Got Us A Gas Grill!!

[cabinetman]

A friend of mine just got tired of spending ridiculously high prices for gas grills, only to replace them every 4-5 years. I'm talking about grills in the $500-$800 range.
What he did was to buy the cheapest grill in Sept. or Oct. every year. Stored the grill in his garage and brought it out in the spring.
This way he started the season out with a new grill every year, and didnt bother cleaning anything but the grate.
The savings was amazing.
Bruce

Well, we went to Lowes yesterday and looked at all their grills. They had only one brand that was made in U.S., and it was junk...plastic handle and all. I was leaning towards the combo charcoal and gas combo, but LOML talked me outta that one cause we already have a charcoal grill.

I thought we should get one of the better ones, like a Weber, but again, SWMBO says why spend that kind of money. Since we can get one every couple of years, get one reasonably priced. Besides, I got a 10% military discount. So, we got this Grill Master:
.

.
We had a choice of getting one already assembled, which sounded good to me, because assembly can be a PITA. Had a good time outside the store stuffing it plus all the gutter stuff ( for the back of the house over the new patio) into my Explorer.

So, We are calling it our starter grill to see if we like grilling. I'm thinkin' that she will likely use it a few times during the week, and after a month or so it'll just sit out there, under the $30 cover.

.

[Richard in Smithville]

Does this mean you're ready to entertain the BT3 crew?

That one is similar to my grill and cook everything on it. In fact, my daughter even cooked muffins in ours once when the element went on the electric stove! I like the little burner on the side for frying onions and stuff when I don't want to run back and forth in the house.

Have fun and don't blow up the neighbourhood

[sailor55330]

One suggestion if you are new to cooking with propane. Get a second tank. It never fails that when you want to grill most, you will be out of propane or when you are in the middle of the most perfect steak, Mr. Murphy has great timing. With 2, one can always be full.

[toolguy1000]

if you find you like the gas grill, then a weber is a good long term choice. i resisted for years, but finally grew weary of perpetual gas grill replacement. finally got one @ end of season three years ago. best thing about it is.......the gas tubes have never gotten clogged with insects. those insect screens really do work.

[sweensdv]

one suggestion if you are new to cooking with propane. Get a second tank. It never fails that when you want to grill most, you will be out of propane or when you are in the middle of the most perfect steak, mr. Murphy has great timing. With 2, one can always be full.

+1, +2, +3

[Black wallnut]

One suggestion if you are new to cooking with propane. Get a second tank. It never fails that when you want to grill most, you will be out of propane or when you are in the middle of the most perfect steak, Mr. Murphy has great timing. With 2, one can always be full.

Some good advise this is! Mr. Mike hopefully for your sake your Mrs. takes a liking to grilled foods.

[tommyt654]

I used to go thru the same thing over the yrs with replacing gas/propane grills every 3-5 yrs, Then got wise to a few things. In most cases the burners will rust or burn out in a few yrs unless you remove them and spray them with Hi-Temp Automotive Exhaust Header paint, a few coats works best, I always put in lava rock over them as this diperses the heat more evenly and helps avoid flareups when cooking. Buy a cover, not a cheap one but a decent quality. Cover during rain or inclement weather, but then remove afterwards so as to prevent further rusting and allow moisture to dissapate. Occasionally spray down things with a little WD-40, goes a long way towards preventing rust later on. We bring ours in during the winter except for when we grill, then back inside, since its on wheels its no big deal. If you have tha availability you can run and exterior gas line to your deck or outside wall and put a screw on line attached to the burner valves and just use natural gas to cook with. We had one at the last house that we would just screw on then open a simple valve to run on natural gas and turn off when we moved it back inside.Won't hurt to spray the interior of the grill before 1st use with the Hi-Temp paint either, but be sure to do a thorough burning in of your unit before cooking. I just close the lid ,crank it up on high and run for a 1/2 hour to cure the paint in and your good to go. Just my .02 if interested,Tommyt, Oh and if you haven't tried it soak a few dozen Alaskan King crab legs in some water for an hour and toss them on your grill for 4-5 minutes till the tips of the legs are somewhat charred then take-em off to cool for a few minutes, way better than boiling as the steam in their shell and crack open nicely to reveal the succulent moist crab meat inside vs tryin to get a rubbery soft crab shell to open without torturing yourself.

[toolguy1000]

......... you can run and exterior gas line to your deck or outside wall and put a screw on line attached to the burner valves and just use natural gas to cook with......

wouldn't this require changing the orifices in the burner vlaves?

[sailor55330]

MOst manufacturers make a conversion kit. I think I remember reading that you can convert from propane to natural gas, but going the other way is a little less common

[toolguy1000]

MOst manufacturers make a conversion kit. I think I remember reading that you can convert from propane to natural gas, but going the other way is a little less common

i did the propane to NG conversion years ago on a kenmore unit, so i know it's possible. just wondering if TT had a better approach to making that kind of conversion as some manufacturers, weber in particular, will sell you a NG grill but do not seem to market a NG conversion kit.

[tommyt654]

I bought a kit at a the local grill shop near where we live(he sells lots of BBQ stuff), Took about 30 mins to install, new burners and remove the old hose and replace with a different type of what I gather was some sort of flowmeter. Worked well, but we have moved and gotten another grill since then, a much larger one that has all the bells and whistles(smoker,side burners,etc.). Now we just keep a couple of extra tanks as folks throw them away alot of the time and I have scarfed a few up to have refills for camping and such. The conversion kit I had was fairly simple to do,so if your inclined its not to hard. Check your surrounding area to see if you have a shop that specializes in grillin and see what they have if your interested,btw mine has a ton of nice wood chips for flavoring your meats and such,apple, pecan, hickory,etc. Other than steaks we do a lot of slow roasting in our smoker ,boston butts, hams, etc. Great flavors available for those with a discernable palate

[gerti]

Our attempts at having a nice gas grill always ended with a large rodent infestation, and I know we are not alone. Why can't they build a grill that is rodent proof?

[crybdr]

Good news on the Gas Grill purchase...

I don't know a lot about the Grill Master grill.

I'm a Weber guy - gas and charcoal. I bought my Weber Genesis 6 years ago, and it works the same today - no kidding. It replaced a 'disposable' grill - and was a completely different grilling experience from day one.

I'm guessing that your Grill Master will perform well.

One book that really helped me with the Gas vs. Charcoal decision per recipe is this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Cooks-Illustra...9837351&sr=8-1

They do the recipies for 'Charcoal' or 'Gas' and walk you through the differences between the two. They use the Weber as a baseline - but as long as you follow the instructions - there is something to learn from this book....especially for cooking fish.

Enjoy your new toy!

[vaking]

I have a legend 4LU gas grill.
http://www.allaboutgrills.com/pages/...ronGrills.html
It is an australian style grill and it has several significant differences compared with americal grills.
Firstly - it comes with wooden cart, not a typical stainless or painted metal. Secondly, out of the box it has no hood. It comes with the flat cover used to protect the grill from elements but no hood where you can cook food under the hood. As manufacturer's documentation states - 99% of people only grill food and never close the hood. The hood, however, is available as an add-on and I have it.
Finally, the grill has no lava rocks. Instead it has a flametamer - perforated cast iron plate between the flame and the grilling surface.
I bought this grill probably 10 years ago at Home Depot but since that time these grills seem to have dissappeared from US sales. You can still buy parts though. Pity - after 10 years the grill works well. When I bought it I converted it to natural gas and since that time I replaced cast iron burners once.

[JimD]

I use a grill that says "Sunbeam" and under that "GrillMaster" several times a week in the summer time. I'm cooking for myself and am pretty good at steaks, burgers, and chicken. On the side burner I cook pasta and other things. I keep it on the screened porch so rust is not a big deal. I had to replace the metal defuser, however, and went with a stainless replacement. I like it. It keeps the heat of cooking out of the house and I like that too.

I have three tanks. I had two old ones and got new ones for the price of a refill. Walmart does not check the valves when you bring in a tank to swap for a full one. So I changed two old partially full tanks for two new full ones (kind of, Walmart fills are not real full). Good deal in any event. If you know of any old tanks, this is something to remember - new tanks are not cheap.

Jim