Just purchased my first grill, a Weber Genesis S-335. Been playing around with it trying to hit the two important target temps proposed by Meathead: 225°F and 325°F but I've found it very difficult, especially since the grill take almost 40 min to stabilize on a temp.
Maybe someone have an E-335/S-335 or another genesis model who can give me some advice?
I have a Genesis EP335..what i normally do is to fire up at full on 3 burners. When the grill is warm i turn off the burners needed to get a 2 zone. Adjust the gasvalve until i reach the desired temp.. does not take 40 mins for me..
Just my two cents here, but you can give yourself nightmares by obsessing over "ideal" specific temperatures. There’s much more latitude for successful cooks than the he "old bbqers tales" let on. Relax, enjoy finding the sweet spots on your cooker and enjoy the craft. FWIW.
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Good morning (at least here in California!). You do not say how you are measuring the temps, but I presume it is with the built-in lid dome thermometer. Those are notoriously inaccurate, particularly for what the temperature is at cooking grate level. I suggest getting some kind of ambient and food probe device to monitor temps to get more accurate knowledge of your gasser.
Regardless, as Texas Larry says, you will give yourself nightmares about trying to hit and keep specific temps, particularly with a gasser like the Genesis. I have used gassers for many years (my current one is a Napoleon Prestige Pro 500). For 2 zone on a 3 burner, I would get it warmed up using all 3 burners, then leave one side on High and turn off the other 2, or 1 on High and the next 1 on very low. Although the "very low" idea usually doesn't work out well for me - every easy for the that burner to blow out.
I've owned two Weber Genesis gas grills - a 2 burner and a 4 burner - and my son and father both have 3 burner models. I will start by saying I most often use a gas grill as a direct cooking device, and do not chase specific temperatures, but more "high/medium/low heat" for direct grilling.
What the others are suggesting is the way to go. Pre-heat with all burners, then turn off the ones where you wish to create an indirect zone. I'll be honest, and admit that the only times I have gone indirect on my gas grill, it was to reverse sear steaks, so I just ran with one end on high, the other burners off, and monitored my steak until it reached the desired temperature, and I then seared over the burner that was on. I've also done indirect to reheat a ham for the holidays, and in that case, I actually put a sheet pan on top of the flavorizer bars under the grate to create an indirect zone, with the heat coming up around the perimeter of the grill. I didn't try too hard to chase after 225 though, and relied on the dome thermometer only when doing that "full grill indirect" with a heat deflector in place.
My father does ribs quite often on his 3 burner grill, with one burner on high, and the ribs at the far end of the grill, and some wood chips in a foil pouch over the burner that is turned on. He doesn't even have a thermometer to monitor the grate temp with, and the ribs come out fine. He monitors the ribs for doneness and doesn't worry what the exact temp in the indirect zone is.
Going back to those two temperatures - 225F and 325F. I would not worry about those specific points so much on a gas grill, as they may be hard to achieve. Just know you will want to go "indirect" for lower and slower cooking or smoking (ribs, reverse seared steak, whole chickens, etc), if you don't have a separate smoker, and direct heat (hot and fast) for items such as chicken pieces or spatchcocked chicken, burgers, thinner steaks, etc.
Last edited by jfmorris; April 13, 2022, 07:56 AM.
You can set up a gas grill to get excellent smoke roasted barbecue if you know how. Here's how gas grills work, the best setups, and how to maintain them.
I believe the toast test is good, but given the venting necessary to make a gas grill functional and safe, there tends to be a large environmental factor to how it works with the lid closed. My grill used to be on a second story deck in Chicago, with no wind break for a block or so. I could get 50+ degree swings if the wind hit just right. That could be a problem when trying to maintain 225-250. The hot side water pan was a revelation that changed my entire experience. I didn't always use the cold side water pan, but the hot side brought a level of temp stability and smoke adherence that I had previously lacked.
You’ll definitely need to experiment, and as stated above you definitely need at least a two probe thermometer so you can measure temps at grate level. If you have to cook something today I’d shoot for 275-300 since the built thermometers usually read low.
The guys above described the process, and this pic shows the position of the only burner I needed to run to keep my 3 burner Genesis at 250-275. As you can see, even that burner is very low, but the pic was taken in Chicago in July, so I’m sure it was at least 80°F, and it may well have been 95°F.
Repeating/supporting what others have said, and this works for us.
We use the Thermoworks Smoke to monitor grate temps for 2-zone
All meats are placed on the far right side of the grill. The far right burner remains off.
Turn far left burner on HIGH (or Super High, temporarily)
[ EDIT : feel free to use the left side for cooking and right side for heat. whichever side you want to keep cool is up to you ]
More often than not, we keep the middle burner turned off as well. Only rarely will we fire the middle one up to assist with a cook
We've found that in Cold Winter, we're more likely to need the far left burner on High to maintain a 225-240 range. In the summer, we can keep that one burner at about 50-60%, give or take, to maintain a relatively steady temp.
Because a gasser needs more airflow (safety first!), you may see wider temp swings on windier days vs calm days.
Having a Smoke available to do High/Low temp alerting has been helpful in zeroing in where those knobs need to be. We're sure you'll get things figured out --- but if not, ask The Pit
(after the low/slow portion is complete, we pull the meat off onto a side plate -- pull the Smoke temp probe off the grate!!! -- then fire up all three burners to Super High for final High Heat Grilling. Doesn't take more than a few mins for sizzling to happen, then.... let the searing and yumminess begin)
As a side note, when someone finally designs a thermostatic controlled gas grill, if it's made with quality materials, it will own the market it short order. You know it's coming. I dunno when. But it's the logical extension of pellets and the masterbuilt gravity feed, and blowers...
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