Wolf BBQ Grill Debut

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austinado16

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Dec 23, 2009
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Today was the "big" debut of the Craigslist Wolf grill.

Took me about 2 weeks to get all the parts in order to convert it from natural gas to propane. The conversion turned out well and it made quite an impact today in the concession stand for my daughter's gymnastics meet.

I smoked 10 Tri-Tips, and a few pounds of hot Italian sausage, Hebrew Nat'l dogs in the smoker there on the right in the photo. The grill had 2 big pots of clam chowder on the 2 side burners, and then inside I had a big covered foil pan with the finished meats, and my vintage 12" Wagner Ware cast iron skillet for dipping sandwich rolls in butter and then toasting on the grates.

Food turned out great and the grill was a big hit. Weather was miserable with cold rain all day. My wife and I were hugging the grill and smoker for warmth.
AtPerformanceGymnasticsMar192011.jpg
 
"You da Man......"

Well, apparently I was today.

 

Quite a few people noticed how big it was.  When they gave a closer look and saw the Wolf badge, they were shocked.  Several of the dads had to come over and really check it out up close.  It was kinda funny.

 

So....I was king for a day.
 
So the conversion from natural gas to propane is a little trickier than just replacing one part, like an inlet connection? I always wondered how much different our natural gas Weber is from the propane model.

 

It sounds like your Wolf is the perfect grill to feed a hungry crowd. Congrats!

 
 
Todd that is one beautiful grill!  Your food sounded delicious as well.  Tri Tip roast are so so good.  For some unknown reason they are next to impossible to find around here.  We have even tried in the Chicago area with no luck.  Wondering if these are just a west coast thing.   

 

 
 
Looks fantastic and you sort of saved the day..We were out last night and one of my buds was going on about a hankering for hot dogs etc etc..and I couldn't for the life of me remember that name Hebrew National.. One of those situations where it's on the tip of your tongue and I was sitting there reciting the alphabet in my mind and Israel kept popping in LOL
 
"Sometimes it's not how you use your equipment, but

So what's that saying about guys with big grills.....? Oh boy. Wait, can I compensate for that with the fact that I own the smallest pickup truck (VW Rabbit Diesel)?

Re: the conversion from NG to LP. What you have to do is change the jet oriface sizes. Propane burns much hotter, so it takes less propane to do the same job. Therefore, you need to install smaller jets if you're going from NG to LP. Most gas appliances have jets that are built into brass nut type pieces, that simply thread on. They're stamped with a number drill size. You can actually call your local gas or LP companies and they'll have a chart that tells you what your jet sizes should be. For example, you pull off a #65 NG jet and want to go LP....they'll tell you you need something smaller, like maybe a #54. I'm just giving those figures as an example. Once you swap the jet orifaces, you have to adjust the air shutters for slightly more airflow.....so you loosen the set screw on each shutter for each burner, and with the burner running, adjust the shutter slightly more open until you have a nice fat blue flame that doesn't lift off of the burner surface.

My conversion took 6 new jets for the 6 main grill burners at $3ea. 2 more jets fore the 2 side burners, $3ea. Then one for the rotisserie at about $4, and one for the pilot for the rotisserie, at a $1......but I replaced the entire pilot assembly for $31 because it was rusty and burned up looking.

Had I done the conversion all at once, it might have taken 30min. so it's pretty easy to convert.

The Tech Dept. at Wolf told me I couldn't do the conversion without also replacing all 9 of the gas valves at $26ea (1 valve per burner) because they said there was a different oriface inside the NG valves as compared to the valves for LP. My local gas companies didn't agree with that, as they'd never seen a different valve for NG as opposed to LP.

Even if the Wolf rep was correct, I figured that the NG version would have a larger oriface, so it's not like I'd be running my burners lean on fuel, and the ultimate limiting factor would be the jets down stream from the valve. Who knows, they may still be correct, but so far, the grill works correctly and seems to cook normally....it doesn't get out of control hot, and it's not too cold/cool.

Oh, forgot about one mod I made. I took the gas manifold out and replicated the onboard LP tank connection that is shown in the owner's manual.......but I left the NG hook up on the back. To each of these, I added a gas valve, before the individual gas regulators. This allows the grill to be hooked up to LP, or NG, and then all that need be done is pop in the burner jets. My goal was to have it be portable for the one or 2 times a year I might cook for the gymnastics meets, but be able to run it on NG here at home.

I'm kinda glad I kept it. Even if it is all smoke and mirrors, it's still fun to whip it out and flaunt it.
 
Tri Tip

Well Todd, that was quite a buy. You might have to consider a SmartCar to squelch any rumors. Thanks for the conversion information. I've got a NG stub on the back of the house under the patio but thought all I'd have to do was remove the supply hose for the LP tank that has the modulator and replace it with a plain flex line. Now I know there's more to the job than that, and I'd be doing the conversion in reverse. I've read that tri-tips are more of a west coast thing. I don't know why that is. We've got an old copy of "Cutting Up in the Kitchen" by Merle Ellis (is that right?) from the 70's. It contains a drawing of a steer and the various cuts of meat, and includes the tri-tip. For me, tri-tip seemed like something that gained popularity in the mid to late 80's but I guess it's been around longer than that. Around here, most specialty grocery stores and meat markets have big grills out front or in the parking lot where they cook up tri-tips for sandwiches to draw the lunch crowd.
 
From what I've heard, the Tri-Tip was a cut of meat that was a scrap, and was thrown away. It appears to have started to be BBQ'd here, first.....in Santa Maria, CA on big oak burning BBQ's, called "Santa Maria BBQ's" or "Santa Maria style grill." Costco even sells a locally made home version of those grills.

Nice 2-3lb cut of meat, but because it's thick, about like your wrist, it's a real challenge to cook. Typically, people burn the outside, so that gets sort of chared tasting, and then the inside will be medium rare and dry. Honestly, it's really difficult to get one correct.

On my Weber, I was searing both sides, and then turning off the center burner and giving both sides maybe 20-25min each. Then wrap the whole thing in foil and give it another hour. That was producing a real nice result.

On my big Char-Broil Texas Style "Santa Fe" grill, I was making a ring of charcoal, bigger than the Tri-Tip, placing the meat in the center of that ring, closing the hood and the dampers, and turning the meat about every 15min. A buddy of mine would take it a step further and toss in a piece of red oak bark that he'd been soaking in water for days/weeks. He'd put that bark right in the middle of that ring of briquettes. He also marinaded the meat and it really made for an amazing taste.

For this weekend, I used Tri-Tip that I'd marinaded in Wild Turkey Wiskey Marinade that I purchased from the Meat Dept. at the Vons. Made for some killer taste.
 
Thank you Todd for the information on the tri tips.  I sure wish we could get them around here.  

Terry
 
Terry

Tri Tip and Sirloin Tip roast are the same roast just different name in different areas. In Florida look for the sirloin tip. These are usually cheaper per pound than a regular sirloin roast or steak.
 
Good tip on the different names

I'm guessing that if you took a diagram to your local butcher, he could cut that piece for you. They know what it is, as it's a part they've apparently been trimming off and throwing away for decades.

I'll tell you though, the absolute best way to cook them is in a propane smoker, like the $108 "Smoky Mountain Series Great Outdoors" that Walmart sells (with free delivery to your local store). That's how I did all 10, and people were just blown away by the flavor, and how tender the meat was. What's best is; I do nothing. Marinade, toss in the smoker, turn it on and set the burner flame to Medium to give me about 300*F. 2.5hrs later, they're done, and ready to serve. They get about a 1/4" thick smoke ring penetrated into the meat (I use Mesquite chips/chunks), so the flavor is unreal.

Here's my smoker. I found it with a free sign on it, right around the corner from my house! How do you like that? I thought, "This is either the biggest piece of junk, or it's going to be the most fun I've ever had grilling/Q-ing/cooking outside." It's been amazing......to the point that we almost stopped using the Weber. We do New York and Filet Mignon steaks in it, ribs, salmon, even a big turkey. I gave an all Stainless model to my father in law last year:
smokerexterior.jpg

smokerinterior.jpg
[this post was last edited: 3/21/2011-15:33]
 
Wonder why they got rid of it?  Looks like a nice unit.  My dad has several boxes full of hickory wood from a tree that fell over in his uncle's woods over 30 yrs ago.  He cuts it in small chips, and puts the pieces on the charcoal when grilling pork chops.  Awesome flavor!
 
The property is several rentals, so it could have been a tenant getting rid of stuff, or the landlord cleaning up after a tenant and setting stuff out at the curb. It was pretty unused when I found it, and had several bags of different flavors of smoking wood chips inside. It was quite a score....at least to me!
 

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