We’ve got a covered patio with a natural gas outlet but no grill. There’s a 7 foot space that a grill could fit into.
My wife just suggested that maybe we want propane because would also like to move the grill off of the covered area and down to the bigger patio area. But I think one would then need a natural gas to propane converter, and not sure how well that works.
I have always liked Webers.
What would we use it for? steaks, ribs, wings, salmon. Maybe a roasted duck or goose. I’d like to put in the pizza steel and then make a real high temperature quick cooking pizza.
Any thoughts and/or recommendations welcome as we start to think this through. Thanks!
Regarding the idea of moving the grill: My experience is that any grill over a certain minimal size is not practical to move. My current charcoal grill has a three-foot cook surface and a side box for smoking. I moved it twice for parties (much like you describe)… and now I’ll just move the party to the grill, or cook ahead.
So my recommendation if you’re serious about moving it: get something small and light, or get one big grill and one backup. (The backup idea is actually not so unreasonable. Some of the portable options are less than $50).
Anyway, if we’ve just concluded that a big, full-featured grill should be permanently located, then it follows that you should take advantage of the natural gas outlet and not bother with propane or adapters.
I love having a natural gas grill at home, and won’t move it. For the once per year where I forget to turn it off and run the grill all night, I never run out of gas.
I have had a Great Outdoors Pinnacle for several years (need to replace it now - slowly rusting out).
I am actually going to replace it with a Traeger smoker rig I think.
Converting between gas and propane is just a matter of changing the jets in the burners, a lot of grills are sold including both. Used to build outdoor kitchens in my younger days, most gas grills won’t get hot enough to grill a steak. Buy from somebody who’ll let you return it if it won’t get hot enough. Probably be happier with a big green egg type cooker for the money. I cook over hickory logs now on a grill I can raise up to 18 inches above the fire. I can crank it up to a 1000F degrees with 5 dollar worth of wood, it rocks…
I bought a green egg for my brother and used it for two weeks every day. It definitely has it’s place, but its a bit of an effort to do. I’m sure that gets easier with time but you still have to start the coals and then play with the vents. The pre-buy was much more intriguing than the limited use I had on it. My wife isn’t a fan, so there is that dynamic too.
I have and have had the standard Weber kettle forever. It’s the standard for your basic charcoal rig.
We’re thinking gas or propane mainly for ease of use. We’re not big grilling fanatics and have a really good Miele oven in the kitchen. We don’t have people over a lot or do a lot of backyard grilling, but it would be nice to have one. I’ve got a family of five, so this would be fine. When we have people over, I like to grill so would do several rounds rather than to try cook for 15 all in one go. Definitely leaning toward the Weber E-210.
Open to other ideas.
For the propane tank, any particular recommendation for where to buy one?
I have measured the exhaust on my Big Green Egg at 1200 degrees when grilling a steak. I can also set it up to cook at 200 degrees for up to 24 hours.
Totally awesome.
I’ve got this, and I’m a fan, but if you’ve got the natural gas hookup, I’d use the natural gas hookup. Propane tanks are a pain in my ass that I’d rather not deal with if I had the choice. Also, you say family of 5, I’d at least consider going the next step up to something bigger; the Spirit is fine for my wife and I, but if I have people over it gets a little tight.
Charcoal fanatics notwithstanding, it grills a delicious steak, and everything else I’ve tried on it. Clears 500 easily, mine tops out in the 625-650 range in the summer. Genesis with 3 burners will push 700. Considering that brick oven pizzas are normally shooting for 650-700 range…
Kiros - how portable is it? I would be moving it probably up/down 3 steps, then 20 feet across concrete and maybe onto the lawn. Can I do it myself or would a 14 year old daughter be able to help bull dog it around?
Is it big enough to do a mass of wings, then a bunch of brats or dogs, followed by a couple of steaks or 2 planks of salmon? Then it’s probably big enough for me. I’m not trying to grill a whole cow or anything. Just keep the food coming for an hour or two.
For $399, it looks like a pretty good deal. Now I’m just considering the portability versus using a natural gas set up…
Natural gas grills are great. No worries about refilling tanks. You can get a grill that is mounted on a post that the gas line runs through using minimal space on your patio. Natural gas gives you a hotter flame also.
I do a lot of indirect cooking, and I find that the cool side of a 2-burner is too hot. Also, make sure the burners are front-to-back, not side-to-side. A 3-burner front-to-back setup is much more versatile. I’d use the natural gas outlet, just because of convenience (the same reason I use my propane grill when I have both a Weber kettle and a Weber Smokey Mountain).
I somewhat agree with slowlearner that gas grills have a hard time getting hot enough to do a good steak, especially thin steaks. Grillgrates can help solve that problem, and are a great improvement to most stock grill grates (they’re available on Amazon).
I wouldn’t want to be going up and down stairs with it with any regularity. It’s solidly built and just big enough to be awkward - the two of you could likely manage 3 steps. The wheels are decent enough for moving it across the concrete/lawn.
You can do all of that as long as you aren’t trying to do it all at once. It’s spacious for a full dinner for two; for a full dinner for four I just need to plan the space and timing a bit more carefully; if I have six or eight people over to watch a game I start wishing for more space.
I do agree with D_Odds that it’s hard to do indirect cooking really well with only the two burners. That’s not usually an issue for me because I don’t do that much indirect cooking, but it’s a good point to keep in mind if you do.
90% of what we will do can be covered by a 2 burner. Not sure I want to give up the compactness for a 3 burner that we won’t use much. Plus we have a nice, big Miele oven with a rotisserie that can be used to help load balance. I may end up regretting that, and then again may end up putting in a real grill down the road in the covered area where I have the natural gas.
A family of five, I think the 220 will work. I look forward to putting my pizza steel on that and really firing it up. The Grillgrate looks interesting as well.
Anyhoo, will need to go take a look at home depot before making a decision. Thanks for the tips that home depot will do the assembly as well. Makes it real easy.
Revisiting. Was at a party last night with a chinese couple and abut 25 people. Looks like I need the side burner for sure. Eying the Weber Genesis (copper). I’m sure there are folks out there that have one.
I’ve had a red weber genesis special edition (came with stainless steel grates and flavorizer bars) for a little over two years. I’ve had a couple of other gas grills before, they were great for the first season but developed hot spots and rusted grates and after about a year or so were worthless and I decided to spend a little money and get something with a good reputation.
Pros: built like a tank, clever conveniences like a built in propane tank gauge and tool hooks, good casters for easy moving (I move mine everytime I use it), good (not great) heat, easy to find replacement parts (but I haven’t needed them), the stainless steel grates will probably last a lifetime, easy to clean out the grill bottom (useful drip tray, easily removable bottom tray that catches all the grease/ashes).
Cons: It cooks just as good as any other gas grill I’ve had, but not better. It has hot spots. It was expensive.
The best gas grill I’ve ever cooked on was a relatively cheap char-broil patio bistro gas grill (TRU-infrared). The food I cooked on that was just absolutely delicious and juicy. Too bad it only lasted a few months before rusting.
I have a Big Green Egg and a Weber Genesis Silver. I’m very happy with them both. The egg is great when I want super high heat, or long and slow, or smoking. The Weber is great for when I just want to throw a few brats on the grill and not make it a project. I do like being able to move them both around, the Weber is (obviously) easier than the egg, but they’re both on wheeled carts. In the winter, they live in the garage and can be wheeled onto the driveway for cooking, in the summer they’re on the deck.
You could look at either Vermont Castings 324 or Napoleon Prestige series as an alternative to the Weber. I have a Napoleon and have been very happy with it. It is propane but I will be converting to ng soon because filling the tanks around here is beginning to be a PITA.