What did YOU do today?

[JoshT]

Then I picked up a 2-burner flat top from Sam’s Club for $100. The flat top has been a game changer.

Got more details. I'm going to be looking for something in the not too distant future.

 

[Danny74]

Built a new drip pan for the propane grill, old one completely disintegrated over the winter.

When I went to put it on I found that two of the gas tubes were in similar condition, one of the flow control knobs is completely seized, and all of the non stainless sections are starting to get rust holes in them. Probably will not survive being moved.

So I cooked some chicken legs on the working half and looked at new gas grills online.


Anyone have a recommendation for a good brand of propane grill?
The Webber’s look pretty solid, but I don’t really want to pay $1000 for the 4 burner.

I have tons of propane recommendations but it's all depends on how you maintain and store your current propane grill. For most people that just leave it outside with a simple cover over it it's going to end up rusting away and needing new parts every 5 years or so anyway, so it doesn't matter how much money you spend on it. I have four propane grills in my backyard, two that I've never even turned on after putting them together. All of them though have the burner tubes removed and flavor bar removed and is in storage and a dry place. Those get cleaned often, but probably time for me to sell them cuz I haven't used those two grills.

I left the propane grill world years ago. . .

Same here. Although I love lump charcoal, when it's priced affordably, but I'm often purchasing charcoal briquettes that are on sale. I usually stockpile from the year before when they go on sale at the end of the season and September and october.

Tangent of this, I just found out last year that the charcoal briquette was actually patented by Henry ford. He's credited as inventing it, but I'm sure he had help. I thought that was really neat. It came about because he was really cheap and he noticed that they were piles and piles of sawdust at the end of the day and his factories from all the wooden parts that they cut out for the cars. Wanted to figure out if there was a way to make money off of all that saw dust, and then came the invention of the briquettes. And, something I did not realize that his name still lives on in a briquette brand that's probably the number one brand In America still today. The patent was sold to the king family, one of his sons or daughters married one of their sons or daughters, I forget which. And The King Family use their last name with the Ford family, and came out with the Kingsford brand. How cool is that?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I left the propane grill world years ago. So, I have no Idea what to recommend. It's lump charcoal at home and unless it's raining, I usually cook over the camp fire when camping.

Propane is quicker and easier but the smell and taste of cooking over burning wood is so much better.

I completely agree that wood fired is best. Charcoal in either form is better than propane.

That said, I mostly use propane because it’s quick and easy. Done right, you can still get a lot of flavor out of it and it works for what I do. Someday wood fired will be an option, but right now it’s kinda limited.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Got more details. I'm going to be looking for something in the not too distant future.

So, a flat top doesn’t make the best steak or burgers, but it can be done. Where it shines is cooking opportunities. A lot of restaurants cook the bulk of their food on flat tops. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, hash browns, hibachi, tacos, and much, much more. Clean up is easy, squirt water on the hot top, scrape, oil and done. Cook with oil or liquid butter. I need some regular liquid butter for pancakes and stuff, right now I have liquid garlic butter. I threw some frozen hash browns and chopped onions on there the other night, cracked some eggs and stirred it in and had a quick meal. Little garlic and herb seasoning, the garlic butter… just perfect. I’d highly recommend at least a 2-burner because it gives you different heat options for cooking different things at once or if you need indirect heat.

Oh, and burgers come out good enough, just remember to season lighter than you would on a grill because the flat top keeps all of the seasoning. And flip them more frequently. You may need a burger press to make sure they get cooked well.

 

[Rick W]

FLAC is lossless. If you listen to an MP3 with low bitrate you can notice the audio is missing clarity and dynamic range. If you go to a higher bitrate much of that goes away. You don't hear any of that with FLAC and the stereo separation appears to be better with FLAC. A 320kbps MP3 is said to have very little noticeable difference when comparing to FLAC, but I think that depends on what you are listening to. Most music recorded now lacks dynamic range because they compress it to sound louder. You probably aren't going to notice a difference if this is the case. However, if you have old Rolling Stones or Pink Floyd CDs that haven't been "remastered," you will notice a slight difference. I would rip them to FLAC. The only disadvantage is the file sizes are larger, but large disks are cheap and a 64Gb can store over 2,000 songs ripped in FLAC.

Broadcast radio is really bad. We have the religious stuff here too. They grab up most of the LPFM licenses, so you year them between the main stations.

Lossless sounds good. Every time my 8-track busts a tape and I splice it, you loose about 1/2 second. Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s an eternity when you’re boogie-ing to the beat of Led Zeplin or Funkadelic.

& the clunk in the middle keeps me awake on long trips.

I have to admit the additional storage offered by cassettes is worth it.

Hope it helps.

(& yes, the 78 Mark V still has the 8, and I still have a player spliced into my 4-channel in the house)

 

[JoshT]

I ssee, not quite what I was thinking about. You'd mentioned the camp stove in the sentence before, so I was thinking something a little more like that.


I'm sure that propane griddle works great, we used to use something similar in Scouts for big cooks, and one of the guys at work has one that he uses out there every so often.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I ssee, not quite what I was thinking about. You'd mentioned the camp stove in the sentence before, so I was thinking something a little more like that.


I'm sure that propane griddle works great, we used to use something similar in Scouts for big cooks, and one of the guys at work has one that he uses out there every so often.

I haven’t used the camp stove yet. My old portable grill I could put a cast iron skillet right on the grate for cooking stuff. My new portable grill specifically says not to do that without a special adapter which cost what the camp stove did. But the flat top takes the place of both essentially, so if I have to pack light, that’s my toy. If I have more room, a grill and camp stove is a solid combo. But that’s a bit of gear to lug.

 

[JoshT]

We used to use the camp stoves all the time. My family had one or two back when we tent camped, and the scout troop owned several. They work great. We might still have one, but it probably won't have been used in 20+ years so who knows what shape its in. Might have to check into that before too much longer.

 

[Roert42]

I have a large piece of 1/4” steel that I can plop on the grill when I want to use a flat top. Works well. Take it off if I’m cooking some with sauce or whatever.

As far as grill care I would say I clean it about two or three times a year, but it does stay outside uncovered. I don’t mind having to replace the burn tubes or flavorizors every five years, but would there to be parts available when I do.
Current grill is a kenmore and I could never find oem replacement parts, always just something close enough to work.
I’ve had it for 10 years and I’m just now considering a new one, so I can only complain so much.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

We used to use the camp stoves all the time. My family had one or two back when we tent camped, and the scout troop owned several. They work great. We might still have one, but it probably won't have been used in 20+ years so who knows what shape its in. Might have to check into that before too much longer.

I have one of the old Coleman camp stoves somewhere that takes the white gas. I think it was getting a bad seal somewhere and I didn’t really need it so it got stashed somewhere. When I saw a new propane one for cheap, I snagged it. Of course, the new 2 burner grill I got I didn’t find out no skillets on the grate until after it was home n opened and all, then I found the camp stove for cheap. That was last year towards the end of summer. I found the flat top just like two months ago. Then I didn’t use the flat top at first because I wanted to spend some time with a friend who’s a cook n uses a flat top all the time to give me some initial education on it all.

At some point I’ll probably dig out the old gas camp stove and see if I can get it working, but it’s pretty low on the priority list. I’ve really started to love the flat top, if I had got that first, I dunno if I would have bought the other stuff. Although having that stuff would help with cooking for bigger groups, especially if I got another hose since I often run the portable stuff off a 20# since it’s cheaper

 

[JoshT]

I have one of the old Coleman camp stoves somewhere that takes the white gas.

... especially if I got another hose since I often run the portable stuff off a 20# since it’s cheaper

I should have been more clear about that. Ours were propane. We may have still had one or two white gas ones.in the troop storage, but we only ever used propane ones. The family one was definitely propane.

Check out flameking for refillable 1lb bottles. Running off a 20 lb bottle works good, but kills portability. The Coleman 1lb bottles are good for portability, but expensive. The flameking refillable bottles are a little expensive up front, but easily and SAFELY refillable off the bigger tanks. Long term it seems like a good trade off.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I should have been more clear about that. Ours were propane. We may have still had one or two white gas ones.in the troop storage, but we only ever used propane ones. The family one was definitely propane.

Check out flameking for refillable 1lb bottles. Running off a 20 lb bottle works good, but kills portability. The Coleman 1lb bottles are good for portability, but expensive. The flameking refillable bottles are a little expensive up front, but easily and SAFELY refillable off the bigger tanks. Long term it seems like a good trade off.

I’ll have to look into those. I have a truck, so I make allowances for grill and big tank. For as much as I’ll sometimes use it in the nice weather months, the big tank is nice. My first decent portable grill (a Char-Broil) I got the adapter hose and threw a 20# in a milk crate and went to town. Got rebuilt once, had it for over 10 years and put I dunno how many tanks through it. Want to say I went through three 20# tanks in the first year I had it. Also, the bigger tanks don’t have as much of a freezing problem using them in the winter.

 

[Rick W]

I’ll have to look into those. I have a truck, so I make allowances for grill and big tank. For as much as I’ll sometimes use it in the nice weather months, the big tank is nice. My first decent portable grill (a Char-Broil) I got the adapter hose and threw a 20# in a milk crate and went to town. Got rebuilt once, had it for over 10 years and put I dunno how many tanks through it. Want to say I went through three 20# tanks in the first year I had it. Also, the bigger tanks don’t have as much of a freezing problem using them in the winter.

I’m confused. I’m not a camper like you guys, and I’m trying to fit in better.

“I got the adapter hose and threw a 20# in a milk crate and went to town.” I thought the whole purpose of camping was to get out of town. Please explain.

“Got rebuilt once, had it for over 10 years and put I dunno how many tanks through it.” I’ve used a lot of milk crates, and I’ve got a couple right now that I know I’ve had for 30 years. What exactly do you do on these camping trips that’s so hard on the milk crates?

How you rebuild one? Mine are all just one piece.

I may have more questions after I learn these things

 

[Rick W]

When you have multiple vehicles, you’re going to have unexpected problems, maintenance and repairs.

Oh oh.

I’m working on that aluminum trailer right in front of where I parked this wagon, and I’ve got welding rod stubs, screws and who knows what everywhere. That must’ve done it.

I couldn’t tackle it at the moment, so I just got the weight off it for now.

I’ll do a follow up post when I figure it out

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I’m confused. I’m not a camper like you guys, and I’m trying to fit in better.

Oh boy, here we go…

“I got the adapter hose and threw a 20# in a milk crate and went to town.” I thought the whole purpose of camping was to get out of town. Please explain.

So they sell hoses that connect a 20# tank to the fitting for a 1# disposable tank. I got one of those hoses and put the tank in a milk crate for stability. Don’t want it rolling around in the bed, gotta be safe, right?

”Went to town” was used as a figure of speech. Arguably poor form in this case. However, the bulk of my grilling has been at home, at my property, at a friend’s, or for food while working. Very little time has actually been during camping, unfortunately. So technically I have had more time cooking in town than camping. I really don’t care. I love playing around with grilling and would much rather drag a grill around and stuff to throw on it than buy fast food or pack a cold sandwich.

“Got rebuilt once, had it for over 10 years and put I dunno how many tanks through it.” I’ve used a lot of milk crates, and I’ve got a couple right now that I know I’ve had for 30 years. What exactly do you do on these camping trips that’s so hard on the milk crates?

The tanks, not the milk crates. Slow down on reading and make sure you’re following along. I’m still using the same milk crate I started with over 10 years ago. I have half a dozen 20# tanks. They get refilled until they run out of date and then they get exchanged for another tank. I don’t keep track of them beyond that. When I brew a batch of beer, it’s best to start with a full tank, then the remainder of the tank gets used for grill duty until it’s about done, then it gets refilled. So there’s not a good way to track exactly what I burn through my grills usually.

How you rebuild one? Mine are all just one piece.

The grill got rebuilt. New regulator, new cooking grate, might have replaced the burner too, it’s been awhile. The firebox is in great shape, but the rest needs replaced again which would have cost what my new grill cost. Which I opted for a 2 burner portable. The single burner was tough sometimes when you needed indirect heat.

I may have more questions after I learn these things

Somehow I’m sure you will have more goofy questions. I may or may not answer them. I also make no promises that any response will not be entirely satirical and sarcastic at this point.