Outdoor Grill Parts WTF?

Yeah, us cool kids do our smoking in the drums ... :) Almost could be a band quote, except I played trombone...
 
I feel your pain.

I have a Charbroil Stainless model, and it lasted about 1.5 years of good grilling (summer / winter). The insides rusted out and its not worth getting parts, even though the outside is still ok.

So.... I broke down one day and bought an Egg. Don't go for the knock-offs, just get the real deal, and if you're in between two sizes, go for the larger. I have a large, and sometimes wish I had the extra large (for lotsa ribs...mmmmm....ribs).

The prep and lighting isn't bad, 30 minutes and you can be searing a steak at 600F. I try to get a full hour of stabilization before smoking...... at 225F, and you can control down to around 175F (not sure why you would).

They're expensive, but after a year, I've had no issues.....and no signs of an issue. Downside is, since its charcoal, I do less spontaneous grilling (like Chicken breasts for dinner).
 
TripleZ said:
I feel your pain.

I have a Charbroil Stainless model, and it lasted about 1.5 years of good grilling (summer / winter). The insides rusted out and its not worth getting parts, even though the outside is still ok.

So.... I broke down one day and bought an Egg. Don't go for the knock-offs, just get the real deal, and if you're in between two sizes, go for the larger. I have a large, and sometimes wish I had the extra large (for lotsa ribs...mmmmm....ribs).

The prep and lighting isn't bad, 30 minutes and you can be searing a steak at 600F. I try to get a full hour of stabilization before smoking...... at 225F, and you can control down to around 175F (not sure why you would).

They're expensive, but after a year, I've had no issues.....and no signs of an issue. Downside is, since its charcoal, I do less spontaneous grilling (like Chicken breasts for dinner).
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Yea exactly my issue, spontaneous grilling that is. The Egg is awesome but I have a Weber Smoky Mountain Smoker and a Weber Kettle Grill. I need a gas grill for the quick stuff. I did find a site that I can actually buy three flame tamers ( weber calls them vaporizer bars) for about $45 total and three cast iron burners for $54 total, unfortunatly they don't sell the cast iron cooking grates but another site does for $52.

All of that is still less expensive than a new grill. I like to grill in the winter but in reality don't so I'll just bring the guts in and put them in the basement every winter coat them with a little PAM and hopefully they will last a bit longer .
 
My dad turned a 500 gallon drum into a super-bbq once. We would use it during the local airshow and hangar party. IIRC, I think we could do around 150 burgers at one time on it.

My BBQ is the charbroil from about 30 years ago. It was my grandfathers. It is just now getting to the point of needing new grates, and they are not all that easy to find, for reasonable prices, but I guess if they will last another 30+ years, then I can't complain too much.
 
CMTowner said:
My dad turned a 500 gallon drum into a super-bbq once. We would use it during the local airshow and hangar party. IIRC, I think we could do around 150 burgers at one time on it.

My BBQ is the charbroil from about 30 years ago. It was my grandfathers. It is just now getting to the point of needing new grates, and they are not all that easy to find, for reasonable prices, but I guess if they will last another 30+ years, then I can't complain too much.
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A 500 gallon drum! 500 Gallons Wow you have a photo of that?
 
AdamZ said:
A 500 gallon drum! 500 Gallons Wow you have a photo of that?
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More like a 55 gal drum. My dad did the same thing for my HS graduation. Cut the thing in half (Top to Bottom) welded the halves together, back to back. One half becomes the grill, the other, the stand....
 
Get a 500 gal propane tank and start cutting.

After a weekend, or three, you could have something like this:
 

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For something simple, there is always this:
 

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Matthew said:
Get a 500 gal propane tank and start cutting.

After a weekend, or three, you could have something like this:
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Do empty it first...:wink2:
 
jsstevens said:
Do empty it first...:wink2:
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Otherwise you'll get to see it inside-out: for one brief, shining moment.

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A BBQ buddy of mine has a large tank, maybe half that size, that he converted into a smoker. He does a lot of catering with it.

He'd like to use it for commercial operations, but he can't. That would require that he follow some specific requirements to prove that tank of his has never been used for anything other than food grade operations. Even though there is not a single molecule of anything other than BBQ inside that tank after all these years, it doesn't have the proper stamps or whatever to prove it.
 
My suggestion is a glass jar at the Fly-B-Q to collect anonymous donations to the grill fund. We can all help you get those parts, after all, you are cooking for us and letting us come over to your place.
 
I actually have an electric one. It produces so little smoke that I can use it inside, (usually) without triggering the smoke detectors.

But when I do grill with a flame, I prefer charcoal. There's something about the flavor that can't be duplicated.

-Rich
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
My suggestion is a glass jar at the Fly-B-Q to collect anonymous donations to the grill fund. We can all help you get those parts, after all, you are cooking for us and letting us come over to your place.
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Plastic jar. Drunk people plus glass = bad.

From your friendly neighborhood party safety officer. ;)
 
jesse said:
I just bought a grill recently and looked very closely at the differences between Weber and Brinkman. I agree that the Weber charcoal grills are very well built - but I just wasn't seeing it in the propane models being built today. They weren't built much if at all better than Brinkman and were still plenty flimsy. They also cost twice as much.

It's just for the price of the Weber I expect them to be a tank. Their charcoal one's are but the propane ones I was looking at most certainly weren't.
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I hadn't looked at current production Jesse, but I did yesterday and I agree. Sigh.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
My suggestion is a glass jar at the Fly-B-Q to collect anonymous donations to the grill fund. We can all help you get those parts, after all, you are cooking for us and letting us come over to your place.
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That's kind but unnecessary Kim, Its my personal grill I only use it for the flybq one Friday a year. Plus I think were getting one donated for the actual FlyBq this year.
 
AdamZ said:
I too am a purist for big things, I also have a Weber Kettle Grill in which I use hardwood charcoal but, when I get home from work and want a burger, chicken or what ever on the grill, I'm usually wiped from the day its late and I just want to get the food cooked.



Yup!
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Our Weber has been around for over 35 years and still going strong. However, gas is so much faster to light.

Anthony said:
If I get 11 years out of my Kenmore grill, I will be happy.
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I will be giddy with delight if I get 11 years out of mine. But almost anything will beat the life its predecessor provided.
 
I got my smoker churning out dinner for tonight...


Just took these pix a couple minutes ago:
 

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Building one now.
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AdamZ said:
That's kind but unnecessary Kim, Its my personal grill I only use it for the flybq one Friday a year. Plus I think were getting one donated for the actual FlyBq this year.
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OK cool. But it is the most important Friday BBQ of the whole year I'm sure. I will bring California matches. Just kidding, they probably don't let me have those in the carry-on.
 
dell30rb said:
Mine is complete. Care to share any recipes or have links to good sites with recipes?
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I'll see what I can come up with, but in the meantime...

(Note: this is the way a lot of KC BBQ is done... It'll be different in other parts. The butts in the pictures I posted cooked for a total of 10 hrs, the brisket for about 8.5)

Use chunk charcoal - briquettes are nice to get the initial heat started, but use real wood charcoal once you start cooking. Add hickory, apple, cherry, pecan, oak, or whatever other wood you happen to have laying around. Here, the predominant flavors will come from hickory and apple.

Get a spray bottle and fill it with apple juice. Spritz everything once in a while to get a little bit of a sweet glaze going. Typically, around here, we cook it dry - other regions will mop BBQ sauce on the meat as it cooks. Here, we normally use the sauce as a condiment rather than as part of the recipe. It's all up to however you like to do it.

Set the smoker temp to about 225F.

This is not an exact science, so cooking times may vary - a lot.

Pork butts are dead simple. Get bone-in, trim the biggest chunks of fat off, but leave most of the fat layer. A lot of people make a crosshatch set of cuts through the fat layer to let smoke and seasoning in. Injecting, marinades, whatever else, is all optional. Rub liberally with your favorite rib rub. Some people let it sit overnight in the rub. Put the butts on, and start opening beers, since you'll be waiting a looong time. AFter 6 hrs or so you can wrap them in foil or put into a foil pan with a cover and let them finish for another 2 or more hours. They are done when the bone pulls right out. Let them rest for maybe an hour, then shred. If you have a pan or foil wrap full of juice, you can de-fat that and mix the juice back into the pulled meat.

Pork loins are another way easy thing to do, and also have one of the best price/pound value going. Since they have so little fat, there is very little waste. Get a whole loin - it might be almost 18" long, so make sure you have room, put rib rub on it, and toss it on the smoker. Since it has so little fat, it'll cook fast. Check it after a couple hours - you'll want to keep it on the medium to medium-rare side, don't overcook or it'll be way too dry. There's no point in wrapping because there will be no juice (no fat or marbling to melt off). Let it rest, then cut into smoked boneless chops, or slice thin for some outstanding sandwiches. This makes the best cold leftover sandwiches. ever.

Pork tenderloins = cook like a pork loin, but not as long. We call these "pig candy". It's a chef's treat,

Ribs - either spare ribs or back ribs. Spare ribs are cheaper, back ribs have more meat/rib ratio. Back ribs are normally what are submitted for judging in contests. Either peel off the membrane from the back side of the ribs, or not. Use whatever rib rub you like, and cook for 4-6 hours. You'll see the meat start pulling away from the end of the bones when they are about done. You can wrap them in foil and let them finish.

Brisket - a million different ways to trim, season, smoke. Some people like the flats, because they'll cook fast. I get the whole brisekts, that way I get the point and the flat. There can be a lot of fat on a whole brisket - a lot of restaruants don't trim them at all, that's how they can get away with cooking them for 14 hours. I trim a lot off so my cooking time is about half that.

Chicken - use bone-in thighs, they'll stay moist. Breasts will dry out unless you grill then first about half-way and let them finish in the smoker for 30 minutes or so. Use whatever seasoning you want - pepper, seasoned salt, bbq seasoning, lemon pepper, or anything else youlike.

Turkey - try a turkey sometime, or a turkey breast.

Sausage - get some italian sausage links, whatever brand you like best, and pop them on the smoker for about an hour. Makes a great lunch while you wait for the rest to finish.

Hot dogs - hey, don't knock 'em until you've tried 'em. They'll be another good lunch to wash down with a beer or three.

Beef tenderoin - got an extra $200 laying around? Get a whole beef tenderoin and go to town.

Other - Look for recipes for something called ABT. I'll let you figure it out, but **** they are good.

Salmon filets, catfish, oysters, rattlesnake - I've seen all that being cooked around here.

Whole hog, or half-hog - will take anywhere from 12-20 hrs.

-

There must be something I forgot...



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edit - I noticed you are in NC. There's going to be a difference between the Carolina style and KC style - especially in the sauces. I don't know if you have a water pan or some other way to keep direct heat off the meat as it cooks. My particular smoker has the meat about a pan of water that is above the coals. Oher types will have the coals offset from the cooking grates to ensure an indirect heat. I don't know about yours, so you could end up with drastically different cooking times.
 
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Thanks for the post and PM! I have a lot to think about.

I need to work on an indirect heat setup. I smoked a pork butt on it, and while it did cook okay, the direct heat was a slight issue. I did locate my grate as far above the coals as practicable, as the original UDS plans I looked at online did not include anything between the coals and the meat.

I installed a regular grill temp gauge in the side of the drum about 1" below where the grate sits. Good placement?

I pretty much looked at a design on youtube, got out the welder and made it in the evening after work. First run was great, but I have a few tweaks in mind.

When cooking pork butt, do you just cook it till it hits 160 internal temp? I wound up cooking it to 150 degrees, then wrapping it in foil and basting it, let it go for an hour, removed the foil, let it go for 30 mins, then took it off. I think it was close on 170 degrees, so I might have let it get too hot. Still, it was delicious.
 
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dell30rb said:
I installed a regular grill temp gauge in the side of the drum about 1" below where the grate sits. Good placement?
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Good enough, I guess. Most of the thermometers I've seen are mounted about at the cooking grate level or slightly above. My smoker doesn't even have one - so I stick one in an open vent on top if I need to. I have a calibrated hand - I can tell, on my smoker, if it's too hot or too cold by feel.

dell30rb said:
When cooking pork butt, do you just cook it till it hits 160 internal temp? I wound up cooking it to 150 degrees, then wrapping it in foil and basting it, let it go for an hour, removed the foil, let it go for 30 mins, then took it off. I think it was close on 170 degrees, so I might have let it get too hot. Still, it was delicious.
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Most competition folks will cook until the meat gets about 160, then wrap in foil, or plastic wrap then foil, or put into a foil pan and cover with foil. There are two reasons for that - you want to collect the juice for making a sauce or for putting back into the meat later, plus there is a school of thought that says the meat will not absorb any more smoke flavor after it's cooked to that temp anyway. Finish it off another hour or two - some people recommend an internal temp of 190F for the butts to finish. It will take them almost an hour to cool enough to tear apart, and that resting time is good to help them keep from getting too dry.

It sounds like you did OK. If the bone pulled out easily, and the meat pulled apart easily, then it was done. It's pretty hard to mess up butts.
 
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Here's the newest of several grills I own. This and the one permanently installed in my outdoor kitchen ran run on either propane or wood/charcoal (lump only, not briquets).
 
Matthew said:
It's pretty hard to mess up butts.
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Hmm I think I did not leave it on there long enough. It was definitely 'cooked' and had good flavor but the meat did not exactly fall off the bone.
 
dell30rb said:
Hmm I think I did not leave it on there long enough. It was definitely 'cooked' and had good flavor but the meat did not exactly fall off the bone.
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Ehh - that's OK. Instead of shredding, you might have to chop, sometimes you'll be able to slice it, too. Another thing - once the meat is wrapped, there's no need to finish it on the smoker, your kitchen oven will work just as well. That's a handy thing when rain starts moving in.


edit: I had to dig up some pictures from last year's contest. Heres a pile o' butts. And I think we got a ribbon, too. We were able to slice up some good size chunks, rather than pulling it all - the judges seemed to like it.
 

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In fact, there is a school of thought that sliced or coarsely chopped pork (here in the western side of NC ) is superior to the finely chopped stuff (we don't say "pulled" here).

Back when I used to keep my plane at VKX (Maryland) there was a guy selling NC-style BBQ out of a trailer on the side of Indian Head Highway. I guess he got tired of people asking him what it was made out of because there was a hand written sign on a piece of paper taped up to the trailer wall that said:

"BBQ is PORK"

Carolina Cooker 5' Dual Fuel with Turner
Kalamazoo Gourmet 36" Hybrid Grill
Grill Dome Large Infinity ceramic cooker.
 
flyingron said:
"BBQ is PORK"
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Around these parts - BBQ is whatever animal you can fit on the smoker. Sausage is for all the extra, leftover, bits. Brisket and ribs are probably the main item, followed closely by pork. Down the list is chicken and sausage.

I think it's kind of neat how Q varies among different parts of the country.
 
Matthew said:
Ehh - that's OK. Instead of shredding, you might have to chop, sometimes you'll be able to slice it, too. Another thing - once the meat is wrapped, there's no need to finish it on the smoker, your kitchen oven will work just as well. That's a handy thing when rain starts moving in.


edit: I had to dig up some pictures from last year's contest. Heres a pile o' butts. And I think we got a ribbon, too. We were able to slice up some good size chunks, rather than pulling it all - the judges seemed to like it.
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Most happy to see the bottle of bourbon, tis a requirement at my que. Seriously if you want some great que you need to come to the flybq next year.
 
AdamZ said:
Most happy to see the bottle of bourbon, tis a requirement at my que. Seriously if you want some great que you need to come to the flybq next year.
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Ah, yes. That was for medicinal purposes...


Never been to the flybq - when/where?
 
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