Flat Tops - Grease splatter?

[illini40]

Hello - I’m interested in finally joining the flat top revolution. My main concern is grease splatter. I’m worried about grease splatter and stains on our patio, drive, or house.

Even with a mat beneath it, how much of an issue is grease splatter and stains? How do you address this with your setup?

Does a hard top help with this at all, while cooking?

Thanks in advance!

 

[chp]

Hello - I’m interested in finally joining the flat top revolution. My main concern is grease splatter. I’m worried about grease splatter and stains on our patio, drive, or house.

Even with a mat beneath it, how much of an issue is grease splatter and stains? How do you address this with your setup?

Does a hard top help with this at all, while cooking?

Thanks in advance!

I’m new to the flat top on the deck as well. I tend to do bacon and burgers, so there is some staining on the wood deck, but it has been fading away quickly. I will be interested in seeing the solutions folks have found. The one thing I have learned is to wear an apron and shoes!

 

[chopsaw]

Mine is an older Blackstone with the front grease drain . Damn grease runs down the front leg and makes a mess . So I use an old plastic bowl to stick the leg in .
Other than that I don't get much splatter , if any at all .

 

[02ebz06]

I had a stainless steel 3-sided hinged shield made. Works great.
Protects the sides and back and mat handles front splatter.

 

[pineywoods]

Don't think anything totally prevents it but the wind shields help a lot

 

[clifish]

Had to move my 32" camp chef away from the house due to splatter. It also has a front grease trap and there is plenty of opportunity to have messes with that.

My 36" Blackstone in PA is great, rear trap works very well and the hard cover that hangs on the back probably gives it a 6" wall. I can't comment on Weber's new entry into the flat top game as I have never seen one in person.

 

[illini40]

I’m new to the flat top on the deck as well. I tend to do bacon and burgers, so there is some staining on the wood deck, but it has been fading away quickly. I will be interested in seeing the solutions folks have found. The one thing I have learned is to wear an apron and shoes!

Thank you. Have you tried anything to clean the grease, or it’s just fading? I’ve got a concrete patio that is covered and then the driveway, so not sure about fading.

Mine is an older Blackstone with the front grease drain . Damn grease runs down the front leg and makes a mess . So I use an old plastic bowl to stick the leg in .
Other than that I don't get much splatter , if any at all .

Thanks. I guess I’m surprised to hear you don’t get much grease splatter. Do you do anything different or thoughts on why your experience may be different than most others?

 

[illini40]

Don't think anything totally prevents it but the wind shields help a lot

Thanks. Interesting. I didn’t think of the wind shields helping with splatter. Do they come up, above the edges of the griddle to keep splatter down?

Had to move my 32" camp chef away from the house due to splatter. It also has a front grease trap and there is plenty of opportunity to have messes with that.

My 36" Blackstone in PA is great, rear trap works very well and the hard cover that hangs on the back probably gives it a 6" wall. I can't comment on Weber's new entry into the flat top game as I have never seen one in person.

Thanks. I was thinking that the hard cover hanging on the back of the 36” Blackstone would help some. Do you see much splatter above and beyond that back side? What about on the front or sides of the grill?

 

[pineywoods]

The shields sit on the top of the high sides of the griddle about 3.5" here's a link to see what they look like on

https://www.amazon.com/BSARTE-Winds...8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

 

[radioguy]

I have a blackstone 22", hard cover, rear grease trap. I use it on a metal camping table. Grease does splash a bit on the table, not too bad. Hard lid protects the rear. I'd get some sort of mat or carpet to keep it off the concrete. IMO Splash is not bad at all.

RG

 

[clifish]

Thanks. Interesting. I didn’t think of the wind shields helping with splatter. Do they come up, above the edges of the griddle to keep splatter down?



Thanks. I was thinking that the hard cover hanging on the back of the 36” Blackstone would help some. Do you see much splatter above and beyond that back side? What about on the front or sides of the grill?

No I don't the BS 36 has been a pretty solid unit.

 

[chopsaw]

I’m surprised to hear you don’t get much grease splatter. Do you do anything different or thoughts on why your experience may be different than most others?

My only issue has been the grease running down the front leg of the old design . Putting the leg in a small plastic bowl fixed that .
I do keep the cook top scraped down .
I also use a dome and water to steam . So that helps .
You can see there's not much grease to splatter . I've scraped most of it into the drain .
Buns stacked on top help too .

This is what's under the dome . Keeps the mess contained .

 

[bill1]

Guess I'm not cooking enough bacon. I get minor splatters (my glasses get dirty) from meats but nothing that stains concrete. Mine's in front of a window, but has a hinge-up lid so I don't even get droplets on the glass.

I'd avoid any griddle whose grease mgmt system looked like it could leak. I have a sizable lip all the way around the griddle and the only place for the grease (and cleaning water) to go is into the very center of a pull-out tray, which I line with foil. I'm much more likely to drop food on my concrete than spill drained fat.

One consideration with griddles (that doesn't affect other cookers) is you want them level. A concrete slab is stable, but they're not level so you'll need to use some combination of tile or shims to level it up. And then leave the griddle in place. The marketing people tell vendors to put wheels on these, but I'd much prefer fixed legs with screw-out feet for leveling.

I do need to move everything on the patio and hose off the concrete well in prep for summer entertaining. Maybe when all is dry and clean I'll see a white rectangle under the griddle and a decreasing spot of stain radiating out from it, but I doubt it.

 

[sawhorseray]

I have the BS 22" with the drain in the rear of the unit. I made tops for the griddle and propane stove from 3/4" plywood, primed them, good wind block. I use old folded up beach towels for the spatulas and stuff, when they get dirty I just toss them in the laundry and replace with some fresh ones, We have a pool, tons of old towels. RAY

 

[Winterrider]

Cover on my 22" keeps splatters to a minimum

 

[illini40]

Guess I'm not cooking enough bacon. I get minor splatters (my glasses get dirty) from meats but nothing that stains concrete. Mine's in front of a window, but has a hinge-up lid so I don't even get droplets on the glass.

I'd avoid any griddle whose grease mgmt system looked like it could leak. I have a sizable lip all the way around the griddle and the only place for the grease (and cleaning water) to go is into the very center of a pull-out tray, which I line with foil. I'm much more likely to drop food on my concrete than spill drained fat.

One consideration with griddles (that doesn't affect other cookers) is you want them level. A concrete slab is stable, but they're not level so you'll need to use some combination of tile or shims to level it up. And then leave the griddle in place. The marketing people tell vendors to put wheels on these, but I'd much prefer fixed legs with screw-out feet for leveling.

I do need to move everything on the patio and hose off the concrete well in prep for summer entertaining. Maybe when all is dry and clean I'll see a white rectangle under the griddle and a decreasing spot of stain radiating out from it, but I doubt it.

Thanks for the thoughts on leveling. I hadn’t really thought of that. Do you have any suggestions of what to use or how to best go about leveling if needing to move it around on a driveway that was slope?

 

[chopsaw]

any suggestions

Most concrete only falls 1/4" per foot . Just orient the drain towards the fall .

 

[lowcountrygamecock]

Mine is an older Blackstone with the front grease drain . Damn grease runs down the front leg and makes a mess . So I use an old plastic bowl to stick the leg in .
Other than that I don't get much splatter , if any at all .

I have the same blackstone and had the same problem. I found an add on from Amazon that solves the problem. It’s a bent metal piece with a hole in the end. It slides over the factory drain channel at the end and helps to drain the grease down to the bucket. Haven’t had a problem since. It was like $8 on Amazon.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Don't think anything totally prevents it but the wind shields help a lot

Do you keep the wind shields on all the time ? I bought them, forget to use them.

 

[pineywoods]

Do you keep the wind shields on all the time ? I bought them, forget to use them.

No have to take them off for the lid and cover to go on