Ziegler and Brown Turbo Elite

[hosko]

Its hard to find online any decent reviews of the Ziegler and Brown turbo elite grills so I was wanting to see if anybody here has any comments on it.

I was originally looking at a Weber Summit 4 burner except it unfortunately will not fit through the door by some 5cm and Z&B is 6cm smaller. I watched the promo video for the turbo elite and one of the selling points was that it doesn't heat the air. This seems like a negative to me if you are wanting to setup a two zone low and slow cook.

So I'm just wanting to know how they perform with the hood down. I'm wanting to cook ribs and pulled pork from time to time, even large stakes and burgers need high heat and then indirect heat.

Thanks

[DAK]

G'day Mate

My old Man had a turbo for 20 odd years. It was great.

When the time came for me to upgrade my gasser a year or so ago I went Beef Eater. Since then mates and family have each gone with BE also as they are great. Heat distribution is good, got BTU rate and the non-rust treatment of the cast iron works a treat also.

Getting back to the turbo.... Here's a few reviews

http://www.productreview.com.au/p/turbo ... urner.html

Enjoy, good luck.

[urbangriller]

Yes, the IR burners theoretically don't heat the air....just surfaces.

But the surface of the BBQ will get hot.

So the lid gets hot and therefore it heats the air......I hate marketing spin like this!!!

[hosko]

Yes, the IR burners theoretically don't heat the air....just surfaces.

Placing Grill Grate's above would also help in this regard wouldn't it?

[urbangriller]

Yes, Grill grates will give you an awesome sear in ANY BBQ.

I take mine on holiday...then I can cope with whatever crappy BBQ I come cross!

[Rutcho]

Yea I've got one and its unreal.. Best BBQ ever I reckon.. I own a weber , beefeater bugg and the elite.. I use the elite all the time.. Wat do u want to know about it?

[ozwaz]

I watched the promo video for the turbo elite and one of the selling points was that it doesn't heat the air. This seems like a negative to me if you are wanting to setup a two zone low and slow cook.

Thanks

Still works, I'll try and dig up some pics of Pizza I have done in them, the top still gets nice and brown.

If you can get away with a slightly smaller bbq, have a look at the Ziggy triple burner.

I have a Ziggy twin burner and a Weber family Q. My brother has a turbo elite and Dad has a Ziggy triple burner. I've cooked on all of them. One of my first experiences with the Turbo Elite was trying to blacken corn for a salad. The twin burner Ziggy does it significantly faster and more evenly. The Turbo has hot spots at the end of the domes where the heat pours out, this was the only real spot which got enough heat to blacken the corn, whereas the Ziggy twin will do it more evenly across most of the grill. The Weber family Q is also very slow.

I've not tried doing this to corn on the triple burner, but it chucks out more heat than the twin, so expect there would be no problem. You also then have the advantage of going a bit lower and cooking with the lid closed, using a fraction of gas than the big four burner Turbo. Even with the lid closed, you are heating a very big area, so will use a lot more gas.

One thing I do have to say for the Turbo Elite is the service. I was removing a hotplate on my brothers. the plate fell and cracked the quartz dome. It was replaced no questions asked, can't complain about that service. Gave a new dome on the spot.

Now I'm not saying the Turbo is a bad bbq, the opposite, it is very well made with great finish. My old four burner was a Cordon Bleu, and if I had gone from the old one to a Turbo Elite I would have been stoked. It's just I feel the Ziggy triple / twin have nailed it. Enough grunt to cook with the lid open, very efficient with the lid closed, would be my pick - assuming you don't need the area of a full four burner. If you do need / want the extra area of the four burner, then get one. Very well made, fantastic finish with great follow up service - just not as efficient as the other Ziggy's, but still a great BBQ.

Cheers
Wazza

p.s. found the pizza pics

[hosko]

Sorry was away with work so haven't been online much, I pulled the trigger and spent more then I was originally thinking and got a 4 burner Grand Turbo. Leaving 5mins from the beach I thought a complete stainless BBQ was a good option.

So far cooked some steaks, I like to cook them indirectly then directly. Getting the BBQ up to temp is very different to a traditional gas grill, The RQT burners are very directional. So it took some getting use to. The second time cooking on it took a longer then I had planned. But searing is a blast on it. Crank the burner to high which should be marked as extreme or 11, leave the grill to get hot for 5 minutes and the results are awesome.

One thing I do have to say for the Turbo Elite is the service. I was removing a hotplate on my brothers. the plate fell and cracked the quartz dome. It was replaced no questions asked, can't complain about that service. Gave a new dome on the spot.

BBQ Galores customer service was nothing short then abysmal, you would think spending over 4k on a BBQ you might be treated a little better. The original shipment didn't have the screws to mount the arm for the rotisserie. I went to back and they ordered them, two weeks later I hadn't heard anything so went back into the store and was told they still haven't come in and they would call. Another two weeks later after having not heard anything my wife having worked in retail and also being a wife can go into bitch mode when she needs to phoned them up and was told that they were waiting in the lay by department for us. I guess it was asking too much to be called.

Anyway after finally getting the rotisserie up and running I did a chicken last Saturday and the result was awesome. The chicken was perfect. Only problem was the set screw on the forks became loose. Maybe I didn't tighten them enough. I might just truss it down next time. So that made a mess with the stuffing going everywhere, lesson learnt a foil container underneath would have been smart, but apart from that it worked great. Can't wait to do pork in it, the rotisserie burner should do magic with the crackling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5UqzgT_T8I

What's the best way to clean the side of the domes, the top section seems to clean up well by just leaving the burner on for 5-10 minutes but the sides get a bit blackened.