On 1/4/17 10:22 PM, wrote:
I have never really been happy with gas grills. It seems some cook too
hot and others do not get hot enough. I have had this old Sams
stainless grill for years and the ability to slow cook something like
chicken is great but if you want a quick steak, it needs more heat.
I decided the trick might be to play with the gas pressure. I have had
a few regulators on this with mixed results so I went with an
adjustable one. That gave me great control of the fire, up to the
point where the flame was coming out the top of the grates. The
industry standard for a "gas grill" bottle regulator is 11" of water.
Using that as a bench mark I went through my junk and came up with a
0-25" gauge. It turns out these bottle regulators suck. I tried 2 of
the 3 I had handy and they do not regulate well and the flow
restriction means if you have all 3 burners going, you might only get
7-8" of pressure. It is really all over the place. I also found out a
little dab will do ya. At the true 11", the burners are pretty hot and
at 15-16 they are really going. I did some steaks tonight playing with
the burner valve and the pressure. I really started feeling like I had
some control of the heat. It seems like far more control than I got
using the burner valve alone. Part of that is the pressure was not
that stable with the original fixed regulators. Now I am going to
start correlating what pressure is optimal with what I am doing.
I would not recommend an adjustable regulator if you do not have a
gauge unless you really like futzing with stuff. I may be looking with
one that is more precise and less range. This thing goes up to 20 PSI
(well over 100" of water) which might be OK for a turkey cooker or a
moonshine still but not useful with a grill.

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/Grille%20Guage.jpg



Gee whiz, just how hot does it have to be inside a closed grill to cook
a steak properly and quickly without incinerating it? Don't you have a
temperature gauge on your grill? I seem to recall that the inside temp
of the steak (not the grill) should be about 145F. Can't your grill
achieve that in a reasonable amount of time? Maybe you need a better
grill or just a bit more patience. What else do you have to do, anyway?

You seem to like to fill your life with "busy work." Maybe you can
connect a heat-resistant microphone to your grill and attach that to
speakers in the house so you can hear the steak sizzle. Or interest a TV
chef into introducing a special home "make your grill a lot hotter" kit
and, of course, a special fire extinguisher so you have something handy
to use when you set the house, the lawn, or the patio furniture on fire.

Oh, minor point. Gauge is spelled gauge.

Happy grilling.