Gas BBQ grill recommendations? (1 Viewer)

[Dennis Nicholls]

I read through the thread, but nobody had discussed propane vs. nat. gas. Doggie Mike uses propane, punkin puss Dave uses natural gas. Has anyone had any experience with both? Supposedly nat gas gives less heat but of course you never have to get tanks refilled AND nat gas is about 1/4 the cost of propane.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Sorry, Dennis. I've never even seen anyone who has a natural gas hookup.

I'm still waiting for someone to give me a couple pointers on using my smoker box (ideas for recipes and such).

 

[DaveF]

I read through the thread, but nobody had discussed propane vs. nat. gas. Doggie Mike uses propane, punkin puss Dave uses natural gas. Has anyone had any experience with both? Supposedly nat gas gives less heat but of course you never have to get tanks refilled AND nat gas is about 1/4 the cost of propane.

I missed your question earlier. I've used both. My simple answer is: Natural Gas.

I'm had a cheap grill with propane. Now I've got a nice Weber with NG. Its not a fair comparison. When researching, before choosing NG, there were comments that NG can be less hot than Propane. But in practice, I don't think this is a practical concern. My grill gets to 600F, and can reach 650F on a calm, warm day. Unless you're going for 800F for ultra-hi pizza or steak grilling, it's not a concern.

But day to day, NG is *so* much more convenient. With propane, I'd run out mid-cook, on a Sunday evening after stores were closed. Or I'd forget to get the can re-filled and couldn't grill when I wanted. NG is always ready, never runs out, never needs a refill.

For me, there's no going back.

 

[DaveF]

Sorry, Dennis. I've never even seen anyone who has a natural gas hookup.

I'm still waiting for someone to give me a couple pointers on using my smoker box (ideas for recipes and such).

Here's a pointer: Stop posting more Weber gadgets for me to buy!



I wanted to Rotisserie grill this weekend, but rain forced to cook inside on the stovetop.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Oh yeah, Mr. Wise Guy?!

I ran out of propane while grilling steaks last night. I just replaced the empty tank with my full spare tank!

I LOVE having a spare 2nd tank of propane! One of the greatest things I ever did...after getting married and having kids, maybe.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

For the classic Turbo models:
For Propane, use #57 drill 0.051 inch.
For Nat. Gas, use #50 drill 0.086 inch.

I need to correct the above for posterity:

For Propane, use #55 drill 0.051 inch.
For Nat. Gas, use #44 drill 0.086 inch.
The actual spec is the hole size, not the drill number.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

My parents have been using a NG grill for decades. They seem pretty happy with it (and it worked for me when I still lived at home!).

NG is not an option in my neighborhood, otherwise I'd probably have gone that route for the convenience.

 

[atfree]

Sorry, Dennis. I've never even seen anyone who has a natural gas hookup.

I'm still waiting for someone to give me a couple pointers on using my smoker box (ideas for recipes and such).

Mike, I use my smoker box all the time. I had one like yours but bought this one last year:

https://www.amazon.com/Charcoal-Com...37771-6216026?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

It fits right between the burners on my Genesis.

As for tips, I always soak my wood chips in water for a couple of hours before using them (there is debate on this method but they seem to burn longer with more smoke). In any event I put the smoker on when preheating my grill and they are ready and smoking when I add the food to the grill. It's a little trial and error that you just have to get the timing down. Mine is a little trickier to add chips to (have to lift grates) but usually one load lasts long enough to do my meal. Once they're smoking, try not to lift the lid too often.

As for recipes, I use my smoker with everything I grill!

Hope this helps!

 

[DaveF]

Seriously, do you not read what I write???

(Sigh) Added to Amazon wishlist.

 

[atfree]

Seriously, do you not read what I write???

(Sigh) Added to Amazon wishlist.

I feel your pain....my Amazon wishlist is 4 pages long!

 

[Mike Frezon]

Thanks, Alex!

Can you give me a couple of ideas of the types of things you cook with the smoker? If I remember correctly, I've got both mesquite chips and hickory chips on hand.

Do you heat the pre-heat the grill really hot and then turn it way down during the smoking process? I am clueless about how to do this...except for what I've seen in internet videos, etc. (like the one posted above).

[I can't wait to show Dave my new grill piece! Not kidding! ]

 

[atfree]

Thanks, Alex!

Can you give me a couple of ideas of the types of things you cook with the smoker? If I remember correctly, I've got both mesquite chips and hickory chips on hand.

Do you heat the pre-heat the grill really hot and then turn it way down during the smoking process? I am clueless about how to do this...except for what I've seen in internet videos, etc. (like the one posted above).

[I can't wait to show Dave my new grill piece! Not kidding! ]

Mike,

I do pre-heat to a very high temp to get the chips going (and to get a good sear on meat), then go low right before I put the food on. I think this allows the smoke to really get going, plus I can monitor the "done-ness" of the food easier.

As for chips, my in-laws bought me a big sampler box of chips.....had a bag each of mesquite (my favorite), hickory, oak, peach wood, apple wood, cherry wood, pecan wood, and maple wood. I've been trying each one with different things but I can't really tell a big difference in the smoky taste of one type vs another. I will say that at my Memorial Day cookout, I used the peach wood and my burgers got rave reviews.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Huh. So you smoked some burgers? I never would have thought. I think of smoking meats being attributed mainly to pork, for some reason.

So here's my latest. Maybe DaveF already has this, though, and won't need to put one on his wishlist!

My wife and I have gotten extremely conscious (again) of having a healthy diet. So, we've been having lots of veggies--which can be tricky on an open grill. So I picked up this:

 

[ChristopherG]

You can smoke almost anything. Beef, chicken, pork, fish, shellfish (shrimp are amazing smoked). Depending on the type of grill you have you can smoke cheese. I have a primo oval ceramic grill and I simply load up this smoker tube with smoke pellets (no other fire or heat) put several blocks of different cheese in and smoked cheese goodness happens in a couple of hours.'

I have also used cedar planks on my Weber gas grill to great affect especially with seafood (salmon, shrimp). The cedar smoke is great on fish.

 

[Jason Charlton]

Smoking a turkey or even just a turkey breast is always a winner, too.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Smoking a turkey or even just a turkey breast is always a winner, too.

Now THAT'S the kind of obvious push I need. A smoked turkey breast will work perfectly for us.

Thanks, Jason.

Smoking food adds a fair amount of time to the cooking process, right?

I've got a digital thermometer, so it shouldn't be a problem to track the cooking process and keep the cover closed.

 

[atfree]

You can smoke almost anything. Beef, chicken, pork, fish, shellfish (shrimp are amazing smoked). Depending on the type of grill you have you can smoke cheese. I have a primo oval ceramic grill and I simply load up this smoker tube with smoke pellets (no other fire or heat) put several blocks of different cheese in and smoked cheese goodness happens in a couple of hours.'

I have also used cedar planks on my Weber gas grill to great affect especially with seafood (salmon, shrimp). The cedar smoke is great on fish.

+1. I even smoked peaches (peeled, cut in half, cut side face down first on the grill, turn once after about a few minutes). Fruit (peaches, pineapple, etc) cook pretty quickly on the grill, so you have to make sure the smoke is going pretty good before you put them on. But it gives them a depth of flavor that's pretty delicious.

 

[atfree]

Huh. So you smoked some burgers? I never would have thought. I think of smoking meats being attributed mainly to pork, for some reason.

So here's my latest. Maybe DaveF already has this, though, and won't need to put one on his wishlist!

My wife and I have gotten extremely conscious (again) of having a healthy diet. So, we've been having lots of veggies--which can be tricky on an open grill. So I picked up this:

Ok....now I'm adding to my wishlist!

 

[ChristopherG]

Now THAT'S the kind of obvious push I need. A smoked turkey breast will work perfectly for us.

Thanks, Jason.

Smoking food adds a fair amount of time to the cooking process, right?

I've got a digital thermometer, so it shouldn't be a problem to track the cooking process and keep the cover closed.

It's not the smoking that adds a lot of time exactly but it is usually with the "low and slow" (low temps for long periods) that BBQ is associated with. Cooking burgers with smoke adds no additional time to the cook.

 

[Jason Charlton]

It's not the smoking that adds a lot of time exactly but it is usually with the "low and slow" (low temps for long periods) that BBQ is associated with. Cooking burgers with smoke adds no additional time to the cook.

Yeah - technically speaking, you're "grilling with smoke", not really "smoking" which is a completely different cooking method that involves very low temps (250 and lower) and does involve a great deal of time.

My previous grill had a dedicated burner and smoker box that I used exactly once. Turns out, the dedicated burner (even at it's lowest setting) was just too hot and it burned the wood chips rather than smoked them.

I've had much more success since in tossing either whole wood chunks or aluminum foil pouches filled with chips and with holes poked in it into the "cool" corner of the grill. I just toss it in there and forget about it.

As Alex indicated, there is debate as to whether soaking chips is worthwhile (I fall into the "it doesn't matter camp"), but you certainly aren't going to do any harm by soaking them if you wish.

I don't add smoke all that often, so I can't offer input as to how much it takes to make a noticeable difference - like with everything grill-related, lots of practice is usually how you'll find the answer!