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gas: ceramic or lava

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Chavo27

Guest
I just got a gas grill given to me... I've been cooking on charcoal for years. I like the fact that propane is ready when you are. Sometimes I'm in a hurry and don't have time to wait on the charcoal to get ready.

My parents have always used propane. So growing up I loved to grill for them. They have always used lava rock, and pretty much everyone else I know that uses gas has lava rock.
I took all the lava out of the grill I just got.... I replaced it with ceramic blocks.. I've never cooked on these before nor I known anyone who uses them.. What's you guys thoughts about the ceramic block.. It said all I had to do was put one layer about 1/4" apart. Their suppose to be self cleaning so now build buildup like lava gets...
 
I got both, plus a cast iron defuser to even out the temps

My set up is:

Burner,
Steel difuser
ceramic briquettes here and there
lava rocks here and there.

Self cleaning, thats funny.

Mine are self cleaning too, meaning, after about 30 burgers, just leave the burners on and ignite the whole farking mess to clean it off.

And have a dog handy, to clean up the chit dripping on the patio.

And have the Dawn handy, for the stupid farking yellow dog that gets chit dripping on her head while licking the patio
 
I'm asking if you like one better than the other?
Have you ever tried them separately?
 
Chavo27 said:
I'm asking if you like one better than the other?
Have you ever tried them separately?
Click to expand...

Oops, missed that intent.

I like the ceramic better than the lava rock.

I have used both seperately, without the diffuser.

Only reason I have both now is I had 1/4 bag of each after last full cleaning, and didnt want to buy more of one kind or the other.

Lava rocks get too much chit lodged in the nooks/cranny and takes longer to burn off/clean.

ceramics pretty much burn off each use.
 
willkat98 said:
Oops, missed that intent.

I like the ceramic better than the lava rock.

I have used both seperately, without the diffuser.

Only reason I have both now is I had 1/4 bag of each after last full cleaning, and didnt want to buy more of one kind or the other.

Lava rocks get too much chit lodged in the nooks/cranny and takes longer to burn off/clean.

ceramics pretty much burn off each use.
Click to expand...
that's what I was trying to say when I said the ceramics were self cleaning
 
Ceramic. Lave rocks are bad. Especially if they get a build up of liquid in them and they explode sending lava rock particles onto the under side of whatever you are cooking.
 
parrothead said:
Ceramic. Lave rocks are bad. Especially if they get a build up of liquid in them and they explode sending lava rock particles onto the under side of whatever you are cooking.
Click to expand...
I've never had this happen, it sounds a little dangerous..
 
parrothead said:
Ceramic. Lave rocks are bad. Especially if they get a build up of liquid in them and they explode sending lava rock particles onto the under side of whatever you are cooking.
Click to expand...

Chavo27 said:
I've never had this happen, it sounds a little dangerous..
Click to expand...

Ya know, I've heard about exploding lava rocks over the years, but after thinking about it, and then Chavo's follow up, I tried to find the origin of the exploding lava rock fact/myth this afternoon. Couldnt find a thing
(Maybe Sled can find it)

And in thinking about it, I have used lava rocks quite often for 11 years, have had them completely loaded with gunk and chit, from fat to sauce to everything in between.

I've had them fully ignite until the chit burns off them.

Never have I had one explode.

I wonder if thats a myth, based on some sort of volcanic formation data.

Has anyone actually come across an "exploding" lava rock?

Now I know 11 years isn't long, but you would think with the way I rarely clean out the grill, and prefer the burn off method, I would have had at least 1 time, no?
 
Lava rocks, hands down. If the ceramics you are talking about are the type I think they are, they are very expensive to replace if cracked.
 
CrazyChef said:
Lava rocks, hands down. If the ceramics you are talking about are the type I think they are, they are very expensive to replace if cracked.
Click to expand...
I just got a bag that was more than enough to fill up my grill for under $10?
 
CrazyChef said:
Lava rocks, hands down. If the ceramics you are talking about are the type I think they are, they are very expensive to replace if cracked.
Click to expand...
Chavo27 said:
I just got a bag that was more than enough to fill up my grill for under $10?
Click to expand...

I guess they're not the ones I was thinking of.:icon_blush:

I was thinking of the ones they use in commercial cooking grills. Replacements go for about $300 each, and use anywhere from 9 to 28 of them, depending on the size of the grill. VERY precise heat control, though.
 
willkat98 said:
Ya know, I've heard about exploding lava rocks over the years, but after thinking about it, and then Chavo's follow up, I tried to find the origin of the exploding lava rock fact/myth this afternoon. Couldnt find a thing
Click to expand...
I've used both on my old bbq, the lava rocks in my experience only ever explode the first time you heat them, general practice is to fire them up for 20mins or until they stop spitting, before using them to cook with.
The residual moisture expands and has to be driven off before they stabilise.
I like the mixture method, using all lava rock holds too much oil which likes to flare up.
 
I've used the ceramic twice now and I wished I would have found about these a long time ago...
 
Lava rocks suck

Two days ago, I was preparing to smoke some chicken in my gas grill. I preheated the grill and when I opened the top to clean the grate, someone shot off a Desert Eagle .50 in my ear. It turns out it was one of the lava rocks exploding. This is not the first time this has happened, but it has gotten worse the more I have used the same rocks. I still have a headache from that explosion. I'm glad I didn't take a rock to the eye!
 
Ceramic Bricks

I had been using the ceramic bricks that came with the grill for about 10 years, until they started deteriorating. I couldn't find bricks to replace them, so I bought a bag of lava rocks just to get the grill going again. They just fall through the cracks, leaving holes. That, coupled with the random explosions will have me looking for a bag of ceramic bricks pretty soon. I would just get a new grill, but you can't find a good cast grill these days without paying several grand.
 
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