Thread: BBQ's

Looking at picking up a hooded BBQ. Currently thinking the Gasmate Gemini 4 burner from Mitre 10.
Anyone got one of these or can recommend a hooded 4 burner BBQ at around the $500 mark.

I recently bought a Masport, MB4000 | Masport New Zealand it's a couple hundy more but I'm happy with it, last cheap one I had wouldn't put enough heat out to cook steak properly.

Weber Q, end of search.

Me and a couple of my mates do quite a bit of bbqing, on both hooded gas and also charcoal weber kettles.

My gas bbq is a big arsed Rinnai Stainless beast which ive had for about 15 years now, whilst its been good and bomb proof. If i had to replace it, i would not get the same again. Its big, crazy heavy, and there are smaller lighter, more portable BBQ's around these days that are far more useful and universal.

For a gas bbq these days, i would get a Weber Q. Two mates have them and they bbq on them a lot, from fast steak, to large roasts. They just work super well, weber have absolutely nailed it with the design of the way it works, inside shape, burner power to internal volume ratio. The way that the fat drips off and turns to smoke and that then gets circulated all around the meat, it produces a result way better than ive seen on any other gas bbq.

One of my mates now has all 3 sizes of the weber Q. Over the years I have learnt a heap from this chap about bbqing meat. When him and i first saw the Weber Q's we thought they were gimmicky things for yuppies - but how wrong we both were. They work bloody well. They are light weight, smaller than my big Rinnai, and they are more portable.

While on holiday in the Sunny coast mid year the house we rented for a couple of weeks never had a BBQ. Big arsed deck right on the sea and no bbq WTF. So i borrowed a local mates weber baby Q (the smallest of the 3 sizes) for our stay. I used the hell out of it, we had 6 adults and 5 kids to feed and it did very well. One night i manged to fit a small leg of lamb and a decent piece of beef cube roll on it at once, and the little weber did a superb job of it i must say.

I would now not consider any other type of gas bbq.

Have a Weber Q take a lot of beating.
Topped Consumer test.
Cost a bit more but they last.
Have Weber Charcoal ones as well that are yaers old.

Yep have two gas Webber’s, jus got the second unit for the Bach, my mate bags the shit out of them, unfortunately we were at a xmas function and he won one in the raffle, he had bagged them so badly, he couldn’t accept the prize without a severe ribbing. I told him God works in mysterial ways and offered him $200 bucks cash! Good deal for me!!

Masport make a Webber copy that’s pretty good, Stihl shop at Mount Maunganui sells them. Google them for details and see what’s local to you

i don't reckon my Weber Q is hot enough, i know you need to cook slightly differently with them but my gripe is you can't crank up enough true heat to char the outside of a steak or crisp the lamb chops. sometimes feels like steaks are a touch 'poached'
also would like to be able to control the burner heat from one side to the other. it has a grill on left and plate on the right but you can't easily isolate the heat to one side or the other.
other than that i'll concede that it is pretty good, but next time i will get a more traditional hooded BBQ i reckon

My webber family Q gets too hot sometimes. No issues charring meat when needed.
My old man has one that seems to get even hotter.
It does seem to be temperature sensitive with the weather tho.



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Build a Parilla. Once you have had "proper" bbq gas will never compare

Originally Posted by LOC

i don't reckon my Weber Q is hot enough, i know you need to cook slightly differently with them but my gripe is you can't crank up enough true heat to char the outside of a steak or crisp the lamb chops. sometimes feels like steaks are a touch 'poached'
also would like to be able to control the burner heat from one side to the other. it has a grill on left and plate on the right but you can't easily isolate the heat to one side or the other.
other than that i'll concede that it is pretty good, but next time i will get a more traditional hooded BBQ i reckon

There is something definatly wrong with it i reckon mate, they normally excel in getting hot and charing if you want that. My mate in Aussie does a lot of reverse-seared steaks, where he slowly smokes them indirectly over charcoal and wood chunks then finishes them on the Gas Baby Q to get a good Char and grill marks.

Originally Posted by LOC

i don't reckon my Weber Q is hot enough, i know you need to cook slightly differently with them but my gripe is you can't crank up enough true heat to char the outside of a steak or crisp the lamb chops. sometimes feels like steaks are a touch 'poached'
also would like to be able to control the burner heat from one side to the other. it has a grill on left and plate on the right but you can't easily isolate the heat to one side or the other.
other than that i'll concede that it is pretty good, but next time i will get a more traditional hooded BBQ i reckon

There is something definatly wrong with it i reckon mate, they normally excel in getting hot and charing if you want that.

Originally Posted by berg243

do you have plans / dimensions for this.any tricks to making it for efficient cooking.

Will PM you later on (currently milking cows!) But yes they are pretty efficient when done right and the taste is bloody beautiful, we have a portable one which isn't the best but still better than a gas or charcoal bbq because we are sharemilking so not our own property but have built one here and know a couple of people that have them here including one with a proper setup which includes a pizza oven

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

Build a Parilla. Once you have had "proper" bbq gas will never compare
Attachment 80698

That looks awesome mate, and i agree grilling over real coals cannot be beaten but like my built-in outdoor fire place/grill the portability is somewhat limited ;-)

Originally Posted by berg243

check your gas regulator some don't put out enough gas as they are low pressure usually if you get a higher pressure output one fixes the poor heating.

I did change the Regulator but it made no difference.