Learn me: A grill that will last forever

My parents have a Weber stainless grill. I hate that damn thing. It works less then a British car.

slopecarver wrote: While this isn't exactly what the OP wants it is a grill that will last 25 years: Lodge sportsman grill, 99% cast iron, the handle is a thick chunk of stainless wire.

hmm think my grandmother-in-law has one of those sitting in her garage... might have to look a little closer next time i'm up there lol

my current grill is what was a "nice" walmart propane grill... stainless lid... my father-in-law bought it about 5 years ago when he moved here... kept it covered... the burners burnt/rusted out, the flame covers rusted away... FIL made some ghetto burners out of some pipe... when he moved I got it (complete with a full tank of propane)... in short... a GRM guy can keep something like this going for a long time... but buy something better :)

my old grill that I got rid of when I left the country for a few months was one I found on side of the road, was a small barrel type with cast iron grates... add a lighter chimany and it was great...

my dads grill was a wal-mart charcoal $20 I bought when visiting 3 years back... he doesn't grill much anymore because of time but we make it a point to when I visit... last week I bought him a new one because the old walmart one finally had the legs completely rust off... not bad for $20 lol... granted if we used it every week spending a bit more would be worth it

if I had was in the market right now i'd go for a propane lighter charcoal

looking forward to grilling a lot more this summer :)

Thanks Wally! That's exactly what I'm looking for!!!

slopecarver wrote: While this isn't exactly what the OP wants it is a grill that will last 25 years: Lodge sportsman grill, 99% cast iron, the handle is a thick chunk of stainless wire.

My dad loves his Lodge grill. He keeps it inside of the old gas grill that had the burners rusted away.

I had a cast iron lodge Grill. It gets reallllly hot and the cast iron grate is really nice, but I found it cumbersome to clean up and get started. Stuff also falls off of it as it's quite narrow and doesnt have a rim. It's also real heavy. I prefer using my smokey joe 14" weber.

Lodge used to make a grill N sear cast iron 2 pc grate but it's discontinued.

pbegummibear wrote: Hi, I would stay away from some of the 400 webers at Home Depot. Weber bought Ducane grills a few years ago and the quality isn't as good overall. If you need to know which grills are ducane, just go on the website and it will be obvious. The propane grills that you want (used though) are the older genesis series. They have the no doors at the bottom, and have varying sizes. some even have a burner on the side. They can be scored on craigslist for $40-100. The things to check are clogged/rusted burners, rusted frame (hardest thing to fix in my opinion), and chipping enamel. Some people also change out the flavorizer bars, but really i dont think that is necessary. In my opinion the chunks of angle iron shouldn't need replacing ever but people do it anyway for piece of mind. The best thing is that Weber has all the parts readily available here: http://store.weber.com/parts/ and customer service is awesome. This is an awesome thread on TVWBB for restoration: http://tvwbb.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6440039023/m/951100796 When I get a house, I will definately pick up one of these. The Weber performer is also an awesome setup- propane start with the burn of charcoal. The older version with the stainless top is higher quality, but only available used. They got for $125-175 on CL when they pop up. The newer version with the plastic top is just as functional, but a little cheesy in construction. Good luck with your decision.

Looking on the website, it looks like the "entry level" ones are makeee in chineee, but the Genesis series is still made in USA (and are decent????) sound about right?

In reply to poopshovel:

Yeah, but they are also sharing parts nowadays. Weber just got hit with a class action lawsuit for labeling things made in the USA when they weren't. I am not sure of the details though. I know most of the kettles are made in the US. Here's a cool vid about their manufacturing: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/made-america-weber-grills/story?id=13624175#.T3IEvtmqGIA

Weber also contracted alot of their industrial design to Choi industrial design in Chicago. http://www.choidesign.com/our-work/category/consumer/ I tried to get a job there once, haha. The introduction of cheap plastics and less functional designs were made by this place. They look good though! Form over function i guess. People also discard their Webers when they can last for decades. It's a shame really.

Before this cost reduction, Weber products were built like tanks. Now you have to be careful on which ones you buy, especially with the merger with ducane. I think the Summits are high quality but $$$$, the Genesis are decent, and I would stay away from the Spirit.

BTW, Weber will warranty things with the date stamp on the grill, no receipt needed from what I have heard online.

Can you tell I am a weber enthusiast? TVWBB is a great forum for bbq and smoking if you are interested.

How long you suppose these last?

Flounder ahead....

My guess is they will be expected to outlive a 17yr old black male.

Just remember a used grill is like a used condom, you don't want to put your meat in it!

I found a charbroil cast iron barrel style125lb bbq a neighbor was getting rid of. I fixed it up a bit, added a stainless ledge and I love this damn thing. I cook mostly with oak but am currently down to my last log so I'm looking into getting some fruit wood or almond or something. The only think I want to do is to use furnace liner to make it air tight because the damn thing will smoke all night as it lets in too much air.

I don't like gas grills in my opinion they are all crap. If you leave it outside I think the life expectancy is between 2-4years. If you want it to last longer than that be sure and clean it after use and keep it covered, but still outside life is hard on the thing. The "stainless" companies use is all garbage also so don't expect a piece of 20ga stainless sheet to last through many heat cycles and weather. You'll see the crap in the steel start rusting out. I think gas grills get sold to amateurs, don't know how to use a bbq well 500$ later you'll be a pro.

benzbaron wrote: I think gas grills get sold to amateurs, don't know how to use a bbq well 500$ later you'll be a pro.

...or people who put them right next to the chimney smoker for days when they don't feel like waiting 2hrs for a hamburger. Do you have a microwave or do you always fire up the oven to make popcorn? This isn't really an either/or issue.

I bought a stainless Weber because my neighbor has had the same one on his deck for 15yrs. They don't rust or pit at all. Its pretty well put together - more likely to get stolen than rot away.

No I don't have a microwave or TV, guess I need to join the 21st century! Don't take anything I say too seriously, I just offer my flawed and contentious opinion. If it takes you 2hours to get a grill going you need to go to BBQ university. A trick my uncle showed me is to use cedar plus oak, the cedar gets the hardwood going.

The problem getting into which wood is best is that it is regional, I can get almond or oak or apple, but would have a hard time finding stuff like mesquite or hickory. The reason I'm a fan of oak is that is what I have available and don't have to buy it. Don't see much persimmon around, thanks for the tip!

pilotbraden wrote: What about one of these? I have eaten many scrumptious meals off similar rigs. They are easy to repair and modify.

This is what I was thinking. Heck I am finally going to start learning to weld maybe this will be one of my first projects.

I wish I had pictures of mine but I sold it. It was a New Braunfels smoker/grill that looked like this:

They are heavy-gauge fabricated steel. Don't fall for the cheapy Weber versions made of thin stamped steel, they don't last. You should have to almost grunt to lift the lid.

I modified mine a bit, but it was the perfect charcoal/wood/propane/natural gas/grill/smoker/BBQ on the planet. I could toss some charcoal directly under foods for grilling, use gas, or indirect fire for smoking. Read on.

First modification was to put identical thermometers on both ends of the lid. Then I took a piece of sheet metal and tack welded it inside over the hole from the firebox to the cooking area. I built a good medium fire in it and bent that sheet metal up and down until I got an even temperature on both ends.

Second modification was to put a 90 degree duct inside the chimney that extended down to about the level of the grate. Keep it just a slip-fit so you can remove it if you want. The reason i did that is because hot smoke (in theory) was rising out of the firebox, scooting along the top of the cabinet, and straight out the chimney. This little addition forces the smoke to get drawn over the food. It can pretty easily overpower some foods which is why you want it to be removable. For instance, 10 hours of smoking a brisket? Too much smoke with the extension. 1 hour of hot smoking/cooking a salmon filet? Its nice to have that extension to bump up the flavor

Third modification: I noticed that I wasn't using it quite as much because of the need to start, tend, and maintain a fire. It can be intense if you're doing a turkey or brisket on low heat that takes a long time. I took some 1/2 black pipe, drilled 1/8" holes every few inches, drilled a hole in the side of the firebox and poked it in. It didn't affect the use of wood, but I could use the gas to get the wood burning and the unit hot faster. If I wanted to go away, I could also just keep the gas on a bit. That way if it ran out of wood it would still maintain a safe food temperature.

Fourth modification: Buy a bundt pan and a stainless bowl that fits just down inside the bundt pan. Put the center hole of the bundt pan over the chimney. Turn the stainless bowl upside down and put it in the bundt pan. During smoking, the smoke comes up through the center of the bundt pan, cools and condenses on the stainless bowl, and drips down into the bottom of the bundt pan. It is the BEST liquid smoke you will ever use.

Fifth modification I never got around to doing, but I was going to add a gas burner in the main part of the cooking area so I could use it as a plain gas grill for days when I don't want smoke, or if I just want to toss a couple burgers on.

Overall, it used off-the-shelf parts that were cheap at home depot, and it used generic iron pipe that would never wear out. If you ever need to replace parts you don't have to get the factory-specific ones, just get a cheap one.

In reply to curtis73:

Nice work. I am going to use some, or all of those ideas on the "man kitchen" that I am building.

Damn. Curtis is my new hero.

No offense to those who do so, but if I wanted to spend a gazillion hours fabricating and modifying, I've got 2 stalled car projects in the basement, and another that needs a day's worth of routine maintenance, not to mention a "Honey do" list as long as my arm. If I go that route, I'll just fix the one I've got. And if I want BBQ, there's really no need to spend an entire day cooking 20 lbs. of food for me and the wife, when I've got internationally acclaimed brisket 5 minutes down the road @ $9/lb.

We do mostly chicken, steaks, and burgers on the grill. I've got our "old grill" which is tiny, but surprsingly has not rusted to E36 M3, that I've intended to use as a smoker for the last 5 years...shows you how much "real bar-b-cue" I do.

jrw1621 wrote: Napoleon?? 25 yr burner.

My Napoleon didn't come with a 25 year warranty. But it was bought over 10 years ago. The burner (stainless steel) lasted about five years and the grates a bit less. The replacements have lasted much better. The company is a Canadian company and the factory folks were very nice. We have our set up for natural gas. While I love cooking on charcoal, it sure is easy stepping out the back door, turning a knob, hitting the ignitor and throwing meat on in a few secs. And since its plumbed into the house's nat gas supply, I never have to refill bottles.

get a pile of bricks from a building that is getting torn down.. pile them up in a somewhat boxy shape, add a cast iron grate of some sort..

I see the new "Don't be a dick" rule has caught on like wildfire!

novaderrik wrote: get a pile of bricks from a building that is getting torn down.. pile them up in a somewhat boxy shape, add a cast iron grate of some sort..

Quit looking over my fence. I did that exact thing, and used a piece of salvaged iron fence for the grate. Spent a total of $0 on it. From searing steaks to bonfires to burning leaves, it covers the bases.

Of course I also have a big, semi-craptastic Lowes gas grill to complement it for those nights I don't feel like screwing with the live fire.

I have a 5 year old Char-Griller Duo, which looks like the one Curtis pictured on the right hand side, but has another grill body for propane on the left hand side along with a propane side burner. Heavy steel construction, plenty of BTUs, and ceramic coated cast iron grills. Best feature is that you can put a charcoal chimney on the side burner to light it and have coals ready in just a few minutes. Mine has the smoker too, which the new one require you to add on. The igniters were junk, but upgrades are easy and cheap.

slopecarver wrote: While this isn't exactly what the OP wants it is a grill that will last 25 years: Lodge sportsman grill, 99% cast iron, the handle is a thick chunk of stainless wire.

Well hell. Now i know what that funny little grill I got from my grand dads 30+ years ago. I think I ended up selling it at a yard sale.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

Watch out for Ricky and company