S
Stachel
Guest
Recently purchased my first charcoal grill. My dad always used charcoal so I got that instead of gas. For the most part, have really enjoyed this summer adventure. Have read several threads here and tried some of the recipes; all turned out great! (rib-eye) Have some questions below for your BBQ mavens.
Made the most delicious rib-eyes ever, excellent corn. Very good BBQ's chicken. Fish has been good. Pork loin did not turn out well. Burnt some broccoli. I have grilled mostly attempting via indirect heat, using different woods to see if I can tell the difference.
Found this forum by searching for bbq recipes. Will post an intro in Cattle Call. This post is more of a background w/ questions...
First impressions:
1) My Dad made this all look so easy while growing up!
2) Temperature control is hard! Makes me appreciate the simplicity of my stove & oven.
3) Safety -- I must locate my BBQ grill on a wooden deck. Seeing sparks flying onto my wooden deck is VERY scary. Have purchased the charcoal grill mat / spark shields, but it doesn't cover enough. I keep a gallon of water and a fire extinguisher handy, and am going to rig hose water to that area. (am going to install the "Outdoor Sink with Hose Reel" from Target.com)
Also, last night a charcoal dropped onto the deck while transferring from chimney to side openings, and it nearly landed on my toe! (I was wearing sandals) It made me FREEZE in mid-breath!
4) I need better fire control skills. Am going to read all the threads here on that. Many thanks for maintaining the Roadmap thread. I read today till my eyes were dry.
5) I have several dead temp probes. Amazing they are so unreliable! Found the thread on that here very informative.
I would not recommend the grill I bought, the Napoleon Apollo charcoal grill: http://www.napoleongrills.com/Webshare/Gourmet-grills/apollo.htm
It has 2 big flaws:
1) The base of the built-in chimney starter is not stable. It easily gets knocked off center, and falls down to the very bottom which jams the ash-removal tray. I keep a disassembled wire coat-hanger ready to retrieve it. I tried calling Apollo with questions, but I never seemed to talk with someone who was very knowledgeable on the grill.
2) The ash-removal tray is too small. So when you have more ash than the size of the height of the trey, and you pull out the ash tray, all the ash goes to the very bottom, and cleanup then becomes time-consuming. Then, some will gets wedged in the bottom and the tray won't close all the way. I have dedicated a pair of angled tongs to reaching in and removing ash from the bottom, and my tray still won't close.
It has one great feature: The lid system! I really love how the lid is a fast and easy swivel backwards.
Am thinking about getting the Weber Performer. I have read many of the very helpful Badger (John) person's posts about his Performer. Questions about that model.
- Will that auto-start work with lump charcoal too? Documentation always refers to briquettes.
- Can the auto-start be used after cooking has already started to start new charcoal?
Was also looking at one that could be front-loading, like the CharBroil 940x Charcoal Grill. Though... I imagine the thermal profile of the grill during cooking is also affected by opening the front door. However, how do you load a front-loading BBQ grill from a chimney starter?
Thanks for providing such a great resource!
Stachel
Made the most delicious rib-eyes ever, excellent corn. Very good BBQ's chicken. Fish has been good. Pork loin did not turn out well. Burnt some broccoli. I have grilled mostly attempting via indirect heat, using different woods to see if I can tell the difference.
Found this forum by searching for bbq recipes. Will post an intro in Cattle Call. This post is more of a background w/ questions...
First impressions:
1) My Dad made this all look so easy while growing up!
2) Temperature control is hard! Makes me appreciate the simplicity of my stove & oven.
3) Safety -- I must locate my BBQ grill on a wooden deck. Seeing sparks flying onto my wooden deck is VERY scary. Have purchased the charcoal grill mat / spark shields, but it doesn't cover enough. I keep a gallon of water and a fire extinguisher handy, and am going to rig hose water to that area. (am going to install the "Outdoor Sink with Hose Reel" from Target.com)
Also, last night a charcoal dropped onto the deck while transferring from chimney to side openings, and it nearly landed on my toe! (I was wearing sandals) It made me FREEZE in mid-breath!
4) I need better fire control skills. Am going to read all the threads here on that. Many thanks for maintaining the Roadmap thread. I read today till my eyes were dry.
5) I have several dead temp probes. Amazing they are so unreliable! Found the thread on that here very informative.
I would not recommend the grill I bought, the Napoleon Apollo charcoal grill: http://www.napoleongrills.com/Webshare/Gourmet-grills/apollo.htm
It has 2 big flaws:
1) The base of the built-in chimney starter is not stable. It easily gets knocked off center, and falls down to the very bottom which jams the ash-removal tray. I keep a disassembled wire coat-hanger ready to retrieve it. I tried calling Apollo with questions, but I never seemed to talk with someone who was very knowledgeable on the grill.
2) The ash-removal tray is too small. So when you have more ash than the size of the height of the trey, and you pull out the ash tray, all the ash goes to the very bottom, and cleanup then becomes time-consuming. Then, some will gets wedged in the bottom and the tray won't close all the way. I have dedicated a pair of angled tongs to reaching in and removing ash from the bottom, and my tray still won't close.
It has one great feature: The lid system! I really love how the lid is a fast and easy swivel backwards.
Am thinking about getting the Weber Performer. I have read many of the very helpful Badger (John) person's posts about his Performer. Questions about that model.
- Will that auto-start work with lump charcoal too? Documentation always refers to briquettes.
- Can the auto-start be used after cooking has already started to start new charcoal?
Was also looking at one that could be front-loading, like the CharBroil 940x Charcoal Grill. Though... I imagine the thermal profile of the grill during cooking is also affected by opening the front door. However, how do you load a front-loading BBQ grill from a chimney starter?
Thanks for providing such a great resource!
Stachel
