New Grill

[HogieWan]

My fiancee and I have started to get some wedding presents and we scored a very nice grill. It's a Brinkmann Professional Dual Zone Charcoal grill that we got from Sam's on her grandparents' dime. I assembled it this past saturday - I'll put pictures up later today.

I found this (http://www.beeradvocate.com/news/stories_read/345/) on BA and will be putting a couple of filet mignon's in some Paulaner Salvator tonight for grilling tomorrow.

One problem remains - I don't know what the $#%@ I'm doing. I've grilled before, but never started it up. The new grill has a thermometer on each side, but I don't know how hot I want it or how much charcoal I need to get it that hot. I like my steak medium-rare and the woman likes hers medium-well. How long do they stay on there?

I do know that I'll get a couple extra Salvators to enjoy with the meal. Is there another beer or beer style that would work well as an apertif?

[unkle bik]

Aside from conveinence, charcohl grilling beats gas grilling ANYDAY.
Have fun with your new gift.
I can't wait for my peppers to ripen so I can have some on the grill.:)

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by unkle bik
Aside from conveinence, charcohl grilling beats gas grilling ANYDAY.

I had a lot of trouble finding a charcoal pit. Everyone had tons of gas models and one dinky charcoal pit. Then I found this gem.

[unkle bik]

Does it have two seperate sections? (one for grilling, one for smoking)
I have seen some with optional gas side burners for heating things like sauce.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by unkle bik
Does it have two seperate sections? (one for grilling, one for smoking)
I have seen some with optional gas side burners for heating things like sauce.

No, it has two separate grilling sections. each sidehas independant control for the height of the coals. You can take out the piece that divides the two sides and have heat on one side of the grill and lower heat on the other, or put meat to smoke on the lower temp side. The main reason I liked it is because I can grill for a bunch of people at a cookout, or just use one side for me and my little lady.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by HogieWan
One problem remains - I don't know what the $#%@ I'm doing. I've grilled before, but never started it up. The new grill has a thermometer on each side, but I don't know how hot I want it or how much charcoal I need to get it that hot. I like my steak medium-rare and the woman likes hers medium-well. How long do they stay on there?

Any answers for these?

[HarkJohnny]

generally when grilling meat you want the heat high at first... to sear the outside. this keeps the juices in which keep your steak moist. then after that turn the flame down to low and let it sit to cook the inside. turn once for each session if you can. as far as time... depends on just how hot the grill gets.

the first time i used my new grill i burnt everythng on it! lol :D

here's a chart from Weber Grills you might check out:
http://www.weber.com/bbq/pub/recipe/grilling101/guide/grilling/beef.aspx

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by HogieWan
Any answers for these?

I usually go about 375-400F for steaks of reasonable thickness.

I like my meat rare so I can get a good sear and not cook the middle. I don't have any problem using the same heat to get steaks to medium or well-done but, I've been grilling for 20 years(starting at 16 years old) so you learn a few tricks to managing your heat.

If you want a steak medium-well to well-done without a char on it then make one side of the grill approx 375-400F for searing(3-4 minutes on each side of the steak) and then move to other side where it's only around 300F(or less - use indirect heat(food not directly over the coals) to cook thoroughly, keeping the lid closed). Make sure you keep your grill vents open to allow adequate oxygen to coals unless you're choking it back 'cuz it's too hot. Once you practice for a while you'll get good enough to leave only two sets of grill marks per side of the meat(in that beautiful criss-cross pattern).

You shouldn't have any problem in the 350-400F range.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by Fast_Eddy
You shouldn't have any problem in the 350-400F range.

That's the info I needed - thank for the link Hark.

I just put the meat to marinate in a Salvator - should be ready to go tomorrow.

I'm going take some pics

[BeerMeShorty]

Originally posted by HogieWan
Any answers for these?

I saw once on Food TV at one of those BBQ cookoff's, something that stuck in my brain about doneness. It had been a constant question and I hated ruining a steak by cutting into it too early. Basically, you touch your thumb to your first finger and feel the base of your thumb, that is what a medium rare steak feels like. (I'm pointing to it on my hand as I try to type this in case you needed a visual!) Then moving down the hand, touch your thumb to your middle finger for medium, ring finger for medium well, and pinky for well done.

Believe it or not it really does work. Good luck with your grilling.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by BeerMeShorty
Believe it or not it really does work. Good luck with your grilling.

Good tip

Now for the show. Here she is all closed up.

[HogieWan]

Opened up - side shelves up

[HogieWan]

Middle divider removed - too bad you can't see the charcoal grates, but the brass handles on both sides turn to raise and lower them. The inside handles open the doors to get to the fire or to let the fire get super hot.

[Fast_Eddy]

One very important tip: let the steaks rest for about 8 minutes after you take them off the heat especially if you like them medium or rarer. This allows the remaining juices time to redistribute throughout the meat.

[Fast_Eddy]

Oh yeah - get a charcoal starter chimney if you don't have one. Definitely worth the $10.

[bruin_ale]

She's a beaute!

The thing I've found with grilling is that no matter how much advice you get, you really just have to learn by doing. This rule especially applies to a new grill. I had my old grill all figured out, then moved and they left a gas grill that's hooked up to the house's natural gas line so I use that one now. First few times yielded less than spectacular results, but I've been turning out some great stuff since then. Charcoal is great when you have the time to wait for coals, but when I get home at 7 oclock and am starving for some bbq, nothing beats firing up the grill and having it hot and ready to go in less than the time it takes to prep the meat. But I digress...

You'll probably be a little unsure for the first few times you use the grill, but you'll get the hang of temps and cooking times in short order. Good luck with your salvator steaks, sounds good!

Now that I'm flush with various brews at home, I've begun incorporating them into my cooking quite a bit. Steamed some veggies in IPA a few nights ago (a sip for the veggies, two sips for me) and they turned out excellent.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by Fast_Eddy
Oh yeah - get a charcoal starter chimney if you don't have one. Definitely worth the $10.

I'm picking one up tonight. Will I need two to start coals for both sides?


Originally posted by bruin_ale
Steamed some veggies in IPA a few nights ago (a sip for the veggies, two sips for me) and they turned out excellent.

THAT sounds tasty!

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by HogieWan
I'm picking one up tonight. Will I need two to start coals for both sides?



...

I would say yes since you have a charcoal monster although for two steaks you probably don't need that much :)

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by Fast_Eddy
I would say yes since you have a charcoal monster although for two steaks you probably don't need that much :)

The manual says I should "cure" the pit. This is done by coating the interior surfaces with vege oil and having a 225* fire for 2 hours and then bringing it to 400* for an hour. This will prevent the paint from falling off later and driving off any fumes from the paint. It also says I could coat the inside with oil everytime I use it - is that really necessary?

I couldn't find a good chimney - I'm looking for a smaller one (since each side doesn't take to much charcaol) that the bottom slides out instead of having to dump the charcoal out the top. I just got a small bottle of lighter fluid to use now until I get my chimneys.

[xtalman]

You could alway make a chimney out of a piece of old round air duct.

I doubt you need to coat the inside everytime, actually I never heard of doing this but I can see the point of it. The last charcoal grill I had was a little Weber before buy my Kenmore gas grill, it had like most Webers a grate in the bottom to put the coals. I went through a number of those over the years. I really do like the convinence of the gas grill though the charcoal grill does provide a better all around taste.

[HogieWan]

Well the steaks turned out great - thanks for the tips. I raised the charcoal grates super close to the grill and seared the meat on both sides, then I backed it down to cook them through. I put mine off to the side while I left my fiancee's right over the fire. They both came out perfectly.

The only problem - which is a huge problem - my fiancee didn't like the Salvator!!! After talking through it with her I determined she likes a thinner mouthfeel and more carbonation. I'm realizing that while I've been exploring new beers and maturing my palate, she's been drinking wine and cosmopolitans (I can't blame her - I make a great martini).

She really just doesn't have the same drive I have to explore different flavors. I'll just have to give her interesting things in her "range" and reach slightly beyond every once in a while. Kind of steathily force her to enjoy good beer.

I'm thinking a Cooper's Ale will fit within her parameter and give her something besides Michelob amber bock (her favorite beer). Any other suggestions?

I'm going to start a new thread on this for more suggestions please refer to the other thread.

[chazwicke]

Originally posted by unkle bik
Aside from conveinence, charcohl grilling beats gas grilling ANYDAY.
Have fun with your new gift.



AMEN!

[HogieWan]

Used the grill again on the 4th for some boneless chicken breasts - I was suprised at how well they came out. There's no way I could get that flavor on anything but a charcoal grill. Thanks again for all the tips!!!

I'm thinking of trying my hand at smoking some meat, but maybe I'll just marinate in a rauchbier.

[unkle bik]

Excellent looking grill, hogie! It's what I am looking for next year.
Where did you get it? If you don't mind, how much?

I have a 25 year old gas grill that is on it's last leg, er burner. It WILL be retired this summer. For smoke flavor, I use wood chips from my firewood pile. soak them in water, wrap in foil, throw on grill.

If you can't find a chinmey starter, check out the Boy Scout's website. IIRC, my son said there was one there made from coffee cans. At one time, I bought an electric starter for my charcoal grill at a yard sale. Essentially, it looked like a branding iron. Put it under the coals, and 15 minutes it was ready. A Home Depot or fireplace store may have a new one.

Keep grillin'!

[haaseg]

Man, I love grilling. I grill all the time.

The last three years, my family has come over for thanksgiving and I've cooked the turkey over the grill. You won't believe how amazing this works!

Well... would you believe me if I posted the proof.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by unkle bik
Excellent looking grill, hogie! It's what I am looking for next year.
Where did you get it? If you don't mind, how much?

Got it at Sam's, so you need to have membership or know someone who does. It was just under $200, but it didn't cost me a dime since it was a wedding gift from my fiancee's grandparents. They wanted to get us something that we wnated but wasn't available at the places we registered. I was quite excited when she mentioned the fact that I wanted a grill!

[chazwicke]

Originally posted by haaseg
Man, I love grilling. I grill all the time.

The last three years, my family has come over for thanksgiving and I've cooked the turkey over the grill. You won't believe how amazing this works!

Well... would you believe me if I posted the proof.

Nice! My brother always does one on the grill and one deep fried. so we have two turkeys each year.

[HogieWan]

My dad fries the turkeys for thansgiving and christmas. I'd like to try grilling one eventually. Whats your basic procedure, there?

[haaseg]

The secret is that pan full of brine sitting under the turkey. I brine the turkey for 8 hours, then put the brine in the pan.

You put the coals around the pan and light them up. Then close the lid, and check every 30 minutes or so. Keep an eye on the thermometer, and add some fresh coals every once in a while.

This is called indirect cooking. Basically, the flame does not come near the turkey. Instead the heat goes up, reflects off the lid of the grill and back around. It's the same principle as a convection oven. It is nearly impossible to burn food this way, as direct flame never comes in contact with the food. The brine (or water, or beer, or wine) in the pan adds a bit of steam to the mix and helps keep the food moist.

I also do ribs this way. Usually every weekend I'll get some pork or beef ribs, spray them down with apple cider, and then let them go for about 3 hours. I also add some hickory or mesquite chips to the coals to get some of that smoked flavor. About 1/2 hour before I take them off, I start coating them with BBQ sauce. I usually coat each side 2x. If you have a Whole Foods grocery near you, they sell a sauce called Charlie Brieggs, that's the best stuff I've been able to find.

[neldor19]

I smoke stuff all the time.Smoked food is excellant,especially Ribs and Turkey.Couple things to remember,dont let your drip pan dry up when using indirect heat.Keep adding water or your food will dry up.Not to much as to dilute the juices and seasonings,but enough to keep everything moist....a couple of inches deep is fine.And,be carefull what wood you use to smoke with.When using backyard wood be sure its a hardwood.It would be quite a surprise if ya had a cook out and smoked your food with cedar or pine.I usually just buy my chips from the store.That way you know what your getting and its easier to experiment with the flavors of differant types of wood.
Good Luck!!!!

[HogieWan]

I can probably get a hold of pecan pretty easily around here.

[neldor19]

Sure,that'll work.Never tried Pecan myself,but Im sure youll get good results.Ive seen it sold before,just havnt tried it yet.I usually use Hickory,Mesquite,or Apple.

[haaseg]

Originally posted by HogieWan
I can probably get a hold of pecan pretty easily around here.

Pecan is excellent for smoking, and yes, I bet you could get a ton of it down where you are ;)

[Theakston]

That looks like a friggin' awesome grill. It looks it doubles as a smoker that you can fire up with just wood - no charcoal. Have you tried that yet?

BTW. For a really good primer on smoking try Col Klink:

smoking meat at home (http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=28501)

[HogieWan]

I haven't had a lot of time to play with it yet. I did some steaks and I did some chicken breasts, that's about it. I want to use it a few more times for grilling and kind of get the hang of it before trying to smoke something.

As for as smoking goes, I understood that any fruit or nut bearing tree produces good wood for smoking.

[eppie]

I bbq a turkey every year for thanksgiving too. I have to introduce these Belgians to Thanksgiving and good BBQing. The best grill I could find (and afford) was a baby Webber kettle, 18.5'', so I had to get a friend of a friend to make a round metal piece with the right diameter (and hadels) to go between the grill and the lid. makes the thing look like R2D2, but lifts the lid enough that the bird will fit under it and stays relativly air tight.
The holiday is american. The food is american. The beer is belgian.
________
Wiki Vaporizer (http://vaporizerwiki.com)

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by eppie
The holiday is american. The food is american. The beer is belgian.

I couldn't ask for a better recipe for a good celebration

[haaseg]

Originally posted by eppie
I had to get a friend of a friend to make a round metal piece with the right diameter (and hadels) to go between the grill and the lid.

I thought about making a similar modification on mine, but I have the 22" weber, and a 17lb bird fit on there fine (that is to say, there was about a 1/2 inch between the bird and the lid.

I really miss my weber... a tree branch fell on it. But I wanted something larger and there's only one weber that's larger and it's rediculously priced. So I got one of those round 50 gallon drum style grills with the sidecar smoke box. It works alright. It has cast iron grill grates, which give you those perfect black stripes that you always see in pictures. But it doesn't seal well. With the weber, when you're done cooking, you can close the draw on the bottom and the vent on the top and the coals will choke out... leaves a nice base for starting your next cookout. I used to always start with about 50% used coals and it really helps start things faster. This new grill leakes like a seive, so any remaining coals are ashed out the next day. Kind of a waste.

[HogieWan]

that;s the one thing lacking on my grill - the ability to choke the coals to put them out. It has small holes around the bottom for venting, but there is no way to close them. If you need to change the amount of heat on the food, you simply raise the coals higher.

[haaseg]

Maybe it's just my style of grilling, but that would be a significant problem for me. Although my new grill is not very airtight, at least there is one major intake vent that I can control.

The biggest problem is going to be grease fire. You get a couple of good fresh bone-in ribeyes on there and watch out. Once that fresh fat starts dripping, you're going to get some tall flame. Even with the coals lowered as far as possible, you can still burn your steak. Closing the intake by 50-75% usually keeps those grease flames in check (they're still there, but not raging enough to burn food).

mmmm ribeye. Maybe I'll get some of those today. Just take the fresh stake, rub some sea salt and fresh ground black pepper on it, and cook it medium rare. If you want it *really* juicy, rub some paprika on there too... amazing. The Montreal Stake seasoning is really good... it's basically salt, pepper, paprika, red pepper, and a couple of other spices. I highly recommend it (although I usually just do salt and pepper on it's own). What can I say... I like the taste of meat.

Man, I'm getting hungry for dinner and it's only 9:30 in the morning here.

[HogieWan]

I normally just put some Tony Chachere's (salt, black pepper, red pepper and others) and some extra cayenne on them and cook them to med rare for me and med well for my lady.

[YamahaXS]

grilling is a great activitity!

my method for testing doneness is to press on the meat and if it is:

soft like your cheek and its rare
soft like your bottom lip and its medium rare
soft like the side of your nose and its medium
soft like the end of your nose and its well-done

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by BeerMeShorty
I saw once on Food TV at one of those BBQ cookoff's, something that stuck in my brain about doneness. It had been a constant question and I hated ruining a steak by cutting into it too early. Basically, you touch your thumb to your first finger and feel the base of your thumb, that is what a medium rare steak feels like. (I'm pointing to it on my hand as I try to type this in case you needed a visual!) Then moving down the hand, touch your thumb to your middle finger for medium, ring finger for medium well, and pinky for well done.

Believe it or not it really does work. Good luck with your grilling.

from earlier in the thread, yamaha - I checked this and it seems to work great!

[YamahaXS]

yep. works well. and thats what i get for not ready the thread. :)

although my method can be done with one hand, allowing you to leave the other securely wrapped around a beer.

[HogieWan]

touche

[Dextolen]

A little late on this tread but I have a book called How To Grill by Stephen Raichlen that I would highly recommend.

This guy knows his stuff.

[kevin]

My regulator on my gas grill had a small leak so I decided to hit all the big box hardware store for a relplacement. None of the stores had the excact size so to be safe I purchase a Aussie grill that is both Gas and or Charcoal.
It has flavor activators which are metal grates that you pull on a rod to T-Pee the grates for gas grilling and push the rod in and the grates go flat for placing the charcoal on.
Underneath is a big dump tray for when cleaning out the charcoal when finish.
I have to admit though the barrel charcoal grill with the side wood smoker looks really interesting.