• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Any Time is Grillin Time

Do you have your propane piped to your grill vs using the little bottles? If you do, that's what I'm after. An endless supply and no worry about running out of gas in the middle of a cook. I keep three bottles and cycle through them so not to run out in the middle of a sirloin.. but refilling and storing is a hassle.
 
Right, I have 2 20# tanks. I get them filled at the hardware store. The gas station (we have only 1 and 1 food store, but 7 bars :)) has a vendor where you can switch out your tank for a full one. It is more expensive.
 
We have that exchange option around here as well. I either take mine to the co-op or have them filled at a propane outlet. It's considerably cheaper. I was thinking that if your home is on propane... you could plumb a nipple out to your cooker and do away with the bottle hassle. That's what I want to do with my natural gas but I'd have to change out the orifices.
 
We do have propane. You may have heard about the propane shortage,with all this severe weather. Some places were charging $9 a gallon! We prepaid at the start of the season so we were not affected.
 
Pretty sure grilling enthusiasts are in the minority now that the football season is over. There are a lot of ice fishing fisherees this time of year. Sturgeon sspear fishing just got done too. You would need one heck of a smoker for one of those.
 
On another forum I saw a smoker build in progress. This guy is making a smoker out of a 500 gallon propane tank. He's talking 20 or so pork butts and 50 racks of ribs worth of space. :eek: And he might put a second rack in it lol. I think that would be large enough to smoke anything.
 
I guess the guy smokes competitively. I still don't know why anyone would need a smoke that size unless he was into it commercially. I would think you'd have to smoke and sell a lot a day to make a living at it.
 
If you just did it in competition he probably has a day job too. I Googled smokers and there are some awesome pics so maybe you can make a living at it. Not up here though!
 
There was a guy that did lived down the street from me that was second generation commercial smoker. He set up in parking lots selling his meats. He survived for a few years but finally had to give it up. His stuff was really good! His father had a restaurant selling smoked meats. I guess he was successful for many years. I think it would depend a lot on the population density and getting over the hump of enough customer base to make a living. Sure would be a fun way to make a buck though.
 
olbriar said:
Do you have your propane piped to your grill vs using the little bottles? If you do, that's what I'm after. An endless supply and no worry about running out of gas in the middle of a cook. I keep three bottles and cycle through them so not to run out in the middle of a sirloin.. but refilling and storing is a hassle.
Click to expand...

Try one of these:
lp-gas-changeover-valve.jpg


You should be able to pick one up at any camper store. You attach 2 tanks (20# or 30#) and turn them both on. The lever in the center points to the primary tank. When that tank is empty, the color on top goes from green to red and it automatically switched to the secondary tank. Swap the dial to the secondary tank making it the primary. Then turn off the empty tank, replace it with a full one, turn it on and it will be the secondary.

They are a must have for a camper due to the amount of gas lines that need to be purged of air if you run out of propane. They are a nice to have for a grill.
 
The ideal scenario for me would be to have the cooker directly plumbed to the house. No bottles and an endless supply... so to speak :) My father had his cooker set up like that when I was almost grown... very handy. Which leads me to a story I will share.

My parents were working out of town... I was off to college. I would come home on the weekends to do my laundry and check on things.. forward mail etc. As luck would have it, one weekend an attractive young lady accepted my invitation for a grilled steak dinner at my parents house. I prepared a great meal and as was the custom.. turned the grill on high to burn off the fats while we ate. One thing led to another... it was a great weekend. So much so that I invited her over for a repeat the following weekend.
My cooking or company .. probably my cooking, compelled her to accept. When it came time to light the grill... I went out on the patio only to find the grill already burning from the weekend prior :eek: It was so hot that it took some effort to get near enough to turn it down. Needless to say, a week on high pretty much cleaned up the fats in the grill.
 
I guess the end is good. My parents never said a thing about their gas bill and I did not harm the grill in the process of leaving it on high for a week. I learned a valuable lesson and didn't burn down the neighborhood.

The gal and I have remained close friends but we did not marry. Though it's been over 40 years since the incident, she will inevitably tease me about leaving the grill on high. Shoot.. it was at least half her fault. :)
 
Almost storybook then.

We are going on a cruise next week an one of the restaurants on the ship lets you grill your own steaks if you want. I have never been shy about taking over grilling duties at someone else's place, but my grill is MINE!
 
Hey, that's way cool. I feel the same way about my grill. :) That should prove to be a fun experience. Take a pic or two of the grill if you think about it. I'd like to see it.

I grilled out a different cut of steak last night. My butcher suggested the cut.. it was cheap... I gave it a shot. He called it chuckeye. He said he takes a steak or two off the marbled end of his chuck roasts sometimes. I was not impressed. The meat was a tad tough but it really didn't have a great flavor. I guess that's what you get when you go cheap. I wish I had purchased the ribeyes I was looking at.
 
I will get a picture of it, but the grill itself isn't anything special. It is an extra $40 per person to eat there, or I could go to the main dining room and have it prepared for me for free. This will be a fun cruise, though as the drink package is included as a perk and they have a bar that specializes in beers. :)
 
I don't know that I'd pay forty bucks to cook my own unless they had a grill to die for. It would be fun to cook on something super special. The trip sounds fun. I hope you have a blast.
 
I talked to my butcher today.. about the chuckeyes he sold me. He said he had never had a complaint about them.. usually rave reviews even. Anyway, he felt so badly that he gave me two beautiful ribeyes which I grilled tonight. They were as good as the others were bad. He did not have to do that. Though I was disappointed in the prior purchase, it was not like they were uneatable. I guess he wanted to keep my business. He's got it!
 
Well that is really cool! Don't see that in the big cities anymore. Stuff like that happens when you don't expect it.

We cruise every year around this time. Gives us a slight break from the snow (it is snowing now). This will be our first time on Celebrity Cruise Line. It should be relaxing. :)
 
I've never taken a cruise. I run two businesses.. or should I say they run me. If ever I feel like I have the time to get away... I'm afraid to spend my money. I bet a cruise is a great way to relax. Sounds very good indeed.

I'm grilling out some burgers tonight. I've lately been slicing up my onion and putting it in a foil wrap with some butter... for something a bit different. It's 60F here for some reason. I'm sure not complaining. The snow is almost completely gone. :)
 
We get plenty of snow here. I have to go clear the driveway before we leave. That's okay, I love playing with the snow blower. The dog loves the snow too. Hate mowing the lawn in summer, though. Two days in a row starting the morning above zero.

Nothing wrong with grilling burgers. My favorite thing to grill is bratwursts. It's a two beer job.

My wife is an accountant and I was able to retire in the middle of a downsizing effort that would have included me eventually.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom