Grilling Contraptions

[David G]

Grilling season is here, or coming fast.

Mostly, I'm starting this to enquire about one sorta beast, but what do YOU grill on? Are you happy, or no? Pine for 'better', or no?

We've got a nice Weber 3-burner propane setup, which I'm still happy with. And a refurbished 'Char-Griller' smoker which the kids have played with a bit but I haven't touched. They're making noises about getting serious with it this summer.

But what about the Big Green Egg?

I know some of the B'Rats have them. Everyone I talk to about them really loves theirs. People RAVE about 'em. I'm wondering if the raving is maybe the sign of them having joined a cult, rather than due to the marvelosity of the contraption itself. When one spends THAT kinda money for a grill... I could imagine it triggers a big emotional/psychological committment that colors their perceptions and pronouncements???

OR... are they actually 'all that & a bag of chips'?

[Figment]

I still pine for the Vermont Castings grill I lost in the divorce!

For the following decade or so I was just fine with a charcoal weber kettle for when I'm cooking good stuff, and a little 2-burner gas grill for quick burgers & dogs.

When we moved, the new house came with a ginormous 6-burner unit which I decried as ostentatious fappery, but I'll admit I have come to appreciate the extra grillspace for ears of corn or other veg to go with the meat.
I still keep the weber on hand for when I'm in the mood to get smoky.

[Guinness]

The traditional Weber kettle, a charcoal chimney, lump charcoal, a wad of newspaper, maybe some apple wood to lend smoke, and you're all set. My brother has the "Big Green Egg" and seems to love it, but I'm sticking with what I have. It hasn't failed me yet.

-Guinness

[Peerie Maa]

I got fed up with shop bought grills rusting out, so I built one with brick.
There is a copper pan for the charcoals, and an adjustable height griddle.
I do have a "charcoal chimney" for lighting i, or a Jenga stack of kindling with balled up newspaper or firelighter blocks also works well

[Bobcat]

I have a hibachi, an el cheapo smoker, and a Weber three burner gas grill. The Weber is used several times a week year round. The others not so much

[Hugh MacD]

We have the ubiquitous 3 burner gas grille, but my good lady prefers charcoal...but not enough to clean out the Weber kettle each time.

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

Alternatively....

[Nicholas Scheuer]

Two-burner propane Webber. It replaced a succession of Char broil grills and is more satisfactory.

[Steve McMahon]

I have the medium green egg and love it. I use it for grilling, smoking, and slow roasting. With a bit of practice you can dial it into any temperature you want and it will hold it. I’ve never cooked a turkey in the oven since I got it. I put the turkey in a ceramic pan, pop it in at around 500 degrees for a few minutes to crisp up the skin and then dial it down to 225 and slow roast it to finish. Another benefit is when you are done cooking you just close it up and it is so airtight the charcoal will go out. When you go to use it again you just stir out the ash, relight the charcoal and add a bit of new charcoal if needed. It makes a bag of charcoal last a long time.

[JTA]

Another medium big green egg fan here. I love the temperature control.
I can set up one load of charcoal and smoke a butt @ 225 degrees for 12 hours easy. I can also get the temperature high enough for great steaks or pizza. The firebox also holds my wok perfectly for some really great, high temp stir fry. Pretty versatile cooker in my book.

Cult? I don't know, maybe. I am a pretty good cook, I can say my outdoor cooking has drastically improved since I got the egg several years ago. I'm not sure if the improvement is from the green egg, or from the amount of reading I did about temperature control and different heat zones.
(I also cook on a weber on occasion)

Jack

[Jim Bow]

Big Green Egg is a type known as a Kamado. It’s a Japanese cooker. We got a Big Blue Egg! That’s our name for it. Costco sold them. Ours came from Habitat For Humanity. $200. The interior bowl was broken, but a replacement was only $100. The parts guy also gave me two broken bags of lump charcoal. 60lbs!
We have smoked a lot of King Salmon filets, plus burgers and chicken.
We love it!

[Todd Bradshaw]

I have a Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker (tall, medicine-capsule-shaped water pan smoker/grill) that I bought in the 1980s. It never seemed to get enough air, so I cut a hole about 10" in diameter in the bottom and now it works better. I also have a medium-sized standard Weber kettle, as well as a Weber Q3200 propane grill. The Q is mostly cast aluminum and polyethylene. At first, I worried about the lifespan of a largely plastic grill, but then I realized that my polyethylene garbage can had outlived the two previous steel gas grills which both had rusted out.

I have a Bradley smoker - it works well, but the hinges ripped out of the sheet metal, so now all that holds the door on is the magnetic seal. The other big drawback is that the sawdust hockey pucks that it burns will send you to the poorhouse. I also have digital Masterbuilt smoker - cheap to run on small chips and holds the temp well wherever you set it. Then we have a 36" four burner Blackstone griddle here and a 28" one up at the lake. We were kind of grossed out at how much oil folks were using in many of the videos, so I ground the texture off the griddles and polished them. Now they cook using minimal amounts of oil. So I guess we're grill, smoker and griddle rich, but on the other hand, we hardly ever go out to eat.

The big Blackstone and the Weber Q3200

BS-and-Q.jpg

[SOF64]

For welding practice, as a present and for my own use DSCF4419.jpg


I build these in different sizes and in slightly varying designs on occasion. DSCF5132.jpg

The smallest I have has got a diameter of about 35 cm and doesn't take up much space in the car.
P1080803.jpg
Therefore it is my go-to grill if I want to go places on my own or in a small group.
I used the bottom of a discarded beer keg for its fire bowl. The biggest that I have kept has got
a diameter of 80 cm and has served well for bigger birthday parties.

[MushCreek]

I built a stainless steel UDS (Upright/Ugly Drum Smoker). Not only is it an excellent smoker, but I made it so I can move the fire basket up under the top grate for direct grilling.

[David G]

For welding practice, as a present and for my own use DSCF4419.jpg


I build these in different sizes and in slightly varying designs on occasion. DSCF5132.jpg

The smallest I have has got a diameter of about 35 cm and doesn't take up much space in the car.
P1080803.jpg
Therefore it is my go-to grill if I want to go places on my own or in a small group.
I used the bottom of a discarded beer keg for its fire bowl. The biggest that I have kept has got
a diameter of 80 cm and has served well for bigger birthday parties.

Now THOSE are way cool, esp. as a portable rig.

Any more owner's comments on the Big Green Egg?

[SOF64]

Now THOSE are way cool, esp. as a portable rig.

Any more owner's comments on the Big Green Egg?

You mean the red ball, don't you? It is a project that has been put on hold - a former expansion tank from our house installation. We cut it open and it was well on its way to becoming a little portable kettle grill when my son turned vegetarian. He was supposed to weld it himself, but now the immediate motivation has gone. I keep telling him that vegetarians can use grills, too. We might finish it this summer, though. It needs a nicer and permanent tripod and a handle on top. The grill grate is already there, and it will take some experimenting with heating (with charcoal, of course), grate position, and air supply.
I don't know how well it will stand up to corrosion - most of the other grills are in stainless 304 - but maybe some special oven paint on the outside will do the trick. That little tank just seemed too good an opportunity for a project to pass up. It more or less came my way just like the beer keg that started the whole obsession.

[MushCreek]

You can grille veggies, ya know.

[StevenBauer]

Very cool SOF! I really like those.

This thread seems like the place to mention the Cobb Cooker. Designed to cook with the least amount of fuel it is a self contained grill/roaster powered by charcoal. Just a dozen or so briquettes are all that’s needed. We’ve had ours loaded with potatoes, veggies and a meatloaf and carried it on our lap in the dinghy from one anchored boat to another while it was cooking! How many othe grills can you do that with?

[SOF64]

You can grille veggies, ya know.

Thank you for telling me.
I think we will have to get the hang of it.

[SOF64]

Very cool SOF! I really like those.

This thread seems like the place to mention the Cobb Cooker. Designed to cook with the least amount of fuel it is a self contained grill/roaster powered by charcoal. Just a dozen or so briquettes are all that’s needed. We’ve had ours loaded with potatoes, veggies and a meatloaf and carried it on our lap in the dinghy from one anchored boat to another while it was cooking! How many othe grills can you do that with?

Thank you for cour comment.
I had to google the Cobb Cooker. It looks very interesting and I'd love to try it out some time.

[Peerie Maa]

Attachment 113283

Borrowed from Memes