DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Need help with Gas Grill selection and a Shopsmith

It is time for me to buy a new gas grill.

I have had a Weber for many, many years. It has performed consistently yet unspectacularly. It was expensive and is a little too small.

I certainly feel like I got my money's worth...but I am not so impressed as to being compelled to buy another one.

I am curious as to the opinion of others.

Also, my father has a Shopsmith Mark V. It has all the attachments you can think of and he has a boatload of handtools that accompany the unit.

It is a model from the late 80's but looks and operates like new. I am not thinking it is worth much given it's model year...but I have no clue where to start in figuring out what to do with it. (Woodworking is not my thing.)

This particular post is less about the unit being available for sale but more about others opinion of the old Shopsmith equipment and how I might find people interested in that sort of thing.

Thanks in advance.

I don't do gas anymore, so I can't help.....I am a fan of coals or wood.

I have never owned a gas grill. Never will. Buy a charcoal grill Willie, you will never be sorry!

Gotta join those above. Gas sucks. Got a big green egg last summer after years of weber kettles. Still love the webers, but the ceramic grills are superior though more expensive. Might as well cook it inside if you are going to use gas IMO.

Nohing beats charcoal. If I could only convince the wife of that - she wants a propane BBQ even though our little charcoal grill works just fine and is all we need.

Well I guess I'm going against the grain here. I love my propane grill. I use it a few times every week. Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Light it, let it pre-heat and apply your meat, chicken or fish of choice. I've used many charcoal grills and sure they are fine, but I just don't see them being that much better than propane or natural gas, if you have that option. The convenience of lighting a propane grill out ways the extra flavor you may get from charcoal. Everything I put on the grill is seasoned to perfection anyway and I don't have to wait for the coals to be ready, plus if I'm cooking a lot of food my propane grill will hold the temp I want w/o having to add more coals and wait for them to pre-heat all over again.

As far as which one to get......Most will be fine, I would just make sure it has the side burner so you can do an extra dish or have a hot sauce going.

Happy Grilling!

I converted my propane grill to a natural gas grill. I have a natural gas stub that comes out the back of my house. I love always having fuel and not having to worry about it. And I agree ...the tradeoff between flavor and convenience isn't that great. You can get some great tasting food off a gas grill.

But if you want the best food you've ever had ...get a smoker ...specifically a traeger smoker. I got one for Christmas and it is amazing.

Sorry, but I've had a boat load of people brag about how great their food is on a gas grill and how you can't taste the diffence and tried it from all of them. Not even close.

To each his own, but gas grills suck.

Yeah, I had a burger from a propane gas grill today.....ugh.

Yeah...okay. FTR, I've never really enjoyed food from a gas grill like I do from charcoal.

Quote:

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That's what every one of the gas grill braggers said.

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Is that like a Holcomb Hugger?


I like food cooked on my gas grill. I like food cooked on my charcoal grill. I had no idea that there was so much animus between owners of the 2.

JC.


I have propane for one major reason... Hurricanes. When we were without power that things was our coffee maker, our breakfast maker, our dinner cooker for 2 full weeks. Sorry, but waiting for the coals to make coffee would have sucked.

As far as which to get, the main things too look for are brass burners rather than rolled steel tubes, and SS or ceramic grate/grill. My current grill has the infra-red heating plates which have made for a much more even cooking surface across the grill.

Get a cover, as they really help maintain the grills survival rate.

Oh yeah, propane is great for lots of times, no doubt. The convenience is great, like you said.

Felt bad for helping hijack your thread, so against my better judgement, this might help you:


http://www.homebarbequegrilling.com/

I know a thing or two about a thing or two

get one of these


http://www.kamado.com/

I've got both. If I have the time, charcoal it is. If I don't, the gas grill sure beats a steak broiled in the oven.

I've got the Lil Tex.

I'm just getting into this smoking thing, but so far I love it. Did some ribs tonight with a homemade rub. I've never been able to eat ribs without sauce until the traeger.

We did the Christmas prime rib on it...22 lbs...amazing...just amazing.

Ok, for a gas grill I bought a nice stainless steel Jenn-air a few years ago, and I am very happy with it. It has held up well, much better than the inexpensive ones you commonly see.

The Shopsmith Mark 5 goes from about 500 to 1000 dollars on ebay. The proble is to find a buyer. Shipping that thing would be expensive.

Those Shopsmiths are quality pieces of USA made equipment. They've changed very little over the years, and there are countless units from the 70's and 80's still running strong. The people that own them swear by them, and they have excellent customer support. Just do a google search and you'll see what I mean. The only negative comments seem to come from people that don't own one or have never used one. I'm assuming those Ebay units are bare bones without many attachments.

I'm a big fan of small charcoal portable grills meant for a small group

I have and absolutely LOVE the Little Pal grill. Originally made by Worthington Cylinders here in town. Just a wonderful grill that predates the Chris Palmer years. I bought it when I was getting excited about tailgating in Cleveland again. Still going strong.

I'm currently looking at a Japanese Yakatori grill. The idea is small and table top. Apparently the Japanese use several different kinds; Hibachis and Yakitori style grills. Here's a pic of the Yakitori:



You'll notice this combines the ideas of an Egg grill (ceramic construction like what ColumbusDawg is talkin about) and hibachis and other table tops. Apparently, they sell for under 40 bucks.

No doubt you are well served to keep a gas burner around.

I was without power a week or so back and pulled out my camp stove. I use it for tailgates and emergency's. I keep 6-8 small bottles of gas...each bottle gives about 5 hours of cook time, both burners at full heat (I've tested this)


As you said, it's great for boiling water and any type of pan cooking.

Lets face it, if a hurricane knocks out your power for a extended period of time, chances are you aren't going to be grilling steaks and burgers and are going to be boiling water and heating up canned goods...which is done in a pot or pan.

Actually, we were grilling steaks and burgers.. Gotta use them up before they go bad.

Of course now we have the generator, but we still use up the meats quickly since the generator only runs when we are home, and the fridge holds cold for a while but 10+ hours in Florida summer in a closed up house it still loses quite a bit of it's cold.

I do agree, the charcoal is a better flavor, but I don't want 2 grills around, and anymore, I just use it to cook up some steaks, burgers or brats, once a week or so, so it works well for my purposes. It's just too damn hot in Florida summer to be standing outside next to a grill for too long.

I think both have their place....I have a gas grill and am looking to buy a charcoal. but lets face it...for day to day grilling...I am not going to spend the time needed to charcoal.

The time needed to prep...the time needed to heat to temp and unless you have a really nice and moveable setup you have to remove all your food and grill to add charoal for long periods of cooking. Then the time for cleanup. Well it is not worth it for day to day grilling. For quick day to day grilling, gas has it beat hands down...not to mention the gas grill is much easier to control.

BUT...When you have the time, and for a weekend grill there are so many things and different woods and flavors that you can impart...not to mention the temperatures that you can attain with charcoal...wood chips, pecan shells, allsorts of smokes and flavors...Oh yeah....definitely worth it.

And then there is nothing like a good smoker...brick or ceramic...(I don't like the metal ones as much as they give up more heat...) But you want to talk about needing time.....lol (next project is a Standing Rib Roast...and sorry...no you are not invited...lol)

I tell you there is a place for both of them...

As for a gas grill...I like the Cast Iron Grates....they hold the heat so well and they season as you use them. Care for them as you would a cast iron pan. scrub clean and wipe down with some canola oil on a paper towel...

Another thing I look for with the gas grills are the double walled lids. They do a great job of holding heat in.

Again...I like them both...but you have to take into context HOW you are going to use it.

I use a gas grill because of convenience. I grill multiple times weekly all year round as our mild winters make it easy. If I want a little extra flavor I buy wood chips. Wrap them in a tinfoil packet, with holes poked in it, to the grill. Allowing it to smoke prior to placing my food on the grill. I've also augmented my grill with heavy cast iron grill toppers. They're called mangrates. They heat up and hold heat better than any other grill grate out there. Adding an awesome sear that is hard to achieve on gas grills typically. I highly recommend them. Even for the charcoal grillers out there.
www.mangrate.com check them out.

No doubt cast iron is the way to go...country folk have known that for a few hundred years...


Once you get cast iron heated, there aren't any hot spots....the whole damn thing is hot.

We had some most excellent burgers from our gas grill last night......and will be doing steaks tomorrow night methinks.

Yes Jules, I am one of those gas grill braggers.

Camping or a day in the park I will use charcoal but if at home it's propane all the way....no mess and no messing around waiting, and it tastes great if you know what the hell you are doing.

No doubt they are good.

As for mess, i always found it the other way.

I use lump charcoal, which leaves very little ash.

I will generally grill 2 days a week...maybe more, and don't have to empty ash any more often then I had to unhook the tank and go fill it up, but sure, if you use briquettes, you have ash piles everywhere.

One advantage to gas is you can multi-task much easier. It's easier to set different temp zones and with side burners can pretty much do it all from meats, veggies, to sauce.

I guess the big reason for me is clean-up. I don't like cleaning that stuff up. When my fairly inexpensive charcoal grill gets dirty, I just toss it and get another every year or so. They also tend to collect less dust, dirt and grease since there aren't burners, doors, trays, etc.

I will have to take a look at those....I already have cast iron grates(and LOVE them)....but these are so much heavier and would hold so much more heat....not to mention the design to reduce flareups is an interesting concept.

I have propane, charcoal, and smoker. I use the propane for easy stuff like burgers, hot dogs, carne asada, etc. The charcoal for steak, tri-tip, chicken, etc. And the smoker for ribs, pulled pork, salmon, and sausage.

When getting a gas grill I'd look for one that has an automatic ignitor and thick a grill surface. Not the thin wire grill. It will cook things better and will be easier to clean. Other than that I don't think there is much difference between the gas grills. Mine has a side burner on it where I can cook stuff in a pan, but I hardly ever use it.

I think that I've asked this on here before, but I can't recall... has anyone here ever had/used one of the Bradley smokers with the automatic, self-feeding wood pellets?

I've been toying with the idea of one for a while now... reluctant to pull the trigger, though.

J/C

natural gas grill for me. the searing station and controlled temp's for the rotisserie are the main reasons I switched from charcoal. it's also just plain easier to maintain as grilling is a year-round thing for me here.

Same. It's much easier to just flip on a flame and cook something to pretty much the same taste than it is to start up the charcoal grill.