BBQ - Assembly, Test and Burn-in
Over the weekend, we unpacked and assembled the new BBQ Grillware (Lowe’s house brand) outdoor grill. The Better Half and I brought the partially assembled grill home in a roughly 2×2x3 foot cardboard carton. It weighed in at 92 pounds, so it required both of us to lift it into and out of the SUV tailgate and then into the house.
Clickable image - the assembled unit (photo taken today during burn-in)
I found the illustrated, step-by-step assembly instructions to be mostly clear and only a time or two I found myself re-reading a step and consulting the illustration again to clearly understand the action. The first stage of assembly was to build the cart. When that was complete, both of us had to lift the partially assembled grill box and cover unit into the cart - one person may have been able to do this, but having two people made it a more elegant process. After tightening up all the screws, hooking up the gas and electric igniter wires and installing the burner baffles and grills, it was ready for the gas leak test.
I made up a couple of ounces of soapy water and brushed a copious amount over each gas connection point. I opened the propane valve and watched for a minute or two to see if any soap bubbles appeared around the connections. I saw none, so the connections seem OK.
According to BarbecueLovers.com, the easiest way to burn-in your new grill is to just heat it up (~400 degrees) and let ‘er cook for ~30-45 minutes. This will burn all the solvents and impurities off of the heating elements, grill, etc. Let it cool down a bit, wipe things down to remove any lingering residue and you should be good to go. I took care of that today.
As I mentioned in the first article, we went the “cheap” route, paying around $200 for the setup - grill, tank and first four gallons of propane. Everything seems to be well-made and after the assembly, the rig is sturdy and everything worked the first time we tried it - burners, igniters and the works. I’m not yet ready to rate all aspects of the new grill, since we’ve never actually cooked anything on it yet. After the weekend, it will have a couple of beef tenderloin steaks to its credit - I’ll have a report on the food then.
2 Responses to “BBQ - Assembly, Test and Burn-in”
flashman on 08 Mar 2010 at 1206 #
Any update on how it performed? I’m in the market myself.
Minstrel on 08 Mar 2010 at 1229 #
Yesterday was the first day I used the grill. It seemed to do just fine with the steaks and roasted potatoes. I’ll make a full report after the next BBQ session.
These New York strips were pretty good . . .