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Gas Grills?

in the trees

Turbo Monkey
May 19, 2003
1,210
1
NH
We're moving to a new house and leaving our current Weber grill behind. So . . .it's time to upgrade. Anything other than Weber to consider? Looking for large cooking surface, NO gadgets ( no side burners, rotisseries, etc), LP, and durability. Thanks!
 

BurlyShirley

Rex Grossman Will Rise Again
Jul 4, 2002
19,180
17
TN
Why would gas be an upgrade?
Flash fry everything and no "grilled" flavor? Yummy.

Charcoal is the ONLY way to grill.
 

I Are Baboon

The Full Dopey
Aug 6, 2001
32,505
9,742
MTB New England
If your food sucks on a gas grill, then you suck at grilling.

My next gas grill will be a Weber. I went with a Vermont Castings last time. The piece of crap is falling apart. The company is out of business now and finding parts for it is a pain in the ass. One of my main burners died, so I had to harvest the parts from the side burner. Now the igniter is dead so I use a lighter to get the grill going. Seems that Weber parts are available all over the place. Good luck finding Vermont Castings parts.
 

pnj

Turbo Monkey till the fat lady sings
Aug 14, 2002
4,696
40
seattle
Using a gas grill is like having a shock on your frame.

hardtails, charcoal. for life!
 

Bushwhacker

Turbo Monkey
Dec 4, 2003
1,220
0
Tar Effing River!! NC
If your food sucks on a gas grill, then you suck at grilling.

QUOTE]


My stuff never sucked on my gas grill..I can cook on anything from a bathtub to a fuel-oil barrel to just a hole in the ground. I just prefer the amount of control I have with the Weber that I couldn't get with gas. It was fine to fire up quick and do some dogs or something but to cook 50 bucks worth of prime ribeye or a big fat boston butt I'll take my Weber anyday.
 

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
63
behind the viewfinder
If your food sucks on a gas grill, then you suck at grilling.

QUOTE]


My stuff never sucked on my gas grill..I can cook on anything from a bathtub to a fuel-oil barrel to just a hole in the ground. I just prefer the amount of control I have with the Weber that I couldn't get with gas. It was fine to fire up quick and do some dogs or something but to cook 50 bucks worth of prime ribeye or a big fat boston butt I'll take my Weber anyday.
then you might need a gas grill which offers better control for grilling steaks...the only advantage i see for charcoal is for low heat/slow cooking. cooking a steak rare/med-rare is not a difficult task to do using propane.
 

boogenman

Turbo Monkey
Nov 3, 2004
4,335
1,017
BUFFALO
:stupid:

$1,200 weber summit sits in the garage and hasn't been used in over a year, we use our $30 weber smokey joe about once a week :thumb:

:stupid:

Have a $900 weber but use the charcoal about half the time.

On a side note: I'm in the market for a smoker, anyone have or use a weber bullet smoker before? My good ol smoker was donated to Delta House.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,219
6,206
borcester rhymes
:stupid:

Have a $900 weber but use the charcoal about half the time.

On a side note: I'm in the market for a smoker, anyone have or use a weber bullet smoker before? My good ol smoker was donated to Delta House.
I have a brinkmoan smoke and cry. My buddy has both a bullet and a side burner smoker....the bullet is the shiznit, he cooks everything on it. My brinkmann suxx th4 coxx but the bullet fixes all of the problems, insulation, heat control, flue control...it's really nice, and he says it's easier to control the temp than the side burner, which you basically have to babysit as the temp is up and down all day. If I smoked enough or had the cash, I'd be all over a bullet in a heartbeat. Right now I use a smokey joe underneath the brinkman cause that sucker blows.

As for the OP, pops uses a char-broil and it seems to do the trick. I like charcoal flavor better but gas is infinitely easier and for pure grilling, it's debatable. I'd grill more if i had gas.
 

Bushwhacker

Turbo Monkey
Dec 4, 2003
1,220
0
Tar Effing River!! NC
How steak is done..

My girl likes em well done...there is a fine line between well done and fvckd.



Medium rare for my neanderthal ass. That is some crazy heat...you can't get that with gas.




From pouring charcoal to plating was less than 30 minutes...no longer than it would take for a gas grill to get to proper temp and cook.



Cheers monos...:cheers:
 
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jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
41,690
13,821
Portland, OR
If your food sucks on a gas grill, then you suck at grilling.
:stupid:

I bought a cheapo CharBroil that is a lot like the ceramic egg grill. It doesn't have a ton of grill space, but for me and Maddie, it's plenty. It uses a little cast iron center piece that seems to distribute the heat nicely.
 

Bushwhacker

Turbo Monkey
Dec 4, 2003
1,220
0
Tar Effing River!! NC
Hey Tom, do you make your own charcoal or is that store bought? Do you find the non-briquet kind heats up faster?
I buy this stuff, but recently found a set of plans to make my own and will probably try some this fall. The real wood stuff or "lump" as it's called lights and heats up probably twice as fast as briquets and is far hotter burning. This would make trailside brats much more ninja...
 

woodsguy

gets infinity MPG
Mar 18, 2007
1,083
1
Sutton, MA
I think charcoal tastes better but for the amount of time it takes to light, distribute, and clean up after it is so not worth it. I mostly only cook chicken breasts, chicen kabobs, and turkey, chicken and veggie burgers on my Weber Q and they come out great. I'm not really a steak eater so cooking a 3" thick slab of meat isn't high on my priorities.

On a side note any gas grills made in the US? From what I've seen even the Webers are made in China.
 

Bushwhacker

Turbo Monkey
Dec 4, 2003
1,220
0
Tar Effing River!! NC
strip steak and the champagne of beers? really?
You better spend some more time with your meat...Those are grass fed ribeyes from less than a mile from my house. To tell the truth I had a 1/3 of a big bottle of Fat Tire left over from Irish day and I soaked those steaks in it with some garlic and black pepper...I usually never do this, but I lead a life where absolutely nothing goes to waste and they turned out fantastic.

I like Miller...I like PBR..I like Schlitz...I like DFH 60, 90, 120 What of it?
 

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
Weber Genesis.
Had mine for 2 years and looks brand new. Best grill I've ever used.
Not all that spendy compared to other stuff either.

Very adjustable and consistent heat controls. I can slow cook chicken for 3 hours with no charring.

I bought Weber because I wanted to be able to get parts forever.
 

sstalder5

Turbo Monkey
Aug 20, 2008
1,942
20
Beech Mtn Definitely NOT Boulder
I think charcoal tastes better but for the amount of time it takes to light, distribute, and clean up after it is so not worth it. I mostly only cook chicken breasts, chicen kabobs, and turkey, chicken and veggie burgers on my Weber Q and they come out great. I'm not really a steak eater so cooking a 3" thick slab of meat isn't high on my priorities.

On a side note any gas grills made in the US? From what I've seen even the Webers are made in China.
You may need to invest in some testicles first. :D
 

laura

DH_Laura
Jul 16, 2002
6,259
15
Glitter Gulch
I'm with narlus on this one. I'd probably not grill much at all if I had to fvck with charcoal. Gas FTMFW.


If using a charcoal grill is a complicated process for you, you might be doing it wrong.

To the OP, Why are you leaving your current grill behind. We left our smoker when we moved out of memphis and it was a horrible mistake.
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack


If using a charcoal grill is a complicated process for you, you might be doing it wrong.
I actually prefer the weber chimney, it has a conical grating for the charcoal, and seems to light faster than our old one did...



But you're totally right, I'll grill out through the winters here in WI, and it's not that big of a deal...
 

DirtyMike

Turbo Fluffer
Aug 8, 2005
14,437
1,017
My own world inside my head
Why would gas be an upgrade?
Flash fry everything and no "grilled" flavor? Yummy.

Charcoal is the ONLY way to grill.
Blah Blah Blah........ its called a woodchip pan that goes just under the grill itself. Give you fast control, even heat, and smoke. great for fast cooking, slow cooking whatever.




If your food sucks on a gas grill, then you suck at grilling.

.
Here Here.... Im going to go open a beer in celebration of this fine wonderfull statement.



igniters don't tend to last long, regardless of the manufacturer.
True, but they are also easy and cheap to replace.... Although, My Charbroil outside which sits uncovered that is now five years old still lights up my the third push on the oroginal ignitor.




For the OP...Weber, or Charbroil. Either are a great way to go, no matter what get one with a thermometer, or add a thermometer. Temp control is very important, some places you can find a woodchip tray, which makes for an easy way to add some really great flavor, you can also make one prety damn easy out of an old pie ti, basically hang it below the grill so you have somewere to put the chips , also the use of grilling boards works wonderfull as well, in fact thats one of my favorite ways of cooking fish on the grill.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,219
6,206
borcester rhymes


If using a charcoal grill is a complicated process for you, you might be doing it wrong.

To the OP, Why are you leaving your current grill behind. We left our smoker when we moved out of memphis and it was a horrible mistake.
I have one of those, use it for starting my smoker. The problem is the huge plume of black smoke it kicks off, which is kind of a no-no here in the city. Got the FD called on me once for using it. Gas would have been no problem.
 

KavuRider

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2006
2,565
4
CT


If using a charcoal grill is a complicated process for you, you might be doing it wrong.
:stupid:

I got one of these and can't believe I grilled without it.
I use a small charcoal grill on my patio, pretty sure its a Weber. It was here when I moved in. So far it has seen a TON of use and its great.

Sandwich - black smoke? I haven't had a problem like that with mine and I have a small patio with a large overhang - but not one complaint so far. I used to have more trouble when I used the cheap charcoal.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,219
6,206
borcester rhymes
I think the problem is the way that I start it, not sure if there's a cleaner way, but a newspaper with a drizzle of oil acts as a wick so it burns longer and faster and gets the charcoal ready super quick...problem is it does smoke and cast off some embers. Is there a better way of lighting them in the chimney?