Gas grill
If
you’re in the market for a gas grill now is a great time to buy.
But before you go traipsing off to the store to buy your next grill,
you should be aware of the options available to you. To know what options
suite your grilling needs, think about how you usually grill. The most
basic grilling question is how much space do you need?
To answer that, think about this. If you currently own a grill, how
many racks of food do you make? Do you throw a few burgers on, occupy
half your grill, and then turn it off, or are you filling the grate
two or three times in a row to cook the food you want? If you don’t
own a grill yet ask yourself this question; how many people will I usually
grill for? If you’re only grilling for your family of two or three
you won’t realistically need an eight burner gas grilling monstrosity.
If however you regularly throw a party that requires fifty burgers,
that eight burner gas grill is going to look awfully nice.
Another thing to look out for when you’re looking at a gas grill
is the heat output. A grill with six burners that only muster 8,000
BTU a piece is a poorly constructed machine. You should be looking at
10,000-16,000 BTU per burner in a good grill. Why is that important?
Well the higher the BTU, the better heat you’ll be getting, and
the higher the heat, the more control you’ll have over the hot
spots in the grill.
Hot spots are another thing to watch out for in a gas grill, but not
something you’ll be able to pick up on in a showroom. A hot spot
develops when the gas creates uneven heating in a grill. The best way
to discover if a specific brand or line of grills has a problem with
hot spots is to check out user reviews. There are several websites available
for doing this, and some manufacturers will even replace burners on
a high end grill that is giving you trouble with hot spots, so be sure
to do your research.
We’ve spent a lot of time talking about how the grill will cook
and how much it will cook. In reality though, it won’t matter
how the grill cooks if it falls apart a year after you buy it. That’s
why it is important to take your grill’s construction into account.
A gas grill is usually made with a steel grill body, high ends will
use stainless steel throughout the grill. Lower end models will cut
costs by only featuring stainless steel on the heating elements and
grill surface.
You should also check out how your grill is put together. Does it use
bolts, screws, welds, or (heaven forbid) nails? High end grills will
usually feature welds on major structural joints, sometimes welding
the entire body. Cheaper grills will go for screws and bolts. If your
grill has nails sticking out of it, run away as fast as you can.
