just picked up a charbroil commercial series 4 burner gas grill with side burner from lowes.

put the grill together on saturday with the wifes help. it took about 2 hours going slow one step at a time following the directions. If i had to put a second one together it would only take about 30 minutes. The one thing i liked was the hardware package. encased on one side with plastic and the other was cardboard with lables so i didnt have to play the hardware sort game. The things i didnt like were:
1. for anyone that makes this purchase.... before putting on the front make sure to unstrap the ignitor wires as they are strapped around the gas pipe up behind where the knobs are. I failed to do this as it wasnt mentioned. when i got to the point of having to hook up the ignitor wires i had to dismantle the entire front of the grill to untie the ignitor wires.
2. a couple of the bolts for the front of the grills side shelves are in tough places to reach.
other than those two things the grill went together pretty good and pretty easy.

i need to thank the people of this forum as i have used this place to help make my decision on which grill to get. I also have leaned a few things reguarding grill safety and maintenance.

I picked up the LP tank on sunday and hooked it up and did a leak test on the connections.
I opened the valve slowly so as not to trip the gas leak thing a ma bob. Something learned from this forum so thanks.
I then proceeded to burn off the grill by running all burners at high for 30 minutes. according to the temp gauge on the cover the grill was pegged at over 600 degrees and id say it was around 700 or 750. the area just under the knobs got hot enough to make me nervous. so no problem with the hood temp gauge.
I then proceeded to burn some dogs and some burgers. the grill is hotter towards the back than the front. I had flare ups while cooking the 85% hamburg. but flareups dont bother me. i kind of like them as it makes me feel like im cooking on fire.

cleaning was easy. crank up the heat and then brush down the grill. the grill is now starting to look like a grill. the grates are getting the nice dark grey tone to them. didnt have any problem with food sticking.

oh the reason i went with a charbroil grill is easy. i didnt want to spend alot as im just starting to grill out. My first grill. but if i do use it alot then in a couple of years when i learn to cook then ill slam down some cash for a nice weber or something else thats really good. I think the first grill should be cheap, so you can learn the ins and outs of it, just like owning the first car.

well thanks again everyone. this site is alot of help.

Welcome to the BBQ Source Forums Jonhnathan!

Glad the info you found here helped you.



I agree, good advice...

Buesin

Johnathan,

Welcome to the forum.

I did exactly what you did. I hadn't done any grilling for a long time and didn't want to spend $1000, or so in case I decided I didn't like it. Plus I only planned on grilling 1-2 times a week during the summer. So much for plans. I've grilled almost 5 days a week for the year I've had it. Unfortunately, it's become an addiction and I just keep spending.

You didn't say if it's the standard Commercial, or the Quantum, but from your description of the temps and food, I'm going to guess it's the Quantum. It does get hot and cook fast, but does a great job once you get use to it.

Once you quit burning things, post some pictures for us.

Later

Pat

pictures man we need pictures
Welcome to the site.
We are very much into grill porn here & pictures are always welcome and needed.
Which 4 burner did you get ?

i picked up the model #463247009 link to lowes if its ok to link to lowes...
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=prod...&lpage=none

on the topic of pictures and grill porn. i wouldnt call my cooking porn, i was able to shrink some 1/2 lb burgers to about the size of a silver dollar though!!! LOL. Im going to do steaks on the 4th. Cant wait to turn them into shingles. I think im starting to get into grilling as last night i couldnt use it as it was raining out so just ordered pizza and wings... to hell with cooking in the house.

im gonna have to get a camera going just so i can make everyone sick, LOL.

The way you described the temps and the burned food, I thought it might be the Quantum, but it looks like the standard C-B commercial.

You'll get use to it before long, you just need to keep an eye on your food till you get your timing down. Do you have a thermometer? A meat thermometer will help in keeping you from getting your meat over done. Also, some good grilling gloves will come in handy. I just go to a welder's supply and get a cheap pair of leather welding gloves. At about $7.00 to $8.00 a pair, when they get too dirty, greasy and grungy, I just toss them and get new ones.

The more experienced you get and the better your food gets, the more addicted you'll become. It sounds like you're having a good time learning though.

Later

Pat

Johnathan you can just use your cellphone
I think I no why your food is burning up
Do not even try to cook with all 4 burners turn all the way up
50000 btu is hot
Try cooking on one side of the grill with 2 burners on for direct cooking and lace the food on the other sideof the grill with the same two burners lit for indirect cooking

Don't do what I did. The kids got me the grill for Father's Day as well as a set of utensils and a glove. It was a kind of rubber coated glove. I like cast iron and have always had a cast iron skillet as well as just putting my SS pots right on the grill. I grabbed a hold of the cast iron skillet with some delicious potatoes in it and spent forever cleaning the melted rubber stuff off the handle. I ended up with the outer coating of that glove, sold as a "grilling glove" all over the place as it melted very fast and went everywhere.

Heck with gloves. I went back to my old standby, grabbing the kitchen towel, which is usually damp, for the skillet and flipping burgers and hot dogs with my fingers. Messing around with a 165 C pressurized vessel at work for the last 10 years pays off for flipping burgers and hot dogs by hand .

thanks for the tips guys. I've been doing some trial and error stuff. indirect cooking. direct cooking. im learning. didnt burn the steak. only used two burners. it came out decent. nothing to go ga-ga over yet though. did some salmon on ceder planks 2 middle burners just above low to get the grill down to like 350 degrees. a baked potato at 400 degrees turnered out well. 2 outside burners at just above low with the two inner burners at low. cooked the big potato for an hour and 15 minutes some of it still wasnt completely done, it fooled me when i stuck a fork in it, but it was pretty good. next time it will have to be cooked for 1 and a half hours at 400 degrees.

the wife bought me the mittens so im covered with the glove aspect for now. havent used them yet though. i aint tried to cook with the cast iron but just realized (and thanks for that idea) that i could burn off the cast and reseason it since the grill gets hot enough. that will be awesome. no mess in the kitchen to season some cast.

dang shame about the rubber on the cast Mike R. but dont feel bad ive done worse. I was mixing up some pancake battar one morning for breakfast in a plastic bowl in the kitchen... can you see this coming?LOL... i stuck the bowl on a burner on the kitchen range. nice bonehead move. that nice white plastic turned into a heck of a mess. after scraping it off and burning it off it took a few hours to finally get rid of the mess. I now use pyrex for all of my mixing bowls. LOL

oh and Ronald... my cell phone doesnt have a camera on it. LOL.

kind of weird but i went though a tank a LP in a week. either im using way to much gas or the tank had a leak i didnt see. we will see how long the second tank lasts. i have been turning the tank off between cooking so it isnt a leaking valve on the grill. does anyone know about how many hours a tank of LP should last on average? im just talking a ballpark figure here to gauge my own use by. thanks for any help guys.

So we are comparing apples to apples here
What type of tank are you using
The tanks you get doing an exchange are not full. They carry around 3 1/2 pounds of propane
A tank you have filled carries 4 1/2 pounds

Secondly
How many btu's is your grill

Third
Out of a 20 lb tank (4 1/2 gallons)
I get about 30 to 35 hours of cooking using 36k btu
My previous grill got around 20 to 25 hours

the grill is 50k btu.

from a 20lb tank with 3 1/2 lbs of propane and cooking like a newbie i suppose i just used it up when compared to your usage.

thanks for the help Ronald.Im gonna start using less gas.