That's like the EM of grills.

I bought a Summit Platinum C4 in 2006 it was $1,500. Best investment ever.

I've had a Webber Genesis (natural gas) for about 8 years. Last year I changed out the burners, igniter, and flavor bars. I also gave it a total tear down and degreasing. It's like new now. The one below is just a sample pic I found, but it's identical to mine. It's great and very well made.

Last year I purchased a Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM) 22"charcoal smoker and have been loving it! Grilling is fun, but the smoker is the bomb. For the price, you can do a lot with it. Thumbs waaaaaaay the heck up! The one below is mine making ribs last weekend.

Also, there is a great web site for the WSM. It has good forums and lots of tips.
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/

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I have a Genesis and a 22.5 WSM. I had never smoked anything and first thing I tried was a 12 lb prime packer from Costco. It came out great considering it was my first time. I haven't had it a year yet but have smoked Turkeys, Chickens, Butts, Sausages, Ribs, Tri-tip and probably 5 more briskets. Good times.

Here's a pic of my last brisket.

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Looks awesome.

Do you foil? Or add water to the pan?

I leave my pan dry. I've started doing my Briskit for about 4 hours in smoke, to get a nice bark. Then I go in foil for about another 4 hous. All at 250 or less. I find that I like the moisture better with the foil.

Also, I love the chimney for starting my coals.

No water for me(only done it once and didn't notice a difference). I do foil the pan though for easy clean up.

For the briskets I just rub with salt and pepper Franklin style. I foil it at the stall with a touch of apple cider vinegar to take me home. A few times I have put it on around 11pm at 225 and go to sleep(testament to the WSM holding steady). I pull it off in the morning, let it rest and it's ready for lunch time. Damn, I'm gonna have to smoke something tomorrow now!

The last cook on my Genesis was this tri-tip. Seared both sides and then cooked for another 35 mins or so with indirect heat. Had the meat on the left without the burner on and the two burners to the right on med-high.

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I bought a Big Green Egg this spring. I love it!

I've got the same thing, picked it up in 98 when I was in college. Still in great shape, only thing I've had to replace was the ash pan underneath it.

Bought this in 2003 and still works perfectly other than buying a new temp gauge last year.

Any suggestions on how to degease it. I would like to give it a thorough cleaning.

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Sure. I cleaned it with a combination of Dawn soap and water. I scrubbed it with kitchen scrubbing sponges like I use on dirty plates and skillets. You can also spray grill cleaner and let it sit a bit. It works like oven cleaner. The other thing that really helped was to remove as much of the internal components as possible. My Weber has a huge metal pan under it that collects sludge. It's angled and drains to small disposable foil pans. That thing was really gross. It cleaned up super easy and looked new when I was done.

Sort of like shopping a pinball. The more you tear down, the easier it is to clean.

Anybody ever used a pit cooker? I'm not sure if that's the correct term.

Around here in Amish country, there are a lot of benefit suppers to help people with high medical bills or charities. The benefits usually include an auction with a ton of donated items like wood furniture, tools, housing goods, and dinners. Also at the benefit is usually a supper. Sometimes everyone with a deep fryer comes and fries fish. Most times though we grill chicken and sausage.

I had never grilled chicken in this manner before. A lot of the guys have their own pit cookers and it's pretty fun to gather together and make a big supper where they grill around 400 pounds (this is a conservative estimate) of chicken and sausage. Here's a pic I found of a company's grill but most of the ones here are homemade. They clamp the meat between two grills and flip the whole 40 pound batch.

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The best grill ever. You get what you pay for, the best. Have had a Summit for 8 plus years, stills ignites and cooks and looks great.

I do kosher salt, granulated garlic and black pepper in equal parts on mine. I prefer the simple stuff on beef and chicken. On pork shoulders, I've tried quite a few different mixes I found online. I smoked a turkey last year and that may be my favorite thing I've smoked so far. My local BBQ joint closed about a month and a half ago, so I need to smoke a brisket again soon. My family prefers pulled pork, and since it's so much cheaper, I tend to make that a lot more often. When I make brisket, I'm pretty critical of it, but everyone else is like, 'its OK' - they just prefer the pork. So, making a whole packer when I'm pretty much the primary consumer, often doesn't make sense, when the local BBQ joint had decent brisket for about $7.50 for a big sandwich.

I picked up a couple different iGrill bluetooth thermometers. I started with the basic 1 probe cheapie, and bought the fancy one with 4 probes on clearance earlier this year at Sams. I have an app on my phone so I can monitor temps. Can set it, go to bed, and if something happens, it alerts me. If I wake up and wonder where temps are, I can check and make sure everything is moving along as expected.

Love Weber grills!

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Love my Genesis and cleaning her up for Labor Day today. Need more propane - a lot of use this summer!

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I'm kind of lucky. We have a couple meat processors local here that do some great stuff with their meat. Odon Locker has some of the best meats and you can take a cow or pig in there and get it cut any way you want. Also Merkley's down the road in Jasper is a bigger place and they have some great chicken and sausage. Their sausage links are some of the best EVER.

Cover Tip

I just replaced my grill cover with a Texas Grill Cover that I bought from Amazon, seems just as good as the Weber one, but for half the price. Weber cover lasted 3 years for me.

I think you're in IL, right? If we ever go to the same event, let me know and I'll bring you some stuff from down here to try.

I just looked on CL and there are quite a few around Indy that look good. A couple hundred bucks. One's a natural gas grill. Is there any way to use that with a tank or does it have to pipe in to the house. I'm not too experienced with gas grills. I've used mostly coal and wood in the past.

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Foil is your friend. I'm still in my first year, but happy to share what I do if you are interested.

My briskit: usually about a 15-18lb right in the grocery store meat section.

PM- salt, pepper and garlic rub the night before. I let it sit overnight in the fridge.
AM- I put a fully chimney of hot coals over about 1/2 full ring of charcoal with 6 or so pieces of wood. I put this briskit on bare (with the seasonings) with the fat up. I usually maintain 240-260 by controlling the lower vents. Top vent always wide open. I usually let this go 4 hours. I then wrap the whole thing in foil and put it back on for 4 hours.

At this point, it's ready. Low and slow. I always have too much juice, never dry.

Also, I recommend this page
http://virtualweberbullet.com/brisketselect.html

Natural gas has different burners. The gas has a different density. You can buy new burners, but it probably easier to just get a propane one.

What I meant by using a tank was do they sell Natural Gas in a tank like LP? You're probably right, better to just buy an LP grill.

I'm not sure. Not any in my part of the world though.

For my honeymoon we traveled across Canada. In north Vancouver we found the best bbq place that I've ever been to, called Memphis Blues. We bought their cookbook and fell in love with the dry rub recipe. I highly recommend it. We put that shit on everything.

Memphis Blues All Purpose Dry Rub
Ingredients:
1 cup (250 ml) dried parsley
1 cup (250 ml) sugar
1 cup (250 ml) Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
3 Tbsp (45 ml) ground black pepper
3 Tbsp (45 ml) garlic powder
3 Tbsp (45 ml) onion powder
3 Tbsp (45 ml) dried oregano
3 Tbsp (45 ml) sweet paprika
1 Tbsp (15 ml) mild mustard powder (* Do NOT use Keen’s)
1 Tbsp (15 ml) celery salt
pinch cayenne pepper
Method:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk thoroughly so there are no clumps.
Store in an airtight container in the cupboard up to 6 months. Use on pork, chicken,
turkey or Beef.

SkillShot - here is my Cover Tip

I don't use one. Covers hold moister in the grill and anything that is not stainless will deteriorate much quicker. I find it easier to just keep the outside clean by wiping it down occasionally.

Your original observation is right, OEMs are way too expensive.

I've had 3 Weber gas grills throughout a span of 30+ years and although all were great, I miss my first generation Genesis because it had two rows of flavorizing bars. Flare ups were almost non-existent. I've had my current Weber for five years and am now looking for a pristine early Genesis or Platinum (with the double row of flavorizing bars) in the Chicago area.

Found a recipe on line. Olive oil, lemon or lime juice, crushed garlic (I cheated and used powder) salt and pepper. I suppose you can add some spice like Tabasco but my family prefer not. Marinated for 2 hrs in fridge.

Turned out good tasting but I'd say I over cooked by a few minutes, these were frozen pre-cooked so it's hard to say probably only needed 2 minutes per side.

I used skewers but I'm looking at getting a veggie tray for this in the future.

I've got a Weber smoker that's pretty great. Easy to use, and makes delicious smoked meat things. I love smoking brisket, chickens, turkey.

Wish I could fit this one in my back yard!

If you've never been to the restaurant, it's worth checking out (they even have "beer-can chicken" as well as more upscale fare).

https://www.webergrillrestaurant.com/locations/

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Nice idea, but if I'm really concerned about flareups I just use those $5 grill surfaces that go on top of the grid. Also, these things look a total pain to clean....

I have to respectfully disagree with you on that. Maybe it you live in an area where there's no rain, snow, birds, spiders, pollen, falling leaves or insects you can get away without a cover, but up here in NE if you don't cover your grill it turns into a bug infested rustpot in no time at all. Believe me, I speak from experience.

I guess you could say I am.

Bought a Weber gas grill in '99 and rebuilt is last year, still looks and works like new. Have the large one touch kettle grill, one for home and one for camper. Also have a smokin joe, and a portabl gas Weber. So 5 Webers total.

Also have a Traeger

I recently was in the market for a new grill. Really looked at the Weber and like them, but I went with Broil King Baron, seems to me I got a little more bang for my buck. Also made in North America.

We are approaching 5000 members over at the Weber forum, http://weberkettleclub.com/. A true testament to the popularity of Weber's products, and the fact that you really do get what you pay for, and that backyards all over the world have Weber grills in them.

My Weber Spirit just after I put it together last summer. The cleanest it will ever be. I do like the pull out grease tray and disposible traps that Weber's have. Along with the propane tank gauge and I was sold.

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I have an old Weber Spirit 500 gas grill that is around 20 years old. This thing has been a workhorse as we use it 2-3 times per week. I have replaced the flavorizor bars a few weeks ago for the 2nd time. This time I had some custom made stainless steel flavorizor bars made for it. I also replaced the grill grates once, and I just ordered a new ignitor. Everything else is still original. I also have a weber charcoal grill, but it isn't as old as my gas grill. If someday I decide to get a new gas grill it will be another Weber.

I'm no expert, but my grill is several years old and looks pretty good still. The cover on the other hand gets pretty beaten up from the elements, so I got to think it's better to have it on.

A Weber kettle charcoal grill was the first grill I ever owned, it was a hand-me-down from my inlaws. I still have it, it's the one in the back near my smoker in the one pic. My current main Weber has a cast iron grill grate you can see in the steak pic, it's the best thing you can do for your Weber kettle IMO. And I've never cooked on a gas grill, seriously.

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I need to order some cleaning supply like degreaser any recommendations?

Also anyone use a grilling basket for veggies or shrimp or stir fry like this?
https://www.amazon.com/Weber-6434-Professional-Grade-Vegetable-Basket/dp/B000WEIJUW/ref=sr_1_4

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I do and I love it. And don't get upset when it turns black/brown/golden. It is going to gain seasoning after a few uses. I just let it cool off and hand wash it with a scrub brush and Dawn. Every once and awhile I will soak it in the sink in hot water and Dawn to really get some gunk off. Also, It seers stuff better if you let it preheat on the grill before adding things.

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I never use a cleaner on the inside of my summit.

When I cook veggies or shrimp on the grill I use skewers. They cook best this way in my experience and cooking is most controllable. For stir fry I use a wok, which you can use on the grill or side burner.