New to gas & lava rocks... Looking for advice please :)

[zeesaffa]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum - so hello from me in Hertford!

I'm hoping someone can help me please.

Just recently bought my first gas barbecue - Outback Spectrum 3 burner with lava rocks.

I'm struggling with it to be honest. There are major hotspots (even with burners on lowest setting) - and cold spots as well. It's basically one or the other.
I've spread the lava rocks out very evenly but this hasn't helped.

Any advice please?
Am I supposed to heat the rocks up for like 15 mins and then turn the burners off completely? If so - How long do they retain heat for? (to be honest - I only thought of doing this today after the bad bbq experience last night... so I guess I could try it and find out but hoping someone can save me the wasted gas )

Nobody I know has a gas bbq with rocks so I'm kind of stumped.

Thanks!

[DJBenz]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I have a very cheap gas BBQ with lava rocks and I find that I need to either keep the food on the grill turning very quickly, or move it to the upper shelf and close the lid.

Even on the lowest setting the rocks retain a lot of heat and can burn if you leave the food directly above.

[Tiny]

Hello and welcome old chap,
I have the very bbq beast of which you speak, I dontt have lava rocks and don't seem to have any bother. I found when I had lava rocks the heat was much patchier as the natural gaps that exist acted as funnels for heat. I have some kind of metal deflectors over the burners and the thing cooks lovely. Must confess I don't do much direct grilling and often use the top deck for slow offset cooking but when I get my lad to do the grilling direct he doesn't seem to have any bother although I would say that it is quite a hot beast so do most grilling on min.

Hope this helps
Tiny

[AlanL]

Hi Zeesaffa,

I use a Gas Grill but with flavorizer bars as opposed to lava rocks. One thing with a gas grill is that it needs to be level so I assume you have checked this. Are you able to fire the grill up without the rocks in place? If so do the burners all light evenly. I would expect some variance in temp across the grill as Tiny says with the natural gaps in between the individual rocks but not as much as you are indicating. With my grill I do give it 5-10 mins to warm up and get up to temperature. When cooking did you have the lid up or down? Generally speaking the lid should be down which should also help reduce the effects of hotspots.

[zeesaffa]

Many thanks for all the replies gents!

It wasn't perfectly level (as AlanL suggested) - so I've fixed that now.
I've also tried to pack as many lava rocks in (in a single layer) as possible - and it seems these 2 things have had an improvement.

It's still patchy - but perhaps if I keep the lid closed more that will help.

Tiny,
Have you got any simple recipes for this "slow offset grilling" you talk of please?

Thanks again!

[Tiny]

Old Chap,
Possibilities are endless. Basic set up is that you only have a single burner on, I prefer the left, this is adorned with either a smoking box, a tin with multiple holes in it or an foil pouch full of wood chips with holes punched therein...... once you have this then -

Hot smoked salmon,
Salmon fillets on the warming rack on foil at the right hand end dressed with lemon juice and pepper and then let the wood smoke from your pouch get them golden. or
Get some chicken wings up on the top deck covered in an eveil chilli blend, this one I go hotter left hand grill up high and need to move them about to get even cooking but so long as none are over the lit grill then no worries.
or
Do a whole pork shoulder and pull it, yes the purists will weep but you will still have tasty pulled pork, follow standard recipe for rub etc, left hand grill about half speed, wood chips in foil on and cook at about an hour and a half a pound with piggys shoulder on the warming rack to the right.

Can do the same with whole racks of ribs , never done a brisket but don't see why you shouldn't...........smoke and grill chap, smoke and grill!
Cheers
Tiny

[zeesaffa]

Those sound rather good!
Will definitely be experimenting... I love pulled pork but only ever done it in the oven.
Time to push those boundaries!
Thanks for taking the time Tiny!