Barbecues

garnett

garnett

garnett

Soldato
Joined
25 Mar 2008
Posts
9,186
I'm hoping for some advice on barbecues ahead of the glorious summer we're surely entitled to...

I'm after something that:-
  • Cooks well and has a degree of "adjustability"
  • Uses charcoal not gas
  • Will age well and not rust/warp/decolour
  • Looks attractive - nothing too space-age
  • Is robust and not flimsy
  • Is easy to clean and maintain
  • Can be put away during the winter
  • Doesn't cost the Earth
Is there such a thing?
 
Weber 57" premium. ~£210 but will last a lot longer than most £100 BBQs. 10 years of weekly cooking if well looked after with maybe another £100 spent over that period for replacement grates etc.

Should work out at ~£30 a year ownership costs.
 
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Thanks HarardO. Just looking and it seems like the Premium can be got for £185, and the Master-Touch is around £215 (and which seems to come with a few extra bits). Is it the Premium or the Master Touch that you would recommend?
 
Weber kettle is only sensible choice. May as well get the master touch for that difference, you get the gourmet cooking great which means accessories like pizza stone, griddle etc. can be added. Think you also get baskets for indirect cooking which is a good thing.

I have 2 weber kettles, one is 17 or 18 years old the other more than 10, both going strong.
 
Skidder said:
Weber kettle is only sensible choice. May as well get the master touch for that difference, you get the gourmet cooking great which means accessories like pizza stone, griddle etc. can be added. Think you also get baskets for indirect cooking which is a good thing.

I have 2 weber kettles, one is 17 or 18 years old the other more than 10, both going strong.
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17 or 18 years is good going, my performer (57" one touch built into a table) is about 7 now, does about 50 cooks a year. I've replaced the cooking grate once, charcoal grate 3 times and vent leaves once so far.
 
why do grates need replacing? do they fall apart with time? i have one which is rusting but only been used once. so i thought it's normal for them to rust. it's a weber btw.
 
HazardO said:
17 or 18 years is good going, my performer (57" one touch built into a table) is about 7 now, does about 50 cooks a year. I've replaced the cooking grate once, charcoal grate 3 times and vent leaves once so far.
Click to expand...

I've replaced the cooking grates a couple of times but nothing else. The coal grates are rusty but in one piece. They're a tiny bit tatty but still functional.

Around the back of my house there is an old weber left by the last owner and it looks like you could fire it up despite not having been used for years. It has the pointless gas lighting system though. I get gas bbqs but not gas lighting charcoal, that is a proper problem that didn't need solving.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
why do grates need replacing? do they fall apart with time? i have one which is rusting but only been used once. so i thought it's normal for them to rust. it's a weber btw.
Click to expand...

rust mostly, but they can bow a bit after a few years if you use excessive heat.

They become a pain to clean when they're rusty, so a shiny new one becomes an attractive proposition.
 
Whatever you do. Do not buy a landmann portable kettle BBQ.

I got the lime green one and it has a serious design flaw in that the air circulation from bottom isn't high enough.

Customer support refused to replace it... Utter garbage.

Weber all the way!
 
Webers are fantastic. If our builders hadn't bloody dropped something on the lid ours would be good as new. Definitely get one with a thermometer in the lid and invest in a chimney starter. Definitely worth the investment. The all weather covers are good too and ensured that even right by the sea on our second floor balcony it still survived in good condition.
 
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