Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

[marlboro180]

Well, my birthday is right around the corner and my wife wants to get me a new bbq grill How can I argue with that?

We currently have several charcoal units and 1 Sunbeam LP grill that's really convenient to fire up quickly and do some brats/ steaks, etc. on short notice. The burners are just barely hanging on, the top rack is missing some parts, etc. So it has to go...besides, I'd like something a little nicer.

Anyway, during the re-build of the house I put in a tap for hard piping a grill to my natural gas line as I don't like running to get LP tanks in the middle of a party or any other time for that matter.

I'd like to have a medium sized unit that's not super fancy wallet buster (I'd rather buy meat and beer) that has a side burner for doing up sauces, etc.
It will be hard piped to gas and out at the "Tiki Bar" in the yard.

I've never had a fancier grill and have cooked on some friends behemoth "Wolf" that cost about what my boat did...Seems nice, but overkill.

Anybody have any recommendations?

 

[i386]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

Cast iron grates for even heating. Availability or replacement parts. That's what I would look for. Grills should be going on clearance/sale pretty soon.

 

[rbh]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

there a a lot of good brands out there, as for ours its a sterling, seven years old and do you know whats great about it?
"it is still under warranty, and they replaced the bottom section for free"
ya hoooo
rob

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

Cast iron grates for even heating. Availability or replacement parts. That's what I would look for. Grills should be going on clearance/sale pretty soon.

I agree with the cast iron grates...thicker the better. I chose to pick one with stainless grates this time. The porcelain covered grates suck. The porcelain comes off and the metal underneath flakes off and gets into your food...good if you are iron deficient though.

If you buy it at Lowes, go on ebay and buy some 10% coupons for a couple dollars. Every few months I buy a set of 10 for around $4 and have one in my wallet every time I go into Lowes.

 

[divimon2000]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

Weber Baby Q

 

[Cofe]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

Mine's 15 years old. Has cast iron burner, stainless steel....cooks by time like a oven. http://www.hollandgrill.com/

 

[marlboro180]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

Thanks for the suggestions thus far. As usual my b-day came and went, and I have no new grill-yet....Been cookinn' on the old stand by charcoal webers. Can't seem to bring myself to pop 500-600 on some rinky looking thin cheap stainless unit.
As luck would have it yesterday I went to help a friend do a pig roast which requires 5 cooks and the conversation revolved around , well, grilling. We got the 80# pig on, cooked 50 # of ribs and about 60# of chicken. What a day! (
I think I'm still full.
One of my friends just built a house a and is extremely good about research gave me a great tip as we tipped a few cold ones cooking the corn.

There is a local BBQ dealer who just can't compete with the big box stores anymore and after 50 years in the biz is hanging it up. My friend just got a Broilmaster P4 from the guy at something like 70% off retail and has a couple P4's and P3's left in his warehouse. I'm going tomorrow to see what I can swoop up. I'm thinking the P3.. 695 inches of cooking area. Maybe I could just cook for the entire neighborhood !!!

The warranty is killer and they are kinda local to me. Sweet!

http://www.broilmaster.com/BROILMASTER/products-premium-p.asp

BTW--cofe-That Holland grill looks pretty nice. Never saw them before!
The "baby q" is a bit small..so many choices.

 

[alumi numb]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

ours is a veranda by masterbuilt, everything is s.s. except the burner.
the burner is machined brass billet and everything is removable.
total bargan as was a little over $200 at sams.
this thing is good forever.
just put in veranda by masterbuilt and you will see amazon.com has it for$197.10 plus $62.89 for shipping.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

Weber

 

[alumi numb]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

Weber

george stephen part owner of weber brothers metal works in chicago built the first grill in 1952.
they built buoys for lake michigan and the first grill was a buoy cut in half with a custom built dome cover.
rather fitting don't you think.

 

[Scooch_2]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

I have a weber that cooks great. They are a little pricey, but they last much longer than your cheapie big box store grills. From the ones I looked at when purchasing mine, there was no comparison. Even some of the fancy "stainless steel" ones are made cheaply and will rust out quickly.

I didn't need a side burner, but this is the same model as I have with one http://www.weber.com/grills/?glid=2&mid=6


Bob

 

[jlinder]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

Just had to put my $.02 in.

I have used gas and charcoal and am sold on the taste from charcoal. I made the big move and purchased a Big Green Egg a few years ago and have never regretted it. ( http://biggreenegg.com )

They are ceramic and about 2-3" thick. Lifetime warranty. They start up in 5-10 min, and using the air vents you can set the temperature to within 5 degrees of what you want.

You can set it to be a smoker and slow cook at about 200 degrees for 8 hours or more while you ignore it. Or crank it up to where the grate is glowing for quick searing meat.

Expensive as hell but in a class of it's own.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

Vermont Castings 5 burner with a radiant heater for rotisserie http://www.myownbbq.com/content/products/productdetails.cfm?id=353 but hang on to your wallet and be seated when you see the price. I paid $999 for mine !!

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

I would go to walley world..Lots of grills at lots of prices...

 

[alumi numb]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

I have a weber that cooks great. They are a little pricey, but they last much longer than your cheapie big box store grills. From the ones I looked at when purchasing mine, there was no comparison. Even some of the fancy "stainless steel" ones are made cheaply and will rust out quickly.

I didn't need a side burner, but this is the same model as I have with one http://www.weber.com/grills/?glid=2&mid=6


Bob

2yrs, no rust and all nonmagnetic.
4 yrs now on a walmart $30 portable gas grill.
pretty much everybody thinks charcoal tastes better.
great looking grill, 900 zillion btu's for 2 little chunks of meat.
could take wife to dinner for about the same cost of firing that thing up.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

Go natural gas if you can where you are. The tank never runs out with 5 cooking minutes to go before dinner !!! (unless you don't pay the bill)

 

[Bart Sr.]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

3 years ago our gas grill was pretty bad so we started looking(Wally,Target,Menards)and found we liked the Bonza model/Aussie brand.288 sq. inches cooking surface-60,000 btu-cast iron porcelain coated grates-cast body.I felt it was over priced at $350.00 so we waited and got it on sale in October for $200.00.I do a lot of grilling and I LOVE it.

There are those that disagree with the flavor from a gas grill vs. charcoal. I think the reason some people don't get good flavor from gas is their grill is too carbon free (clean).

 

[aspeck]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

I did the same 2 years ago. Almost got a Weber - great grills. Ended up with a Jenn-Air. Haven't been sorry. The stainless grates are wonderful. No problems, use it AT LEAST once a week 52 weeks a year ... great grilling on the back porch in a snow storm!

 

[tdi434]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

Had are weber for 15 years still goin strong never had a problem with it great grills.

 

[MushCreek]

Re: Gas BBQ Grill Choice?

I'm a charcoal man myself, but we were given a gas grill, and the wife really likes it for during the week. It rusted away, so I went on the search to get her a new one. After looking them all over and reading reviews, I bought a basic Weber for $400. It's built like a tank, and cooks very well and evenly. I even sprung for a cover, as we plan to keep it a long time. My charcoal rig is a Weber, but I'm thinking about a Big Green Egg for the future. One of my favorite ways to grill is to take a large item like a roast or a turkey, and put a drip pan under it. I catch the drippings and make gravy with them- Yum! Nice and smoky! If I can't do that in a BGE, I'll stick with my Weber kettle.