OT: Questions about buying a barbeque

Foogoo

Foogoo

New member
having been a student for a bazillion years...and living in every form of apt buildings there are (short of alien hermaphrodite luxury bomb shelter co-op hostel living quarters)...

the first thing i did before getting a bbq'er was: ask the landlord if it is okay...and which type of bbq'ers are okay...

some will allow it them, some wont and some will only allow certain types.

on a personal preference of bbq'ers: i prefer the charcoal for taste...nothing bbq's better than charcoal. BUT charcoal sucks cuz it takes forever to get to temp, is an incredible hassle to clean up and have to keep buying the charcoal etc.

thus my preference for being lazy is a natural gas (or propane in your case as it is portable) because you can have it hardlined to your gas line from the house. gas heats up faster, dont have to keep buying briquettes (though the ceramic charcoals will need replacement every few years if you get good ones). food taste is okay but doesnt have the same smoking good flavor that charcoal delivers! my bbq'er tries to compensate for this by including a steel tray with its own burner to 'smoke' wood chips you put in there...i have used this twice! :D
 
I personally would buy the propane grill. Much less clean up involved. You can probably get something a lil bigger that has a lil smoker built into it.

I just grilled TriTip earlier ;)
 
I'm in 100% agreement with Ben. Charcoal tastes better, but it's a pain in the butt. Propane is instantly on and you are ready to cook in minutes.

With propane cylinders, you can cook even when the power it out. While everyone here was miserable during our big power outage (out went out sans shower to get food), I made scrambled eggs and hash browns.
 
Seems like the vote is for propane...

Now I've never used a propane grill, roughly how much should it run for the initial full tank?
 
Between 40 and 45 for large tanks I'm not sure on the little ones. I just got done making hamburgers and hot dogs . YUM
 
I just bought a new and full propane tank from Lowe's this afternoon. Ran me about $50. Cooked me some great burgers, mesquite chicken, and hot links... yum!
 
For the big tanks, $30 for the empty tank and about $25 to swap for a full one. They last a pretty long time; cheaper than charcoal.
 
I like to keep an extra full propane cylinder for backup. Nothing sucks worse than running out of propane in a middle of a big cookout. Refills for a 5 lb cvlinder are under 10 bucks. Costco sells the empty cylinders for under $30, though they may not have them now because they are a seasonal item.

Perfect weather today for a cookout....baby back ribs, skewered shrimp, and grilled chicken wings....mMMMMMMMMMMM...
 
Last edited:
I have a small balcony at my apt so I decided to buy one of these;
http://www.sportsauthority.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2143509&cp=1859072&parentPage=family
It's great. Has a small footprint, built very well, and grills like youd expect from your typical gas griller. Compared to the grill you were lookin at, this one will only take up just a little bit more space (take into consideration working space as well), not to mention you wont be grilling on the floor or table.
...then again its not nearly as cheap as the one you posted, either. But to me, it was totally worth it.
 
I think the table top BBQ uses the disposable 1Lb canisters they run about 3$ each and last about 4 to 5 hrs. i have the charcoal version and it is a good size for
grilling for 3 to 4 people, taking to tailgates, picnic dates etc. if you plan on bbq parties then this wont cut it. I break out the 55 gal drum smoker for those :)
 
ummmm.... i am going to go the other direction. i have had gas in the past and felt that it was impossible to cook on, impossible to control the temps, and impossible to get and keep an even heat. you'd think it'd be the opposite, but i never found that to be the case (and i had bought, what i considered to be a VERY nice gas grill). so my vote goes to weber.... i just gota new one (the gold series) and cleanup is a breeze with the new ash bucket. it is true, it takes a little while to get the coals going, but that time can be used as part of your food prep time or a good excuse to sit out with your friends/family and enjoy the patio and have a drink while the coals warm up. i bbq 4-5 nights a week in the summer and have learned over the years to cook just about everything and anything on the grill.... a little foil and the right coal placement, you can even cook extreamly delicate items on the grill. good luck with your new grill, whatever it is you get :)
 
spline9 - That grill is perfect for my situation, but it is out of my budget at least for now!

I think I'm going to try gas just because I've never used it before. And this is only going to be for a small affair. My concern with charcoal is since this is on the balcony of my apt, I'm worried about ash/embers blowing into the livingroom, to the neighbors (3' away), to the cars below, etc..
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7933631#post7933631 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bergzy
having been a student for a bazillion years...and living in every form of apt buildings there are (short of alien hermaphrodite luxury bomb shelter co-op hostel living quarters)...

the first thing i did before getting a bbq'er was: ask the landlord if it is okay...and which type of bbq'ers are okay...

some will allow it them, some wont and some will only allow certain types.

on a personal preference of bbq'ers: i prefer the charcoal for taste...nothing bbq's better than charcoal. BUT charcoal sucks cuz it takes forever to get to temp, is an incredible hassle to clean up and have to keep buying the charcoal etc.

thus my preference for being lazy is a natural gas (or propane in your case as it is portable) because you can have it hardlined to your gas line from the house. gas heats up faster, dont have to keep buying briquettes (though the ceramic charcoals will need replacement every few years if you get good ones). food taste is okay but doesnt have the same smoking good flavor that charcoal delivers! my bbq'er tries to compensate for this by including a steel tray with its own burner to 'smoke' wood chips you put in there...i have used this twice! :D
Click to expand...

I'm kind of amazed that nobody mentioned smokers and/or wood pellet grills.

*DISCLAIMER*

I'm a "dealer" for a brand of wood pellet grills. I am not actively selling them, however. I am simply pointing out what they are and my real life impressions of them. This is in NO WAY a solicitation!

*END DISCLAIMER*

I have a pellet grill, and although it took a bit to get used to how different it was from an oven/traditional BBQ grill, I'm quite pleased with it. Brisket, tri-tip, whatever - all turns out great. Even turkey!

Also, the wood pellet grills are a lot safer when it comes to fire ratings. The flame is self contained and not a fire danger. It does require electricity to run, however I've run mine from my car battery and an AC inverter.

All in all, though, given the choice between the propane and the charcoal, I'd go with propane just because of the ease of use and expense. Charcoal is great, but more of a hassle IMO. The pellet grills are pretty low maintenance, however they're also very expensive (upwards of 700.00...).

My wood pellet grill is pretty simple: turn it on, preheat, scrub the grate, toss on the food, go get drunk, return X hours later. No flare ups or flame ups...

YMMV, and again, I'm not pimping...
 
"X hours later" .... "upwards of 700.00"

ok..... ummmm, i think you oughta to have us all over top show us how that all works.... really, that is a lot of time and a lot of cash.

trust me..... invite us over, fire that thing up, put a BUNCH of meat on it, have a BOATLOAD of beer (you said getting drunk wss the thing to do while you wait), and then feed all of us....

trust me, drunk people make better shoppers!

and if none of us are convinced.... at least you made some fellow reefers happy.... and that has to be worth it's weight in gold (or charcoal, or wood pellets, or propane, or....)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7939950#post7939950 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by abendx
"X hours later" .... "upwards of 700.00"

ok..... ummmm, i think you oughta to have us all over top show us how that all works.... really, that is a lot of time and a lot of cash.

trust me..... invite us over, fire that thing up, put a BUNCH of meat on it, have a BOATLOAD of beer (you said getting drunk wss the thing to do while you wait), and then feed all of us....

trust me, drunk people make better shoppers!

and if none of us are convinced.... at least you made some fellow reefers happy.... and that has to be worth it's weight in gold (or charcoal, or wood pellets, or propane, or....)
Click to expand...

First, not pimping. Tried to make that clear. It's just that some people know and I wanted to avoid a potential (or perceived) conflict of interest.

I've had briskets on for almost 20 hours. That's a lotta hours.

And yeah, they ain't cheap. Not by any stretch.

As for having some company over, I plan to. Probably host one of my local groups meetings in October. Family friendly is my goal. And yes, with a boatload of food.

I thought about whether or not to post, and how I might be perceived as pimping. I thought the disclaimer would do it. Guess not.

If anyone has anything else to say to me, please take it off list.

Otherwise, thank you for your order. Please pull through...
 
remember to buy good steaks, prime and choice only. And don't overcook them like I did for the guys who helped me move my tank.
 
i thought he was making brisket and tri-tip...... ?

steak, hummm.... can we do this thing sooner?

oh, and whill we are helping you with the grocery list.... i am kind of partial to Newcastle.

thx ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

five.five-six
A few questions about carbon GAC
Replies
6
Views
618
wvned
wvned
Dr. Reef
Bacteria in a bottle, Myth or Fact
Replies
3
Views
585
jcarlilesiu
J
Easygoing1
PFO Aquatics SOLARIS Rebuild And Questions
Replies
8
Views
631
oreo57
oreo57
N
Is this a design flaw from Red Sea? Please help me with this sump upgrade Max e170 (Sump and tank connection)
Replies
1
Views
580
wvned
wvned
Twisk
New Ro-di system & aquascape questions
2
Replies
20
Views
2K
griss
griss
Back
Top