Need a new grill. Here we go again!

[runematic]

No problem. I ended up getting the 126 model that's designed to be built-in (no cart). The picture is of the 125 model with the cart. This model retailed at about $1899-1999. I bought all three used ones for under $600 total (for all 3!) I'm going to keep one for parts, refurb one for my oldest brother, and use the other one.

Basically, if you've ever seen a pellet heater for the home, it works similar. There is a hopper. This one holds about 20-30lbs of pellets. The pellets are then fed through an auger to a burn pot. There is a fan to keep the pellets burning. It has a computer control to regulate the fan, auger, and temp. There is a smoke setting and it can go up to about 475* for a hotter cook. So far, I really like it. Flavor-wise, the wood taste is not overpowering. I like wood flavor when I grill, so I wish it was a little stronger, but does impart a great taste. I've been using hickory and apple pellets so far, since that's what was available at the time.

The Jr model that most places sell is about half the size of this behemoth. Like I said in the previous post, I had 2 big shoulders on and had easily enough room for 2 more. Same with the briskets.

 

[mrb627]

Source for Pellets?

Where do you purchase the pellets? I don't recall ever seeing them in HD.

Malcolm

 

[twintubdexter]

a thought from my old hardware store days...

One thing I do remember about Char-Broil (a company that goes way back to the 1800's when they built steam engines for Mississippi paddle wheelers) is that it was relatively easy for customers to get free replacement parts. My advice was for them to tell the company "I had a fire!" Most manufacturers hate that. Weber was not quite so generous although I do recall getting a customer a free replacement hose for their natural gas grill. Maybe the fact that it was the local fire department had something to do with it. 

 

you did say well-done didn't you?

 

[wayupnorth]

Up in this neck of the woods, pellets are available year round from supermarkets, small hardware stores to big box retailers. Alot of people have put these pellet stoves in to supplement their main heating systems. I am not a big fan of these stoves as they require power to operate and in an outage you will freeze.

 

[runematic]

Malcom

The pellets are sold in most bbq-type retailers. The major home centers (hd & blowes) just sell them online. I have a Bass Pro 35 min in 1 direction and a massive Cabelas 30 min in the other direction. They both carry the pellets in stock. I also have a stove dealer near me that stocks them as well.

A 20lb bag of "cooking" pellets cost anywhere from $13 to $20 on average. A 40lb bag of "heating" pellets can run $5. The big thing using heating pellets is to know what you are buying. Some companies use binders to hold the pellets together that you wouldn't want to cook with. Other companies make 100% hardwood heating pellets that you can cook over. A big difference in cost.

 

[goatfarmer]

New Grill

We bought a new grill this weekend, to replace a well used 15 YO Kenmore grill. It still worked, but you had to light it manually, and the burner was needing a replacement . Pretty good for a grill that we pulled from a junkpile!

 We bought a Huntington, from Menards. Well constructed, and made in America. Ours was made in Huntington, IN, but they have a factory in Tennessee, and Canada .It was a discontinued model, they had 1 left at $299.00 - 11%.

http://www.huntingtonbbq.com/

 

[perc-o-prince]

Thanks, all!

Weber- Yeah, not shelling out for one at this point. Once I looked at it, I paid about $32/year to own and use the last grill, not counting propane. I can deal with that. Plus, we see way too many of them at the transfer station. Not as many as the other brands, but still, too many to shell out that kinda cabbage. Where I'm not working right now, I also need to be a bit mindful of outgoings.

I do like the Huntington above, but it looks like the grates may be the lightly porcelain covered cast iron (rough to the feel?)? I'll have to look it up, but I seem to remember being warned against them. DOES ANYONE have new information about these? I ask because what would be a slam-dunk for my next grill has these.

I also stay away from anything with a warming rack that's too small, or has any chrome-plated rods. They rust out and there never seems to be the right replacement.

Not including the above-mentioned slam dunk (Walmart 552842986, and suspiciously similar to the BHG below) I do believe I've narrowed it down to two. Both have s/s grates, and one has a warming grate about 50% larger than I have now! I cook chicken thighs and ribs on the warming grate, so I can't bear a smallish one.

One is a Nexgrill at HD http://www.homedepot.com/p/Nexgrill...-Side-Burner-720-0830H/205449953?N=5yc1vZc5t5

The other is a Better Homes & Gardens (?) at, ahem, Walmart. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Better-Homes-and-Gardens-4-Burner-Gas-Grill-Stainless-Steel/37850136

The plus for the HD grill is that I can get $25 off using a competitor's coupon. The reviews are also slightly higher in general. The minus is that the s/s grates are steel "wrapped" in s/s.

The pluses for the Walmart one are that the grates are solid s/s and the warming rack is bigger. Also, I can get an extended warranty to cover parts for about 10% more.

Opinions on those two, and/or the cast-iron grates that have a light porcelain coating very welcomed!

Thanks again,
Chuck

 

[goatfarmer]

The grates are cast iron, I don't think there is any porcelain on them.

 

[perc-o-prince]

Thanks, Kenny. Did anyone give you any idea as to seasoning and the possibility of rusting? That's the only thing stopping me from going for the grill that I passed on because of the main grates. The warming area is XL and has a porcelain dipped grate, and it's a 5 burner grill which will be helpful when I'm doing indirect cooking/smoking!

Chuck
p.s.- the link is for the one I passed on but am now considering as the #1 if the grates aren't high maintenance! Still got 4 stars with 90 reviews!

http://www.walmart.com/ip/37850144

 

[goatfarmer]

Tell you the truth, I haven't read the book! I'll have to see if it says anything about seasoning the grates.

 

[petek]

That Walmart model you're looking at got a fairly good rating on CR.org.. the next model up ending in a 4,, for $370  got quite a high rating  But this Charbroil at WM got an even  higher rating and only $260  ,, might want to have a look  ,coated cast iron grates though

 

<h1 style="margin: 20px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 26px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Char-Broil TRU-Infrared 463435115 (Walmart) gas grill</h1>

 

[kenmore58]

Chuck,

The Wal-Mart grill is basically the same one I have had for the last two years. Call me. We'll discuss!

I purchased mine at Lowe's. Check their website. You'll see it.

Ron

 

[perc-o-prince]

Hey Pete, Ron,

By "That Walmart grill" do you mean the Backyard Grill 5-burner?

Pete- when I try that Char-Broil number, I get a list of a few. The one that's $258 comes up with Walmart #552901175. If that's the one you wanted me to take a look at, it has the warming rack integrated into the lid (raises and lowers with the lid) and has a chromed rod for the front support. I swore I'd never get a rack like that again as those chromed rods rust and a replacement rack never seems to be right.

Also, the "TRU-Infrared" means they've all but turned the grates into a grill pan. It's a 2-fold system. There's a typical cooking grate on top, but directly under that is a nearly solid W patterned plate with a bunch of small holes for heat to come up through. This plate heats up and radiates the heat to the cooking grate above it. I grabbed a pic of it from the Lowes site where they show it, though on a different grill. Not really grilling IMHO. On the right, the cooking grate is in place. On the left, you see the W pan below the grate. It does eliminate flare-ups, but that's part of the fun! Also, they look like a B to clean!

 

[rp2813]

Huntington Grill Grates

I have basically the same Huntington pictured in Kenny's post above, just a few years old with slightly different styling.

 

I think the grill grates have the rough porcelain coating you described.  I've noticed that in the center, that coating is starting to flake off.  Since these grates consist of four separate sections, I will rotate them around so the lesser used ones at either end are relocated to the center. 

 

It wasn't until this was mentioned that I went out and took a look at my grill and noticed the flaking.  It's disappointing, but I suppose replacements can be obtained.

 

Since the grates themselves are thick and heavy, I think it would take a long time for them to completely deteriorate.  I don't recall any advisory to season them, but it couldn't hurt and might extend their useful life.

 

Other than that, I'm very happy with my Huntington.

 

That CharBroil system pictured directly above is the one I mentioned further up.  Any debris from brushing the grill grates ends up on the diffuser.  Then what?  That was a deal-breaker for me.

 

[twintubdexter]

Since everyone is talking about porcelain flaking off

It's just like Roseanne Rosannadanna used to say..."it's always something"

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning of a potential health risk from grilling Americans may face this summer. But the government health agency isn't warning about fatty barbecue food or risks from fire: The danger lies in wayward bristles from brushes used to clean grills

 

 The CDC is urging emergency rooms around the country to be on the lookout for internal injuries that may be caused by accidental ingestion of wire grill-cleaning brush bristles. In the July 6 issue of its journal the CDC describes six cases that occurred at a Providence, R.I., hospital which occurred between March 2011 and June 2012.

 The injuries ranged in severity from a puncture in the neck tissue that caused pain while swallowing to a perforations in the gastrointestinal tract that required emergency surgery.

One of the cases described in the report is of a 50-year-old man who went to the emergency room with abdominal pain after eating steak at a barbecue. A CT scan of the man's abdomen revealed a linear object poking through the wall of his small intestine. Doctors removed the bristle with a laparotomy - a large incision in the abdomen for exploratory surgery - and he recovered fully and left the hospital the following day.

The other five patients visited after this incident, the CDC said, and in all cases the bristles were identified by X-rays of the neck or CT scans of the abdomen. Three of the patients experienced severe pain while swallowing, and the other two reported abdominal pain. In one patient, the wire bristle punctured a portion of the sigmoid colon (portion of large intestine near rectum) and even indented the bladder.

Patient interviews revealed they had all been grilling meat prior to the accidental ingestion. Once the bristles were removed, the patients recovered.

The CDC warns doctors that the bristles are small and can be tough to see on X-rays and scans, so greater awareness of such injuries among emergency room physicians, internists and radiologists might help improved diagnoses.

These latest cases aren't the first reports however: The team of Rhode Island emergency room doctors previously reported six cases from July 2009 through November 2010.

The CDC didn't have information on the types or brands of grill-cleaning brushes, and as such won't make safety recommendations about which type of brush may reduce risk.

Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency medicine physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told HealthPop in an email that the risk of ingesting a stray wire from a grill brush is likely small, but still possible

"It is important to carefully inspect the grill surface for any remaining wire bristles that may have separated from the grill brush and could penetrate into the grilled food prior to grilling," Glatter said. He recommends using a moist cloth or paper towel to clean the grill surface before cooking as an alternative to wire brushes. 

While Americans should be aware of this risk, you're much more likely to get sick from eating undercooked meat or from food poisoning.

 

[perc-o-prince]

Yeah, Ralph. Cleaning those diffusers could get to be a real chore!!

Interesting that your grates are flaking. It's like, why bother putting it on there! My dipped grates are still AOK and no signs of chipping or flaking. Maybe I'll gut the grill and fit a rack near the bottom for charcoal!

If the darn Backyard Grill one didn't have a large dipped upper rack, it wouldn't even be in the running! But those grates.... Hm-m-m-m.....

Chuck

 

[rp2813]

While We're On the Subject

. . . but on a smaller scale, I just found this today for $2.50.

 

A Weber "Go Anywhere" gas grill.  It has barely been used.  They go for $60 new.  I love that it has an ignitor.

 

I use a small grill like this when I'm just cooking for the two of us.  I had a tabletop CharBroil before and it lasted a long time before finally rusting out. 

 

From what I've read on line, I think this may be the old good design and not the new bad design that people have complained about.

 

[perc-o-prince]

We had one of those for a few years, Ralph. Someone left it off at the transfer station nearly new! It was handy for some lunch-time dogs!

 

[circlew]

Ralph, I have the charcoal version of the Weber. I got it as a birthday present from my mom around 1980. It's in bad shape now as the racks and legs are rusty. Thought about getting new parts, but they were as much as a whole grill.

 

[super32]

Have you considered charcoal? Or are you boys spoiled to the ease of click click light and go?