use - this grill looked incredibly good.

This past year I had made the foolish mistake of not sheltering the grill from the harsh winter weather. Not only did I ruin all that hard earned seasoning on the inside of the grill, but that small chip in the cast iron grate quickly led to deteriorating corrosion.

At this point, the grill has been put to use for eight years and I have no problem whatsoever investing more money in its maintenance. I chose to go with the cast iron grates because of the way they retain heat and because stainless steel grates don't look as nice no matter how well you clean them. I read several reviews on the Weber 7526 Cooking Grate and realized that they are different from the stock grates that have the thick porcelain coating. I understand that these cast iron grates are an alloy of some sort to where there is some type of porcelain mixed within the iron itself. I like these grates.
After installing these grates, the Weber 7513 Warming Rack, Weber 7514 Warm-Up Basket, Weber 7536 Flavorizer Bars, and after meticulously detailing the entire grill I fired up the grill on high heat for about 30 minutes.

I then decided to cook some boneless skinless chicken thighs(great w/ tortillas). These were always annoying to grill because they would always tend to stick to the older(corroded) grates. After applying some cooking oil to the grates, I cooked up the marinated(plain yogurt, apple cider vinegar, w/ Sazon Goya con culantro y achiote seasoning) chicken thighs on medium low heat and had no problems with the meat sticking to the grates. Clean up was easy as well.

The dimensions of these Weber 7526 cast iron cooking grates are approximately 17 1/2" x 11 3/4". They are very heavy duty and were a worthwhile investment.
This Weber Genesis Silver B gas grill is once again ready for some serious outdoor cooking.

I wanted to write a review on these and let everyone know that I have owned my Weber Grill for 8+ years and my cast iron enameled grates are still almost like new! They came with my grill so I did not purchase them seperately. My grates have a little bit of slight build up on them, but that is probably due to my lack of cleaning. I usually just preheat my grill ~10-15 minutes and then give the grates a quick scrub with a wire brush. I then give the grill a couple more minutes to heat up and then put my food on. The grates still put great grill marks on the food and food rarely sticks to them. Only chicken or fish occassionaly stick if I don't have enough oil or marinate on them and/or if I don't preheat enough.
I love my Weber grill and these cast iron enameled grates.

I have a Weber Genesis Silver B that I have had for about 6 years. In those 6 years I have gone through 2 sets of the Porcelain-Enamel Cast Iron Cooking Grates. Both times they succumbed to rust but that's partly because I am not good about putting the grill cover on and sometimes let the grill get way to hot for too long. In fact after I write this I am off to Home Depot to buy my 3rd set (sorry Amazon I want them today). I once tried the stainless steel when I accidentally grabbed them instead of the cast iron when I was replacing them for the 2nd time, but after one grilling I dumped them. They just didn't cook as well or leave those classic grill marks like cast iron.

The advantage of cast is that it keeps the heat better than cheaper grills, for that perfect sear. The porcelain coating means these grates do not need to be seasoned as with regular cast iron grates.

I grill 3 days a week year round, snow, rain, whatever, on a Genesis Silver B. My original porcelan coated cast iron grates with smooth finish (cleaned with brass brush after 15 minute preheat) lasted 5 years, and did not realy NEED replacing. I ordered the new cast iron grates with the rough porcelan finish, (like gas stove grates)and liked them even more.They seem to release the meat in a shorter period of time. As for grill marks, it's impossible to not have them. I grill everything directly on the grates, shrimp,salmon, steak on high 650 to 700 degrees on my grill, never dry or overcooked, it's the timing that counts.