New project... building a propane grill

Two coats primer, two coats red, two coats clear.  Ready for the oven cure.

Waiting on some stainless nuts, the ignitor, the pizza stone to make into radiant brick, and the propane fitting.  That should all be here by Tuesday.

So far the tally is right around $89.

What should I grill first?

Pretty cute. Have to market it as Da Cherry Bomb grill. I'd grill the steak of your choice. 

That is so cool!!!

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Dude that looks absolutely awesome. Great job. 

I wanna say splurge and get some dry aged ribeye, but, I think you should try something more reasonable price wise for the first cook just to make sure everything is working properly. 

Maybe some nice brisket/Chuck/shortrib burger patties, or some soy garlic chicken thighs.

Thanks, y'all.

I'm sitting here ticked that I have to wait until Tuesday to get the tank hose.

I'll spray down the inside with avocado oil and burn the snot out of it to make sure all the Mercaptan is cooked out and the grate is seasoned.  I did bake it per the instructions on the VHT paint; 250 for a half hour and 400 for a half hour.  I didn't want to try the third step in the oven which is 600, so hopefully I can do the final paint cure with propane from the inside.  

I think a couple marinated chicken thighs might be in order for the first cook, thanks RevRico.  That will be a good test since the main reason I built this instead of bought a commercial tabletop grill is because I needed a broader variety of temperatures.   Chicken will need a slower cook, and that will tell me if I did my math/guesswork right.

I suppose I could build a little smoke box for wood chips in the meantime.

Oh, and the sparky igniter thing came in the mail.  I splurged $18 whole dollars to get the battery operated one and it kicks butt.

Well, I hate to brag, but I lie.  I love bragging.

My theory seems to have been correct, that the distance away from the heat to the grate is a huge factor.  I finally got the propane regulator today and I ran about a pound through it with various heat sinks.  I started with nothing and the thermometer got up to 550 degrees.  I let it bake the last cure of the paint for a while.  It also burned off the avocado oil I had wiped down the inside and grate with.

I took my pizza stone and drilled twenty one 3/8" holes in it for the second test.  Using an IR thermo on the outside of the can, I noticed it was screaming hot (550) on the bottom, about 330 at the equator, and 300 on top.  That indicated to me that the stone was keeping too much of the heat below the stone.  I let it cool and drilled 24 more holes (total of 45) in the stone and ran it again.  It improved, but the bottom was still notably hotter than the thermometer in the lid thought it should be.  The grille grate was pretty hot (around 500) but it was curious that I had trouble getting the lid thermo up more than about 325.

Tonight I marinated some chicken thighs in greek dressing.  I left the pizza stone out of the equation on purpose since the thighs were pretty thin (deboned).  Preheated full tilt until the lid said 325-ish then turned it down to as low as it would go.  Put the chicken on and it "sounded" right.  Just the right sizzle, just a couple little flaring drips.

That tells me that without the stone, the lowest setting is good for general grilling, and I'm certain that it would sear a steak in 30 seconds on high.  Tomorrow I'll try the same chicken thighs WITH the stone and see what the results are.

One of the things this test is making me realize is that I don't think I've ever paid attention to the thermometer on a grill before.  I'm trying to approach this with a scientific data set, and I might be over analyzing.  Tonight's cook was freaking perfect.  Enough heat for a great sear, but slow enough to cook it through without charring.  I'm so stoked.

Mildly disappointed with the paella burner as my heat source.  Pros:  It has enough BTU to make things super hot for searing, and turns down low enough for slower grilling.  Cons:  Instead of a typical grill burner that might have 50 holes and 1" tall flames, this one has about 300 holes and 1/8" flames.  Great for heat distribution, but it is very sensitive to blowing out.  There were a few times testing today (and once during preheating for dinner) that I noticed the flame had gone out.  Doesn't seem to matter if it's on high or low.

The good news, my first cook was an absolute smashing success.  Really.  I made such a delicious meal, I'm considering marrying myself.

Can you drill a few of the burner holes larger?

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Dood! That's an outstanding result straight out of the gate. That has to be incredibly gratifying. Really, really nice job!

wvumtnbkr said:

Can you drill a few of the burner holes larger?

I can, but I would want to do it with an abrasive hole saw.  The holes I made were with a masonry bit in a drill set to non-hammer.  Maybe a trip to HF for some diamond hole saws is in order.  Before I do that, I think I'll repeat the same chicken thighs (I have a BBQ rub to try) tonight with the ceramic in place to see how far off I am.  It just feels like right now the plate costs too much time/propane to preheat, suggesting it needs to be "less"

I have a diamond wheel, so I could do some straight-line surgery as well.

In reply to DarkMonohue :

Thanks, buddy.  I'm really happy that I could do chicken on a small grill.  After a few more swings at the heatsink, I'll try some more delicate stuff and some more robust stuff.  Maybe some salmon for the gentle side and some ribeyes for the heavier heat.