Hmm.. I never notice any "gas" taste.. most of the time, any "off-tasting" food is due to user error. :D Normally the food tastes pretty good. We do like the convenience of it - and I believe there is less "exhaust" smoke, if you will. Important for us as our present abode is a crappy little apartment.

I do plan to replace the current grill with charcoal capabilities when we move into teh new abode. Absolutely agree that it tastes much better!

Mattress run? :-::D:p:rolleyes:


Wegmans sells lump charcoal. The only place I know to buy it at. :-:

Probably harder to gift a natural gas hook up... ? :)

I think :rolleyes:ov is joining me as well. Should I count you in? ;)

You booked some of these, didn't you? You can haz, too. :-:

I imagine it depends where you are. Some places it's trivial.

I just booked two more for a total of 4. May 25, 26 and June 2,3. Only one flight did not have the M upgrade available. I will be checking daily ^

There are two price ranges for the Webers. Some have steel parts (grates and burners) and others have stainless grates and burners. Get the ones that stainless accessories as it makes life easier.

As for exchange vs. refill. For me it's easier to refill than exchange because the refill place is a 3 minute drive but I only do it on weekends as I know the guys that know how to do it always work weekends. Others I know it's the other way around. Many exchange tanks don't fit so nice on Weber's.

Where, oh where, is all the Z space... :confused:

I always leave my grill well-oxygenated to burn out. Much easier to clean out ash that way, and it usually burns most of the residue off the cooking grates.

My brother in law's got a BGE, which he's made some good stuff with.

I've got a Weber Performer (the one with the built-in side table and the gas starter for the coals). I still use a chimney to get it going as well - easier to just dump some charcoal into the chimney than to try and pile it neatly around the tiny gas starter. I tend to just use regular old briquettes + some wood chips for flavor when I'm grilling burgers, but when I'm doing something serious like a beef tenderloin, I break out the real lump charcoal.

For smoking, I have one of those cheapo red vertical water smokers from HD, which I've modified to not suck:

1) A real thermometer in the top
2) Drilled out a bunch of holes in the charcoal pan so it gets airflow, and fabricated a grate to set the coals on, so ash can fall free
3) Fabricated a replacement access door in the side that accommodates a small fan that I can cycle on to stoke the coals if the chamber temperature gets too low - very handy when smoking turkey breasts in late November in Chicago. As a geek project, I'm considering wiring it up to a PID controller. ^

It's cruise season, likely being held.

My Costco sold lump hardwood charcoal last year. 4x13# bags for $20ish, IIRC.

Yeah, I only cleared on 1/6 segments

Can I kick your seatback? bwahahaha:D (Runs and hides)

Wow...knew I count on teh Box for grilling opinions!! You have given me a lot to think about and some more to research. Thanks all!!

Heading out to EWR in a few minutes, plan on being at the C3 PC between approx 4:30-5:30 if anyone is around.