Gas or Charcoal?

[J_T_P]

the ease that gas grills bring to grilling imo makes it the best choice for me. having to wait on charcoal is something I dont want to do.

[Perplexity]

Both is clearly the right answer.

The great thing about having gas is that you're happy to fire it up even if it's just for a side dish. Lots of vegetables come out fantastic on a gas grill, and I make them all the time even when main dish isn't being grilled. Would never do that without the gas grill.

[x2ski]

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Charcoal. No need for newspaper or paper towels either...we have a little electric lighter thingie that gets the fire going fast. It's kind of like this one but I think we got our's at a Home Depot.

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I was at my brother-in-law's a few years ago.

We were just getting the grill going, standing around it while drinking a few beers and waiting for the nifty electric lighter thingie to do it's job.

Suddenly, the thing exploded, sending pieces of the electric lighter thingie's coil flying at a high rate of speed.

Neither of us were injured, but I'll never get near one of those things again.

[NicksDad1970]

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I prefer the ease of gas.

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[guids]

Call me lazy, but getting an extension cord, running it to the pit, etc, is so much more of a hassle than just balling up some paper and lighting it. Hell, even jaydubs suggestion is to time intensive for me

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Speaking of grills I was thinking about getting this one for my apartment next year...


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What is that, a charcoal/gas combo grill?

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looks like charcoal kettle with gas side burner

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Gas ignited charcoal grill.

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http://www.biggreenegg.com/

Best grill out there.

[x2ski]

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I suggest you purchase a smoker instead of a weber, becuae you can use it like a weber, and also smoke.

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On guids' advice, I decided to purchase a charcoal grill/smoker.

After doing some quick research, the wife and I set out to buy the Charbroil American Gourmet Smoker, Barbeque and Grill .

Upon arrival, however, the only one available was the beat-up floor model. It didn't really matter though, because once we saw it, the wife and I agreed that the grilling surface was pretty small (244 sq. in.). So, we were looking around at our other options, and happened upon something that Wal-Mart doesn't even list as a stocked item. They only had one left:



The Brinkmann Smoke 'N Pit XL4000 Eddie Bauer Edition with DVD Navigation Package.

The one I got is a different model number than the one pictured, but I couldn't find anything similar online and, like I said, Wal-Mart supposedly doesn't carry it. The only difference from what I can tell is that mine has a metal screen-like front shelf (instead of wood).

Anyway, we finally got it home at about 7:30. As my wife fed our 1 1/2 year-old son a late dinner, I got crackin'. With no assistance and working mostly in the dark, I finally had it put together at around 10:30. Time to cure this byatch.

I also picked up a charcoal chimney and some Royal Oak Natural Wood Charcoal. After 2 hours at about 300 degrees (supposed to be 250, but as a n00b I had a hard time regulating things) and an hour at 400 degrees, it was grilling time.

So, at about 2am I threw some brats on. I realize in the OP I said that the plan was to grill some burgers, but my wife thinks that two in the morning is a little late to be eating dinner, so I was on my own. I saved the ground sirloin for tonight and had a couple brats last night.

Overall I'm satisfied, and looking forward to getting into smoking. I smoke everything else, so why not some meat, poultry and fish? I think I'm going to start with salmon.

[guids]

my buddy got something pretty similar to that one, with the offset firebox, he actually rigged his own mini propane tank, I think it was a camping one, and he can light the charcoal with the propane, works great. From what Chicagotroy said, those are a little harder to regulate temperatures than a lot of smokers, but will still do the job.


Ive been using the Weber Smoky mountain smoker, and this thing is amazing, depending on how you light the charcoal, this thing will keep a constant temp at whatever you want for an unbelievably long time. when I did my brisket a week or two ago, it stuck at 225 for a little over eight hours, and it has 2 racks so you can smoke about he same amount of meat, but if you want to grill you cant get as much on theri as yours..

[JinX11]

This poll is way too close.

Shame on you that chose gas!! [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]