BBQ gurus advice needed on new BBQ this week, please

GASSERS, LPG OR NATURAL
Davo
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Posts: 5330
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Location: Albury NSW on the mighty Murray River

Re: BBQ gurus advice needed on new BBQ this week, please

Post by Davo »

Davo wrote: Sun Jun 21, 2020 9:28 am
wilsonj wrote: Sun Jun 21, 2020 6:56 am
hjl wrote: Sat Jun 20, 2020 10:39 pm Hi wilsonj
I believe you would or should have got a flat plate with your genesis. So that should cover a lot of bases. Did you get a cookbook with your new bbq. ?
That would guide you on using the new bbq. I think you have made a wise choice. Bbq is what Weber do. Enjoy.
Cheers
hjl

Hi hjl,

Yes, there was a flat plate, however it is quite small, only about 1/3 the cooking area.
I might be surprised, and find I really didn't need a larger one.
Yes I did get a cookbook also. Had a quick flick though it, looks like some good recipes in there.

And thank you. I feel good about the purchase also. More so than had I bought the Turbo Elite.

Cheers
Jamie

Looked up the E415 last night when i seen this post and yeah, good choice, If I ever get a gas BBQ again, I think I might also go down this path.
Due to Weber being primarily an American Company, they don't use hotplates on BBQs like Aussies do so it's why they don't factor these much into the equation, they usually use griddle pans on top of their grills for foods that need a solid base, also those BBQs that do have Hotplate only are usually built for this kind of cooking in mind. I had a mate like this once, he would never get a BBQ with grill bars, always wanted the sausage sizzle thing happening with the onions and mushies.
Quite often a BBQ has to be built so they have proper ventilation in the areas required and seeing Weber is mostly high heat lid down cooking, you can't do that with Australian designed BBQs mainly because of the way they are ventilated and that BBQs such as the Beefeater can't high heat grill with lid down, it must be up otherwise too much heat builds up and things start to melt or like what happened with a mate's BBQ, it developed a major fat fire inside the BBQ when I tried the Weber way....didn't take long for it to happen either...scary stuff but it made me then realise why it happened.
So perhaps if you want more hotplate room, you could always buy a separate hotplate only grill not needing a lid and then you've got the Weber to do other stuff. I like having more than 1 BBQ for this very reason so i don't have to do too many batches of different food.
Weber BBQs were designed from the beginning to be lid down cooking and once you get used to the concept and trust your grill, you won't go back to the old ways. It happened to me a few years back when i sold a Weber Q2200 and bought this huge 6 burner Masport BBQ, after using Weber's for so long, I ended up hating the fact i couldn't high heat grill with that thing, so it wasn't long before i sold it and went back and bought a new Weber gasser....i was a happy chappy but I had seen the dark side :lol:

Mate I hope you have fun with your new Weber....hope to see some great cookups on here.

for photos, see under posting window, you have 2 tabs, Options & Attachments, click on attachments and you can then click on a photo file in your computer but you'll need to resize your pics to around 640 or thereabouts.

Cheers

Davo
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hjl
Posts: 57
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2014 3:17 pm

Re: BBQ gurus advice needed on new BBQ this week, please

Post by hjl »

Hi wilsonj
Davo's suggestion to get a seperate flat plate bbq is a very good one. I believe you can buy 2 burner fold up flat plate bbq's at bunnings for $200 new. Second hand should get one for $50 or less. You could use that for campinp too if you go. Best of both worlds then.
Cheers
hjl
wilsonj
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2020 1:03 pm

Re: BBQ gurus advice needed on new BBQ this week, please

Post by wilsonj »

Davo wrote: Sun Jun 21, 2020 9:28 am
wilsonj wrote: Sun Jun 21, 2020 6:56 am
hjl wrote: Sat Jun 20, 2020 10:39 pm Hi wilsonj
I believe you would or should have got a flat plate with your genesis. So that should cover a lot of bases. Did you get a cookbook with your new bbq. ?
That would guide you on using the new bbq. I think you have made a wise choice. Bbq is what Weber do. Enjoy.
Cheers
hjl

Hi hjl,

Yes, there was a flat plate, however it is quite small, only about 1/3 the cooking area.
I might be surprised, and find I really didn't need a larger one.
Yes I did get a cookbook also. Had a quick flick though it, looks like some good recipes in there.

And thank you. I feel good about the purchase also. More so than had I bought the Turbo Elite.

Cheers
Jamie

Looked up the E415 last night when i seen this post and yeah, good choice, If I ever get a gas BBQ again, I think I might also go down this path.
Due to Weber being primarily an American Company, they don't use hotplates on BBQs like Aussies do so it's why they don't factor these much into the equation, they usually use griddle pans on top of their grills for foods that need a solid base, also those BBQs that do have Hotplate only are usually built for this kind of cooking in mind. I had a mate like this once, he would never get a BBQ with grill bars, always wanted the sausage sizzle thing happening with the onions and mushies.
Quite often a BBQ has to be built so they have proper ventilation in the areas required and seeing Weber is mostly lid down cooking, you can't do that with Australian designed BBQs mainly because of the way they are ventilated and that BBQs such as the Beefeater can't high heat grill with lid down, it must be up otherwise too much heat builds up and things start to melt or like what happened with a mate's BBQ, it developed a major fat fire inside the BBQ when I tried the Weber way....didn't take long for it to happen either...scary stuff but it made me then realise why it happened.
So perhaps if you want more hotplate room, you could always buy a separate hotplate only grill not needing a lid and then you've got the Weber to do other stuff. I like having more than 1 BBQ for this very reason so i don't have to do too many batches of different food.
Weber BBQs were designed from the beginning to be lid down cooking and once you get used to the concept and trust your grill, you won't go back to the old ways. It happened to me a few years back when i sold a Weber Q2200 and bought this huge 6 burner Masport BBQ, after using Weber's for so long, I ended up hating the fact i couldn't high heat grill with that thing, so it wasn't long before i sold it and went back and bought a new Weber gasser....i was a happy chappy but I had seen the dark side :lol:

Mate I hope you have fun with your new Weber....hope to see some great cookups on here.

for photos, see under posting window, you have 2 tabs, Options & Attachments, click on attachments and you can then click on a photo file in your computer but you'll need to resize your pics to around 640 or thereabouts.

Cheers

Davo
Thanks Davo for the great info. Makes sense, and the Weber guy did say similar in the shop when I asked about flat plates.
Also mentioned issues with ventilation if I was replacing the grate.
I did wonder however if there would be a problem if I replaced 2/3 with something like a stainless plate from topnotch ? Provided there was still 1/3 grill.

So had our first cook with the Weber Sunday. Used the igrill also, which I have to say was fantastic.
Cooked 2 scotch fillets to med rare perfectly, and they were tender and juicy. Usually one end is quite firm whilst the other super soft, at least cooked in the pan. This time the firm end was noticeably softer, although I'll need to cook more to be confident. But overall one of the nicest I've ever had.
I also "cooked" a few std beef sausages for the kids. These didn't turn out so great. I rotated 3-4 times with about 2 min inbetween. Clearly too much as they were over cooked. Lesson learned for next time.

Overall super happy with the unit, and can't wait to cook more on it!

Thanks for all the help. Without it I would have ended up with a poorer solution for sure.
wilsonj
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2020 1:03 pm

Re: BBQ gurus advice needed on new BBQ this week, please

Post by wilsonj »

hjl wrote: Sun Jun 21, 2020 11:36 am Hi wilsonj
Davo's suggestion to get a seperate flat plate bbq is a very good one. I believe you can buy 2 burner fold up flat plate bbq's at bunnings for $200 new. Second hand should get one for $50 or less. You could use that for campinp too if you go. Best of both worlds then.
Cheers
hjl
Hi hjl,

If possible I'd rather put a smaller plate on this bbq. Even it if sat on the existing grill.

Another thought is I've seen people flip the Grillplate plates over and cook on the flat surface. It still has holes, so shouldn't have as big effect of ventilation.
About $250 gets me 533mm of flat Grillplate. Or $270 gets stainless steel plate 560mm wide.
titch
Posts: 5868
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2010 12:51 pm
Location: Sth East Melbourne

Re: BBQ gurus advice needed on new BBQ this week, please

Post by titch »

I use an Aldi cast iron flat plate with great success in the FamilyQ
approx 500x250,cost about 35 dollars
Cheers
Titch
wilsonj
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2020 1:03 pm

Re: BBQ gurus advice needed on new BBQ this week, please

Post by wilsonj »

titch wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2020 5:07 pm I use an Aldi cast iron flat plate with great success in the FamilyQ
approx 500x250,cost about 35 dollars
Ha, nice idea. Will keep my eye out.

Thanks.
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