New guy looking for information

[bigdog1845]

Hello everybody,
Awesome site you have here! Tons of information.

I live in the Central Valley in California about an hour south of Sacramento. I'm getting ready to start a reverse flow build made from an old horizontal air compressor tank, not sure if I will make a small trailer for it to sit on or just put castor type wheels under it.

I was wondering if the expanded metal that I see lots of guys using for the cooking shelves (or grills) is just standard plain steel? Does it need to be stainless or have some kind of coating on it? It seems like plain steel would rust and flake off on the food.

Thanks in advance for the information and I look forward to sharing my build with you guys

 

[one eyed jack]

Welcome to the site BD.

Most folks use plain steel for cooking racks.  It is unusual to have them rust.  They will get well coated with critter oil as you use them.

Post up pictures of your build.

 

[joe black]

Welcome from SC, Bigdog. This is a great site. I'm glad you found it. My grates are plain steel. As Jack said, they will get a constant coating of oil. Be sure to spray them really good with Pam or some other cooking oil when you season it. After that it's just like a great big frying pan

Good luck and good smokin', Joe