Looking for decent gas grill replacement

[OnTheFence]

I'm tired of dealing with propane, so I love the idea of a wood pellet grill, but I suspect we'll mostly be cooking burgers and brats. I've heard that the pellet grill would be fine for this, but also that it would be better to stick with gas for such things.
Any thoughts? Can I get good burgers/brats in ~30 minutes on a pellet grill?
If so any suggestions? I'm pretty interested in these 5 (in no particular order):
- Grilla Silverback Alpha
- Yoder Ys480
- Rec Tec RT-590
- Green Mountain Daniel Boone (like the price and windows on smoker and hopper)
- Traeger timberline 850 2019 (heard auger is faster and can reverse and restart to fix clogs)
I am open to something else also.
Can these or something else really be a full grill replacement + a smoker?
Thanks so much in advance!!!

 

[HalfSmoked]

I would go with a weber 22" kettle its charcoal and has may uses.

Warren

 

[HalfSmoked]

OnTheFence Thanks for the like it is greatly appreciated.

Warren

 

[HalfSmoked]

Pelagic Thanks for the like it is appreciated.

Weber also has a 26" worth looking at.

Warren

 

[johnmeyer]

I can't comment on pellet grills, but if you want a replacement for a gas grill, and you have the money, I would get a Weber Summit. It is dreadfully expensive, but people in this forum have recommended it in the past, and my own experience with my 25-year-old Weber Genesis has made me pretty loyal to the brand.

 

[Braz]

I am of the opinion that a grill is a grill and a smoker is a smoker. Any attempt at an appliance that is both is going to be a compromise and probably not perfect at either task. (I could be wrong though. I don't have experience with all the possible choices.) My "arsenal" is a Weber Spirit gas grill, a Masterbuilt electric smoker, a Weber mini-kettle and a Lodge cast iron hibachi. (Not counting the almost never used cheap gas grill and gas smoker and a charcoal pizza oven.) There are only two of us in the household and these tools cover every need. Burgers and brats are almost always done on the hibachi.
I would second johnmeyer's Weber recommendation but you said you were tired of dealing with propane. (P.S. You might check with an RV sales place or a propane distributer for a cheaper propane refill price than the gas station prices. I pay $15 for 20lb. fill at my local propane supplier.)

 

[Braz]

DELETED - double post. Having trouble with my interweb connection.

 

[johnmeyer]

P.S. My gas grill uses natural gas instead of propane. I just go outside, turn on the burner, press the ignitor button, and start grilling. It could not be simpler, and there is nothing to "deal" with.

 

[Bearcarver]

P.S. My gas grill uses natural gas instead of propane. I just go outside, turn on the burner, press the ignitor button, and start grilling. It could not be simpler, and there is nothing to "deal" with.

I'm Jealous!!
None of that here.
My Gas comes here on wheels.

Bear

 

[johnmeyer]

I'm Jealous!!
None of that here.
My Gas comes here on wheels.

Bear

We're out in the styx as well, and just on the edge of the NG service. We did a big remodel in '94 and had the workers run a gas pipe around to the back of the house. It was some of the best money I spent on that project.

One NG project on the horizon is to install a NG kit on my Honda inverter generator so I can have "infinite" run time in case of a power outage. Even with this new (to me), small generator, the gasoline I have on hand will only last a few days. I'd imagine that having propane for the grill involves the same worry about running out before the job is finished.

 

[HalfSmoked]

It happens John Had happen more than once.

Warren

 

[2008RN]

I am in the same boat as you. I have and 19 year old weber genesis, that we have replaced 2 ignitors, 3 sets of flavorizer bars, grates, and one set of tubes. She has been a faithful grill, and is still working. I replace the igniter yesterday and noticed that the center tube might make it 2 more years before needing replaced. I would like a little larger grill than 400 sq in. I have been thinking heavily on RecTec Bull, Yoder YS-640, and Blaz'n grill works gridiron.

Right now I have a homemade wood chip tray that sits over the center tube, and I always smoke hamburgers, Costco wings, dogs, brats, and steaks for about an hour at a low temp. Once the chips start smoking I can keep the temp down to about 100 degrees. I still want to do that. I also want to be able to get the temp up to 400-450 degrees to finish off the chicken skin coming off my smoker. Last Sunday I did 40 injected chicken legs in the smoker and then used a braising sauce to finishes them on the grill so the skin was crunchy. Once the grill was warmed up it took 10 minutes to finish off 13 legs at a time, (each load was a different flavors of legs)

I really do not know how well a pellet grill will do what I want?

I happen to see the weber Summit stainless steel S470 for $2100, beautiful grill with a built in smoker box, 468"sq just . The extra area is only 68"sq, just over 8"x8" It is a little more than I wanted to pay for. I am still up in the air about what to do. I still have some time before I say goodbye to the old weber.

 

[johnmeyer]

2008RN,

I've replaced the same things as you (although only one ignitor) and also had to replace the entire, big drip pan (rusted out). I didn't replace all the tubes, but the crossover tube rotted out. It sure is great to have a product for which repair parts are easy to get. Top marks to Weber for that.

I drool every time I look at the Weber Summit in the store. There have been several threads where people ask what grill to get, and the response always seems to be the Summit. The four burner unit is all I probably need.

 

[Bearcarver]

We're out in the styx as well, and just on the edge of the NG service. We did a big remodel in '94 and had the workers run a gas pipe around to the back of the house. It was some of the best money I spent on that project.

One NG project on the horizon is to install a NG kit on my Honda inverter generator so I can have "infinite" run time in case of a power outage. Even with this new (to me), small generator, the gasoline I have on hand will only last a few days. I'd imagine that having propane for the grill involves the same worry about running out before the job is finished.

Yeah My Dad had NG, with Heat, Kitchen Stove, Fridge, and Hot Water Heater, and a Lamp at the end of the Driveway.
My Brother has the same thing, but he also has a NG Grill, kinda like the little bare bones things they have at community Parks, but I don't believe he's used it in 30 years.

We're much farther out than they are, and this is my 3rd year of my Bryant "Evolution" Hybrid Heat Pump, with Propane Backup Furnace. No NG anywhere close to us. Probably at least a mile.

Bear

 

[2008RN]

I looked online at the Weber Summit stainless steel grills. Lots of comments about the Stainless steel rusting, and all of the regular steel parts. Even people with a cover and storing it under an awning had problems with rust. Information on the dials were also rubbing off. People love the way it cooks and the versatility. When ya spend over $2K for a grill, you wouldn't want it rusting in the first few years. The old Genesis forged aluminum body doesn't turn any heads, but after 19 years (10 in the Oregon rains) the body and base aren't rusted out. So I still have some thinking to do, about replacing my grill or doing a rebuild on the old genesis.

 

[johnmeyer]

I looked online at the Weber Summit stainless steel grills. Lots of comments about the Stainless steel rusting, and all of the regular steel parts. Even people with a cover and storing it under an awning had problems with rust. Information on the dials were also rubbing off. People love the way it cooks and the versatility. When ya spend over $2K for a grill, you wouldn't want it rusting in the first few years. The old Genesis forged aluminum body doesn't turn any heads, but after 19 years (10 in the Oregon rains) the body and base aren't rusted out. So I still have some thinking to do, about replacing my grill or doing a rebuild on the old genesis.

This really concerns me because I had made up my mind to get a Summit when my old Genesis can no longer be maintained.

I just looked at all the Amazon Summit listings and searched all the reviews on five different listings for the word "rust." There are indeed exactly seven of the 350+ reviews that mention problems with rust (most reviews are 5-star, BTW). All of these were written prior to 2017. I mention this because I then went to the Weber site and looked at their warranty. The Summit has an unqualified 10-year warranty against everything, but it only applies to Summit grills purchased AFTER 2017. I haven't researched any more than this, but before you completely rule out the Summit, you might want to see if the stories you have seen are from grills purchased prior to 2017 and, if you can find it, whether Weber did a re-design after that point to fix the problems.

Thanks to your post, I will definitely be doing that research myself when the time comes to do this purchase.

[edit]This 2018 post from an independent Weber grill site unfortunately does seem to confirm that the rust problems persist. Bummer.

2018 Summit Construction
https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?74198-2018-Summit-Construction

[edit2]I kept looking, and the one thing that struck me is that pretty much every single person loved the performance of the Summit grill. I am getting very old, and I will probably rust out before my grill does, so if it works stunningly well (which appears to be the case), I'll get it and let my heirs worry about the rust.

 

[2008RN]

John,
That is interesting. There were not many reviews on the weber web pages but a significant amount of them talk about rust. Hopefully they have fixed the problem. I too will check back as I get closer to making the decision to put the old genesis down, or rebuild her for another life.

 

[2008RN]

JohnMeyer,
I live about 110 miles from Portland, Oregon. I decided while I was up there for other reasons that I would stop in at 2 BBQ stores. The first place had Yoders. OH MY, I was about to slap down the credit card but I figured that both me and the grill would have to live in the dog house. Mama would wonder why she hasn't gotten her new fridge and flooring. The yoder looks awesome, but I still don't know if it could really replace a propane grill.

Then I went to another store and found Blaze grills. They have models that are all 304 Stainless Steel, and really great designs, plus lifetime warranty on non electronics. They seem to be a comparable to the weber summit. No separate smoking burner, but they have a custom smoke tray, that will set on the flame tamers. The 4 burner with 552sq" main grilling area. Price is close to the Weber summit.

Have you heard anything about the Blaze grills?

 

[johnmeyer]

Sorry, I have not seen either the Blaze or Yoder. Hopefully other people are still following this thread and can chip in.

I did go to the Yoder site, but they appear to sell only smokers and charcoal grills; no gas grills. I was interested in the Summit primarily for its grilling capabilities, not because of its limited smoking features (although they would be nice to have).

I then went to both the Blaze site and also to Amazon to look at their grills. There is a certain similarity to the Summit, and the price is quite similar (in the $2,000 range). However, the one thing that struck me is how few reviews there are for any of the Blaze grills: probably about 5% of the number for the Summit. As I stated in a previous post, I have been amazed at how easy it still is to get repair parts for my 1994 Weber Genesis, and I expect that, given the much lower sales volume, that getting replacement parts for the Blaze could be a lot more difficult.

 

[2008RN]

Great thoughts, thanks for your input.