Grills

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mekender
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Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 9:31 pm

Re: Grills

Post by mekender »

CByrneIV wrote:
Vonz90 wrote:Charcoal
I'm not one of those people who are charcoal bigots, gas has its place, and it IS convenient.

But people who think that charcoal is a pain and takes forever, are wrong... Because they're doing it wrong.

The problem is that they are using briquettes, lighting them with lighter fluid or an electric or chemical charcoal starter, and then waiting 30 or 45 minutes for them to ash over.

That isn't charcoal. Its pencil shavings and chemical binders, and it cooks for shit, smells funny, tastes worse, and you have to do that stupid inconvenient stuff to cook with it.

Natural lump charcoal is cheap and easily found everywhere now. You start it in a chimney starter... And here's the important part... You LEAVE IT in the starter until the thing turns into a jet engine, and every single coal is glowing red hot.

That usually takes less than 15 minutes.

You do NOT wait for it to burn down, or ash over. You want it glowing red with blue, purple, and orange flames coming off it. That's what burning charcoal is SUPPOSED to look like.

Then you dump into your grill, and your ready to cook immediately with a far hotter fire than you get from either gas or briquettes. Plus it tastes and smells much Bette, and it leaves less ash which is easier to clean up.
I second that notion...

But me, for a 3 time a week use grill, I would go with the Weber Genesis line again in a heartbeat. Mine is a tank.
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evan price
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Re: Grills

Post by evan price »

I looked for a new grill a last year. I bought a "stainless steel" grill from Sears on year-end clearance about 5-6 years ago, always had it covered, kept it clean. Then I found that the stainless steel part was only the top and handles and stuff, the bottom pan rotted out, the burners (which were supposedly cast iron) fell apart, the flame spreaders disintegrated, the grill racks (Porcelainized cast iron) lost the porcelain and started shedding chunks of rust and the flavorizers turned to dust... Oh, sure, it looked nice and shiny sitting there, but opening it or trying to use it revealed how awful it became in 5 short years.

So last year I started looking for a new one, only to discover that everything was the same as the old POS I had junked. Nothing was made with anything more than the cheapest sheetmetal and parts but it had all been tarted up with fancy looking chrome knobs and big fat handles and stainless trim to look like it was a high end product. Junk, all of them. I almost bought one of the Char-Broil commercial tru-infrared grills, but then did more looking and found that they don't cook all that well. Confirmed, when a co-worker bought one. The only good thing is that he gave me his older stainless steel 5-burner Magic Chef, which was a POS like my old one, but I could make one usable grill by combining the two.

So screw it, I'm not spending more than bottom dollar for a gas grill until I can afford a Sabre or a Titan.
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Termite
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Re: Grills

Post by Termite »

If you have deep pockets: Napolean Gas Grills.
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HTRN
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Re: Grills

Post by HTRN »

CByrneIV wrote:The problem is that they are using briquettes, .
To be fair, the Kingsford Competition briquettes are pretty good, and have a much longer burn time than lump. Not so important when grilling, but when using the minion method in a smoker, it's another story.
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MarkD
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Re: Grills

Post by MarkD »

Sorry for the necro post, but I thought I'd post a follow up.

Two years ago I bit the bullet and bought a Weber stainless steel Genesis grill.

Man, where has this grill BEEN all my life.

The thing is built like Sophia Vergara. Just putting it together was a pleasure, everything fit perfectly.

The entire bottom of the cooking chamber is thick, cast aluminum (so it'll last forever). The places in the bottom where crud will drip are also cast aluminum, and removable (so you can bring them in and put them in the dish washer). I just started my third season with this grill, and if I cleaned it thoroughly and wheeled it into a store you'd think it was brand new.

My old grill had a tube along the back to carry flame to the different burners, the result being you always got a VERY hot spot at the very back (so you really couldn't cook anything there without burning it). The Weber has a closed manifold, so while there are hot and cool spots it's nowhere near as pronounced so I can cook on the entire grate surface.

I'd say I'll never buy another grill that's not a Weber, but the truth is I'll probably never need to buy another grill. I expect my relatives to fight over it after I die.
rightisright
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Re: Grills

Post by rightisright »

Keep it clean and covered, blow the gas system out (gently) every once in a while and it will last a long time.

If you ever need new grates, I can't recommend these highly enough: https://www.grillgrate.com/

Yeah, they are expensive. You could buy a cheap grill for what they cost. I paid almost $200 on them for my built-in. But they are worth every cent if you are an avid griller.

I am off to fire up a 30 day dry aged strip steak I aged at home. :)
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Rich
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Re: Grills

Post by Rich »

Grills?

Inked on the wall of a men's room stall.

"For a good time with lots of pretty grills, call 555-1234."

Below that was inked, "It's spelled girls stupid."

Below that was inked, "But, what about us grills?"
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SoupOrMan
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Re: Grills

Post by SoupOrMan »

Dad's buying replacement parts for his old Weber. The two locking nuts on the ash cleaner's central spindle rusted together and the cleaning handle snapped off. The new cleaner that Weber makes has no spindle and uses metal tabs instead. I just hope it fits.

Here's the new parts: https://www.weber.com/US/en/accessories ... stem-kit-1

I'm worried the new part that holds this stuff together (the h-shaped part with the two tabs that point up) will not fit through the pivot hole on Dad's old grill.

Still, I hope that spending $20 on parts keeps him from having to spend $150 on a new grill.
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g-man
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Re: Grills

Post by g-man »

MarkD wrote:Sorry for the necro post, but I thought I'd post a follow up.

Two years ago I bit the bullet and bought a Weber stainless steel Genesis grill.
Which size? 2-3-4 burner? PCS-ing again this summer and am NOT moving the $100 beater grill I picked up after moving here. I don't have a pickup truck anymore (Expedition now) and it's not worth the time involved to clean it such that the movers would take it. There's at least a couple moves before retirement, so I may end up just doing the 'beater grill' thing a few more rotations, but was curious as to what size you picked up, and whether you think it's big enough or not. I'm pretty sure the 2-burner is not gonna cut it, but with the price difference between the 3 and 4 being small (relative to their prices...) I think going to the 4 burner might be worth it.
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MarkD
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Re: Grills

Post by MarkD »

g-man wrote:
MarkD wrote:Sorry for the necro post, but I thought I'd post a follow up.

Two years ago I bit the bullet and bought a Weber stainless steel Genesis grill.
Which size? 2-3-4 burner? PCS-ing again this summer and am NOT moving the $100 beater grill I picked up after moving here. I don't have a pickup truck anymore (Expedition now) and it's not worth the time involved to clean it such that the movers would take it. There's at least a couple moves before retirement, so I may end up just doing the 'beater grill' thing a few more rotations, but was curious as to what size you picked up, and whether you think it's big enough or not. I'm pretty sure the 2-burner is not gonna cut it, but with the price difference between the 3 and 4 being small (relative to their prices...) I think going to the 4 burner might be worth it.
I got the three burner, plenty big enough for the wife and I, and any company we may have. I paid about $900 for it a couple years ago, I paid extra for the all-stainless (I don't like ceramic coated grates) Weber seems to have changed their models since then, I don't see the grill I got, and it seems the prices have increased considerably.

I'm seriously considering getting a Weber kettle grill too, partly to use as a smoker, and partly for extra cooking capacity should we have a cook-out or something.
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