Weber Spirit vs Genesis: Entry Level VS Mid-Range Gas Grills Gas Grill Throwdown

Char-Broil's three-burner stainless steel model comes in at almost half the price of the Weber model above. At $550, you'll get a liquid propane and natural gas grill that can handle most cooking challenges with ease. In 1979, Weber introduced a one-letter alphabetic code representing the model year of Weber charcoal grills. The code was stamped into the lid damper of each charcoal kettle; for the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker, the code was stamped into the lid damper and all three charcoal bowl dampers. The porcelain coating prevents food from sticking, so the grates don’t need seasoning.

To keep our results as fair as possible, all the chickens are as close as possible to 5.5 pounds. To test the grill with a midrange cook time and medium heat settings, we grill a whole chicken. We preheat the grill on high for 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to medium and turn off burners to create an indirect heat environment.

She said her husband had an old smoker that doesn’t get used at all and offered to call him to see if it was something he wanted to get rid of. “I had to laugh weber charcoal grill when I saw the note about the ‘C’ club on New Years Day 2005. I was smoking a turkey and realized when loading the charcoal, that I need a new charcoal grate.

As it is, the warming-rack bars run edge to edge, and you have to awkwardly jimmy a spatula in there sideways. Among those experts, Joe Salvaggio of Big Apple BBQ spent two hours explaining the fundamentals of gas grill design, function, materials, and maintenance. Joe and his brother Tony have run Big Apple BBQ, one of the New York region’s leading grill shops, for over 30 years. Because Salvaggio is an independent retailer who carries grills from many manufacturers, he was able to speak freely about what he saw as the relative strengths and weaknesses of various designs.

But with a two-burner grill, cooking with indirect heat means the food gets heat from only one side, while it sits over the other, inactive burner. So you have to maneuver and rotate your chicken or roast to make sure it cooks evenly throughout. This is not impossible, but it definitely takes some attention and finesse. The Genesis E-325s is the only one of our picks that we haven’t physically tested, but we did check it out in person at a few different stores.