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This is another stupid poll that I thought of as summer is just around the corner. Summer opens up the North American tradition of backyard barbeques. Over the years, the consumers have been split on what type of grill they use. I want to hear what the good ppl and techspot prefer

Wierd question...personally I use Gas, but that's because I bought a cheap BBQ and it happens to use gas. Of course, the rock under the sun would be good if it would work, but it would have to get warmer in Canada.

I said charcoal, but my grill runs off gas, however has charcoal in it who knows what it is

maybe its a gas start charcoal grill? the gas lights the charcoal and turns off? ive seen them around, too rich for my blood and not as good as lighter fluid and a zippo imo <g>

EDIT: is your grill something like this by chance?

http://www.weber.com/bbq/pub/grill/f...x?g=821020&t=c

what kind of gas do you mean? most just run off of propane and charcoal. i like the taste of burgers made with a charcoal grill even tho i own a propane grill.

Usually it's propane, I've never heard of using any different gases.

we use natural gas here more than propane

Gotta be charcoal, actually, if I had the choice I'd just use hickory limbs. It takes longer to start but gives a nice flavor to the meat.

Gas just isn't an option for me, I don't like the way it dries out my food.

Another thing, my grill is 39"x36" and it would take a lot of propane to cook on that monster, I much prefer a couple of 20lb bags of Kingsford, or better yet, a few bundles of small hickory logs

Is that charcoal or are those "lava rocks" ? I've seen gas grills that have briquettes or stones in them. Some look like charcoal, some look like jagged rocks, its supposed to make the heat spread more evenly or something.

wow, where can i get one? my dad will love one of those on father's day

a little wood makes the food taste better. i heard some types of wood makes the food not taste too good. i am not an expert on which types of wood to use or not.

My brother and I made it. Its not exactly portable either
Its made of brick and has a large piece of expanded metal for the cooking grate. It was originally built for big parties and stuff, with the ability to cook six racks of pork ribs easily. We also built in a detatchab spit, that can be used to cook larger cuts of meat such as three "boston butts" or whole chickens.

Its not quite as nice as it sounds because neither my brother nor myself are professional brickmasons, but its still pretty good IMO

Hickory, cherry, mesquite(sp?) grape(yes dried grapevine), and oak are good.

Cedar, pine, and most other evergreens are bad. I'm not really sure beyond that though.

can you send me the plans? i have not much to do in the summer anyways <g.

easy way to make a big charcoal grill is get a big metal 55 gallon drum cut it in half length wise, put some legs on it, get some hinges for on the back and then get a grill to lay in side with the legs. and there you go. might want to get some chain and weld it to each side so it doesnt open up too far. my grandfather owns a pig farm and when they sell roaster pigs you can rent one of those to use. he has about 7 of them in different sizes and they work pretty good.

my parents have a titanium bbq. Its the god's honest truth- rejected submarine part my dad's friend gave him (He worked for Bab****s and Will****s). The whole setup looks like a wishing well with the titanium grill part inside and on a scissor jack that adjusts the height of the fire-containing bowl and thus the heat. The griddle part is a titanium ring that has quarter inch stainless steel rod welded to it- parallel lengths making a rack. There is a roof over the whole think shingled with cedar shakes- its beautiful and functional- Ill resurrect this post with a pic sometime.

BTW- I'm a gas man- its just too easy and you can still use wood chips in a terracotta smoker for flavor. The secret to not drying out your food is indirect heat. Turn one burner on but put your food over the burner that is off and close the lid.

I don't have any plans for the grill. we sort of built it on the fly, with the finished dimensions in mind.
The full dimensions are 39"w x 36"L Its 30" tall to the front, sides and back are 40". There is a small cleanout opening in one side, the finished box was filled with sand to 22" from the front, then 4" of heat resistant morter was used to give a finished bottom. We attached brackets on the top to support a spit. The grate and spit were custom cut and fabricated at a local metal shop. Materials for the whole project was ~$350

I'm not sure of the proper name of the bricks used, but they are the same thing used in fireplaces, same for the morter.

Storm, sounds like a nice setup!

I usually used charcoal (it beats the **** out of gas anyday of the week imo) when I lived with my parents and I had a place to grill, but now I'm not sure what it'll be.

Most likely I'll get an electric grill, as they're quick and easy to use and doesn't require me to carry either a heavy gas tank or a sack of coal up 5 flights of stairs.....
And you do get a good effect, though without the smoke flavour.

I want to build my own charcoal grill...a nice big one, but I'll have to do some planning on that project first...and there is NO comparison between gas and charcoal in my eyes, but gas is so damn easy to use in a fix, and easier to adjust various heat areas for warming and things like that...ideally, I like to use a gas grill for one set of items and the charcoal grill for another set of items, when cooking for a big BBQ party or something of that nature...

steaks over charcoal just cannot be beat!!!

I haven't grilled in a while... mainly I suppose because it was winter and the weather has been crap, we literally had 1" of ice for over a month on the ground where I live (roads got cleared and all - but not where I actually live) and I only cook for 1 most of the time. But I've got myself a little charcoal grill (rectangular not circular) and its awesome, even got dual layers so you can put some stuff on top if you don't want it right close to the flames.

If you don't want to rely on lighter fluid - I have found out that buying Best Choice (that wal mart brand - or is that Always Save - in any case) rather than Kingsford Match Light. Match Light works perfect first time you open the bag, but if you don't use the whole bag within a week its pretty worthless. That cheap brand on the other hand is a 30% larger briquette size and lights up with a match first time almost always unless you have an unusually large breeze. I've had to resort to lighter fluid after a week to get Match Light to burn.

Can anyone tell me how to cook chicken breasts good over charcoal? I've never grilled them for fear of drying them out too much.