Charcoal vs. propane **With Poll**

[shortylickens]

Charcoal tastes better, but gas is less mess.

 

[silverpig]

My dad has the weber Q120 you have in the link and it is fantastic. A friend has the Q220 and it too is great, although for your purposes the Q120 would be plenty.

My suggestion for your place is the Q120. Charcoal is nice, but I find it limiting. Propane will allow you to get hotter, and you can go for longer with the bigger tank. Oh, and cleanup is a lot easier too.

 

[melchoir]

I have both. For your situation propane fits the bill much better.

Grilling 3-5 times a week is a pain on a charcoal grill. 20-30 minutes for the coals to heat up, and cleanup isn't that fun either.

 

[Wheezer]

Propane + Apple Wood chips=win!

 

[GRHawk]

KT, I would choose charcoal 99% of the time, for the flavor. But for that remaining 1%, since you are cooking on a condo patio, I would pick a gas grill for safety and convenience. Besides, as Wheezer said, you could add some chips in a smoke box for additional flavor with a gas grill.

Whatever you decide post pics of your grilled/BBQ'ed goodness!

 

[MovingTarget]

buy a chimney starter from HD or wherever you get the grill. it'll be with the accessories. you put briquettes in the top, a couple crumpled up sheets of newspaper in the bottom, and then light it. no lighter fluid necessary.

This. Chimney starters are a lifesaver for charcoal grills...

 

[Powermoloch]

charcoal.

 

[Ayah]

Propane because it's just more convenient and easier to manage. Plus, I really suck at charcoal.

 

[slayer202]

I'd go propane, so much easier and quicker. unless you really want the food to be 100% as best as possible all the time. I don't think its worth it for regular use

 

[Bignate603]

Propane is faster and simpler, less messy. Charcoal is more versatile by a long shot, and some would argue the food tastes better. I would go with charcoal if it's something you don't see yourself using much. Make those occasional BBQs a little more special.

I've got to agree. If I was going to only be BBQing on weekends I'd go with charcoal but I like to be able to step outside on a week day and cook something up quick. For me propane has some distinct advantages.

 

[richardycc]

you might want to check your condo doc to make sure they don't ban charcoal grill. my old condo won't let me use a charcoal girll, but propane grill is ok, its dumb, that's why I don't live in a condo anymore.

 

[IGBT]

eco-KOOKS wana ban charcoal so burn while you can.

 

[Kaervak]

My vote is for charcoal. I have this grill: http://www.amazon.com/Weber-741001-2...&s=home-garden and use hardwood chunk charcoal with a chimney starter. Nothing against propane, the convenience factor of it is quite nice and in an apartment setting might be the better way to go, but I really don't mind the added "work" of charcoal since I don't grill all the time.

 

[Jzero]

Propane + Apple Wood chips=win!

This...get a gas grill and a $10 cast iron smoker box and you are good to go. Smokey flavor when you want it, gas convenience always. If I had a charcoal grill I'd grill maybe 1x/week. With gas, I'm out there 1x/week in the winter....5-6x/week in the summer. During the summer I pretty much do anything I would normally do in the oven (pizza, whole roasted chicken, even frozen french fries) in the grill.

If you keep an extra LP cylinder around you don't have to worry about running out of gas at an in opportune time.

 

[zinfamous]

KT, I would choose charcoal 99% of the time, for the flavor. But for that remaining 1%, since you are cooking on a condo patio, I would pick a gas grill for safety and convenience. Besides, as Wheezer said, you could add some chips in a smoke box for additional flavor with a gas grill.

Whatever you decide post pics of your grilled/BBQ'ed goodness!

This is exactly my sentiment, I must admit.

I 100% support charcoal grilling and believe with full prejudice that the use of propane in cooking meats is some sort of fascist agenda that should be rocketed to the moon, post-haste.

However, I voted propane in your poll simply b/c of your situation.

 

[zinfamous]

eco-KOOKS wana ban charcoal so burn while you can.

IGBT wants to ban intelligent thought, so just ignore him from now on.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I have both a propane and charcoal grill and I like both, but I use the propane grill 10x as much as the charcoal. There is a taste difference between the two, but the important thing is that BOTH of them make meat taste worlds better than a stove or oven. If I could have just one, it would be the propane grill simply because it's so easy and it makes damn fine food.

I like the charcoal grill for cooking for a group of people because it somehow feels more like an special event. It takes a bit longer so there's more time to stand around the grill shooting the shit, and the pungent smell brings back memories of a thousand past summer days spent grilling. I guess I really only use the charcoal for atmosphere when you get down to it.

Given the OP's situation I have to vote propane.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I'm far too lazy to use charcoal. Propane is hella easy.

This. I want to spend my time cooking and eating, not lighting charcoal.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Propane = more convenient, easier heat control, less maintenance and cleaning
Charcoal = potentially better tasting food

Choice is yours (unless your HOA says otherwise, as others have mentioned)
I use Propane quite frequently, but sometimes I will cook things over open flames (usually burning logs) in my fire pit...

 

[GuitarDaddy]

To me there is no difference in taste between the two if done right.

Propane is just much easier, quicker and more foolproof than charcoal.

Charcoal takes so much longer to light and get to cooking temp its just not worth the effort IMO. And getting and keeping the right cooking temp with charcoal can be tricky.

Tricks to cooking with charcoal
1. Learning the right amount of bricks to use for different cooking schenarios(more is better than less, last thing you want is to start losing heat before your done)
2. Getting the bricks started evenly
3. Let flames die out completely, cook with embers not flame


Achieving and maintaining the right temps throughout cooking is an art with charcoal or wood for that matter, just so much easier and foolproof with a quality propane grill.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

My dad has the weber Q120 you have in the link and it is fantastic. A friend has the Q220 and it too is great, although for your purposes the Q120 would be plenty.

My suggestion for your place is the Q120. Charcoal is nice, but I find it limiting. Propane will allow you to get hotter, and you can go for longer with the bigger tank. Oh, and cleanup is a lot easier too.

The Weber Q's are very hard to beat, I've been grillin for way over 30yrs and have owned about every type of grill ever made and currently use the Q320 and it is hands down the best cooking grill I've ever used including grills costing several times more.

http://www.amazon.com/Weber-586002-P.../dp/B000WOVZ26

 

[Pepsei]

i prefer charcoal... but specifically, lump charcoals, not briquettes which sadly, has taken over the meaning of charcoal.

 

[waggy]

bah! how could i miss this!

charchoal all the way. If possible get lump charcoal.

 

[KeithTalent]

Phew, sorry I've been away form this for so long, thanks for all of the tips and discussion, it has been ery helpful.

In the end I went with a proprane grill (just picked it up about an hour ago); after reading everything here and elsewhere, it just seemed to make the most sense. I wanted the taste of charcoal, but all of the other factors were in favour of propane. It also seems I can make up a bit of the lost charcoal flavour through other means.

Now I need to clean my patio and get the grill fired up for some work later this week! :awe: I'm thinking steak for my first test. :hmm:

Thanks again all!

KT