Grills

Spend the extra $ and get a Weber.

3 burners are good so you can do 2 zone grilling. Sear burner on a gas grill is important so you can do high temps for finishing steaks. Weber is a solid brand. There are other good brands, look for something that has more than a 1 year warranty.

I got a brinkman when it was still some off brand cheapo at big/odd-lots - it had ceramic coated cast iron grates and ohh fancy "electronic" ignition... the thing is still going just fine- sans the ignition. Now I see them at home depot and stuff so they must have made a name for themselves and moved up... I did notice now the ceramic cast iron plates are only on their higher end models. That grill is still at my parents as I left it when I moved out many years ago- and they still use it.

Ceramic coated cast iron was my main buying point- for entry level grills and I got another brinkman a year or so after getting married- but the demo had ceramic coated plates as did the description- but when I got mine home it was regular cast iron- they lasted about a year and a half in the florida outdoors with no "proper" care and fell apart- about a year ago I got a grill smith with ceramic coated plates and its going strong.. but all my grills where like 100-150$ so I am sure you could get tons more options for another 100-150$ - at Sams Club there is a nice hybrid grill I have my eye on

Buy Weber and don't look back. No exceptions.

It's interesting to read grill recommendations, especially in this thread but also in real life. When people recommend something other than a Weber, they spend time writing about or talking about their grill and go into great detail (like xadion). When someone recommends a Weber, they basically post or say what Draegan said.

Just thought that was funny. I bought a Weber for two reasons: My dad's had the same one for like 20 years and it still works great, and this thread. Even people just saying "buy a weber" and nothing else.

Question for those of you with nice grills like Weber. Do they actually not rust, like those cheaper $200-$300 gas grills? I would think that stainless steel is stainless steel, but every cheap stainless steel grill I've ever bought has rusted like a mofo in 3-4 years, so I'm hesitant to spend 5x as much on a Weber if it's just going to rust out in 3-4 years as well.

I don't know what it is, must be our pretty high humidity around here or something, but I always cover my grill(although I do leave it out on the deck year-round since I grill in the winter too)

I'll let you know in a couple years. I left mine out all year but it's only been a year... from like December through April it was not only covered but also under our covered patio so probably not going to give you a good idea of what you are looking for...

Joeboooo. Go charcoal.

I'm looking for a new charcoal grill. I'm looking for one like the Char-broil, or Char-grill types, maybe with a smoker box. I'd like one in a little heavier gauge steel though, and I'm having trouble finding one that's not $500. I'm looking more in the $200 range. Not sure it can be done.

Also, whoever has a Big Green Egg, or something like it: I'm guessing it's direct heat, the coals below the meat? How does it slow cook that way... just a smallish fire and great insulation? Do you add wood chunks/chips/pellets?

joeboo_sl said:

Question for those of you with nice grills like Weber. Do they actually not rust, like those cheaper $200-$300 gas grills? I would think that stainless steel is stainless steel, but every cheap stainless steel grill I've ever bought has rusted like a mofo in 3-4 years, so I'm hesitant to spend 5x as much on a Weber if it's just going to rust out in 3-4 years as well.

I don't know what it is, must be our pretty high humidity around here or something, but I always cover my grill(although I do leave it out on the deck year-round since I grill in the winter too)

Click to expand...

They will all rust eventually, from cooling/heating + weather it eventually wears down.

I just replaced the Lower pit on my Weber that I got from graduation, it's coming up on 17years I've had it.

and I just picked up a Traeger enjoying it immensely.

Folanlron_sl said:

They will all rust eventually, from cooling/heating + weather it eventually wears down.

I just replaced the Lower pit on my Weber that I got from graduation, it's coming up on17yearsI've had it.

and I just picked up a Traeger enjoying it immensely.

Click to expand...

Translation: Buy Weber.

Aha, thanks Brutal. And thanks for the picture.

joeboo_sl said:

Question for those of you with nice grills like Weber. Do they actually not rust, like those cheaper $200-$300 gas grills? I would think that stainless steel is stainless steel, but every cheap stainless steel grill I've ever bought has rusted like a mofo in 3-4 years, so I'm hesitant to spend 5x as much on a Weber if it's just going to rust out in 3-4 years as well.

I don't know what it is, must be our pretty high humidity around here or something, but I always cover my grill(although I do leave it out on the deck year-round since I grill in the winter too)

Click to expand...

My Weber was handed down to me by my parents, it was bought in October 1987. For the past 10 years it's been sitting on my patio, which has absolutely zero shelter (on the roof of a 5 story building), and since a wind storm about 7 years ago, I haven't had a cover for it. It's got a couple rust spots here and there, but otherwise it just keeps on trucking. The grills are about ready to go though. Not even sure it's working right now, there was another big wind storm back in January that knocked it over and fucked up my patio, and it's just been sitting there half taken apart while I wait for weather that isn't fucking miserable to be up there for a couple hours to put shit back together.

If she's dead, I'll definitely be buying another Weber.

My wife was all pissy about Weber, so I went with a Kenmore. I feel like my man card needs to be revoked on that one. My plan is this grill will last anywhere between 2-4 years and then I'll get to yell at her and spend $1000 on a really nice Weber.

It's actually a really nice grill. I'm a bit of a noob, but I am fairly certain it is infrared which is nice. Heating in the darkness of my porch at 10PM was cool because there was a firey red inside the grill.

So far I have only cooked hot dogs, next up is steak.

First thing he grills is wieners on his wife's grill.

Noodle is one of those enlightend men like Tanoomba........

Necro
i bought a Weber Performer about 3+ years ago off Craig's List for 40 bucks. it was a 2002 model and it never had a cover. the black paint has fade from the sun and there is some rust on the bottom of the kettle, but nothing that hinders the performance (no pun intended). what went to shit was the table. its plastic and it gets stained just from looking at it for too long. i wasnt going to spend 80 bucks on a new table and i wasnt going to throw away this sweet grill. so being the cheapskate that i am, i noticed that Dollar Tree sells rolls of that sticky contact paper. they have various patterns. i picked one roll that had a granite style pattern and wrapped my shitty looking table with it.

took me about 30 minutes to put it on. it cleans up easy with a damp cloth and looks like new. the heat wont burn it and it stays stuck on there pretty good. my Weber now no longer looks like a ghetto grill. all for a dollar.