Lonestar Grillz 24x36 offset smoker, grill, w/ main chamber charcoal grate and 3 tel-tru thermometers - left, right and center
Yoke Up custom charcoal basket and a Grill Wraps cover.
22.5 copper kettle w/ SnS, DnG, BBQ vortex, gasket and stainless steel hinge kit.
Napoleon gas grill (soon to go bye bye) rotting out.
1 maverick et-733 digital thermometer - black
1 maverick et-733 - gray
1 new standard grilling remote digital thermometer
1 thermoworks thermopen mk4 - red
1 thermoworks thermopop - red
Pre Miala flavor injector
taylor digital scale
TSM meat grinder
chefs choice food slicer
cuisinhart food processor
food saver vacuum sealer
TSM harvest food dehydrator
Everyone here has given you great advice Bulldog As several have mentioned the
Slow n Sear. This is, next to some good digital thermometers, the single most important tool for your kettle. Here’s the link.
What I have come around to thinking is something I suspected even before my first cook: Grilling outdoors can't simply be a matter of "follow these three E-Z steps and you're guaranteed good results." If that was the case, how could there be barbecue competitions, if all you have to do is follow "three E-Z steps?" There's gotta be more to it. Clearly, there is.
So maybe I started off with the wrong approach. On the other hand, if I hadn't gotten started with the wrong approach, I might not have found my way here. And what I found here are a group of terrific people - including those I have yet to meet - who have the gift of combining good advice with lots of patience, and those are two things that a newbie griller needs. So thank you all, not only for your advice, but for sticking with me.
I'm looking forward to many adventures in grilling, including those 'aha' moments when I finally 'get it.' Thanks again for all the help you've provided. I truly appreciate it.
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I would like to ask about pre-heating my grill for the purpose of cleaning the cooking grate. Doesn't sound like a bad idea, but I'm open to other ideas.
For cleaning the grate, what I sometimes do with my charcoal grills is AFTER the cook, open all vents wide, and let it use up the remaining charcoal to burn off the leftover food on the grate. This way, next cook at most you have a little brushing to do during pre-heat, and don't have to worry about getting hot to burn stuff off. If I remember too after dinner, I may go back and brush the grate while its still hot too.
Ok - just saw that glitchy already gave you this same advice below....
Last edited by jfmorris; August 12, 2020, 08:20 AM.
On my charcoal, I frequently open er up after cooking is done and burn off the coals to ‘clean’ the grill. It’s still usually hot after dinner, so I go back out and brush the grates good then. Then next cook a light brushing and or oiling during warmup works well. With a good brush, you can actually remove most stuff on a cold grate. I’m probably in the middle of the road camp for grate cleanliness. A few on here have grates that look like brand new every time they post a pic of food cooking.
I am not going to offer advice as these peeps have it covered. Just going to say welcome, and this site will have you doing stuff you can’t imagine. I did a leg of lamb awhile back (shocked the heck out of myself), and recently a raccoon (yeah, you read that right) on my kettle. All thanks to the confidence AR gave me. Hang in with us. Pit master extraordinaire is in your near future.
My toys:
Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Center (WSCGC) aka Mr. Fancypants
Pit Barrel Cooker (which rocks), named Pretty Baby
Weber Summit S650 Gas Grill, named Hot 'n Fast (used mostly for searing and griddling)
Weber Kettle Premium 22" named Kettle Kid, eager to horn in with more cooks in the future
Camp Chef Somerset IV 4-burner outdoor gas range named AfterBurner due to its 30kBTU burners
Adrenaline BBQ Company Gear:
SnS Low Profile, DnG, and Large Charcoal Basket, for WSCGC
SnS Deluxe for 22" Kettle
Elevated SS Rack for WSCGC
SS Rack for DnG
Cast Iron Griddle
Grill Grate for SnS
Grill Grates: five 17.375 sections (retired to storage)
Grill Grates: six 19.25 panels for exact fit for Summit S650
gasser
Grill Grates for 22" Kettle
2 Grill Grate Griddles
Steelmade Griddle for Summit gas grill
Fireboard Gear:
Extreme BBQ Thermometer Package
Additional control unit
Additional probes: Competition Probes 1" (3) and 4" (1), 3 additional Ambient Probes. 1 additional Food Probe
2 Driver Cables
Pit Viper Fan (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Pit Viper Fan new design (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Thermoworks Gear:
Thermapen MK4 (pink)
Thermapen Classic (pink too)
Thermoworks MK4 orange
Temp Test 2 Smart Thermometer
Extra Big and Loud Timer
Timestick Trio
Maverick ET 73 a little workhorse with limited range
Maverick ET 733
Maverick (Ivation) ET 732
Grill Pinz
Vortex (two of them)
18" drip pan for WSCGC
Ceramic Spacers for WSCGC in Kamado Mode: 2 sets each 1/2", 1", 2". The 2" spacers work best with the 18" drip pan. The 1+1/2 inch spacers work best with the 14 inch cake pan.
Two Joule Sous Vide devices
3 Lipavi Sous Vide Tubs with Lids: 12, 18 and 26 quarts
Avid Armor Ultra Pro V32 Chamber Sealer
Instant Pot 6 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot 10 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Charcoal Companion TurboQue
A-Maze-N tube 12 inch tube smoker accessory for use with pellets
BBQ Dragon and Dragon Chimney
Shun Classic Series:
8" Chef Knife
6" Chef's Knife
Gokujo Boning and Fillet Knife
3 1/2 inch Paring Knife
Bulldog -- On my charcoal grills, I clean much of the gunk off after the cook. As the charcoal continues to burn while we eat dinner, it will burn off some of the grate's gunk. Not all of it, though. After dinner you can scrape off all that you can on both sides of the grate. For me, that's not enough. Sometimes I put the grate in my gasser and let it do a good burn off. Other times I give the grate a good overnight soak with a biodegradable citric acid cleaner in a hot water heater pan and scrub it clean the next day.
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