Blog Archives Grilling Tips
10/03/2011
Spit Forks We get calls and e-mails all the time looking for larger and smaller spit forks for certain uses. The most common of which is for Cornish game hens. While we have not found any real variation in the size of the spit forks on the market today. What I typically suggest is the bending of two of the forks tines while leaving the other pair intact. You can make them wider or narrower using this technique so they will hold just about anything.
Bending them inward is easily done on any hard surface by placing the opposite fork on the hard surface and pushing down on the other one. We suggest bending the shorter of the forks inward if your spit forks have different lengths.
To expand them just grab opposing tines and pull. We suggest bending the longer of the forks outward if your spit forks have different lengths.
Always be mindful of the pointed ends they can tear your hands up. The drawback to this is eventually the metal will get fatigued and they will need to be replaced.
7/23/2011
New Maverick Smoker Probes. There have been some discussions about the new probes found in the et732 thermometers so I figured that I would tell you what I know. First off the probes are not interchangeable between the two units, they are just shown together for comparison sake.
To the left you will see a picture of (from the bottom up) a new replacement probe for the et73, an old et73 probe and finally the et732 smoker probe. The top 2 are similar but there are a couple of subtle differences. On the new probe you can see that the plastic plug on the wire end is a much better fit and the crimping of the wire is a little wider. This appears to be an improvement on the manufacturing end and should help prevent moister from getting in and ruining the probe. The current et73 smoker thermometers and replacement probes (including the food and high heat probes) are all of this new end design.
Now for the et732 probe: The crimped part of the probe is flattened out even more then the new et73 probes. This causes a problem for those who use the ¼ grommets the new probes are to wide to fit through the ¼ inch hole. Also on the very end of the et-73 probes you can see a change in the type of metal the et732 probe doesn’t have this. I could be wrong here (and most likely I am), but it appears as though there is a difference in the way the new thermometer reads the chamber temperature. This is most likely why you can not trade off the probes if they did work chances are the temps would be incorrect.
Now if you want to use the probe grommets for your new et732 smoker thermometer the bad news is you need the bigger 3/8 inch grommets. The good news is you will only need to use one of the larger grommets. As long as you thread the probes in one at a time both of the probes can be put through the larger hole. The smaller ¼ inch grommets will still work with your et73 probes even if they are the newer probes.
Thanks to Chris from C and C Grillin for bringing the grommet problem to my attention
7/22/2011
The word of the day is HOT, not just hot friggin unbearable hot and humid. I am sorry I doubted you over the winter Mr. Gore. Anybody who lives in the upper midwest can attest to that. We have been in the upper 90's for the last four days now with the heat index hovering at about 110 degrees. It doesn't get much hotter then that around here. Last night I didn't know if I should bother firing up the grill or just cook our chicken on the hot asphalt outside. Just after I posted that on our facebook page the local news had some reporter cooking eggs and bacon on the hood of his car. Anyway I went out to preheat the grill and noticed that it was already at 125 degrees so I wondered how hot it got in the middle of the day with the sun beating down on the black hood. So I just checked it out and the grill is just under 200 degrees, almost at smoking temperature from just the sun. Just something I found interesting.
About the Gaswatch inline propane gaugeI get quite a few questions about this product so here is what you need to know. First off installation is easy, it screws onto your propane tank then you connect your grills hose to the other end. Take the time to be sure that it is mounted to the tank straight; it will save you some aggravation. There is a 3 color face with a needle indicator.
If the needle is anywhere in the green area that means you have more than a half hours worth of gas in the tank. It does not read like a gas gauge in your car where the needle will be pegged when full and slowly go down. As a matter of fact I have had a newly filled tank barley in the green in the winter, it is effected by outside temperatures. When your needle is in the yellow area you have less then ½ hours worth of propane left in your tank and red is empty.
This gauge reads the pressure in the tank and since propane is delivered at a constant pressure it has to read this way. This is a very effective tool for those who turn off their tank after every use. You check it when you turn your gas off after every cook and you will know if you have enough left for the next use.
Spit Rods
Believe it or not I get a lot of questions about rotisserie spit-rods, so here is everything you need to know about spit-rods but were afraid to ask. A spit rod is typically made from steel stock and plated with nickel; there are some entirely stainless rods on the market but those are few and far between and very expensive. Most standard spit rods are 5/16 wide there are also 3/8 and ½ inch rods available as well. Even these larger rods are typically machined down at both ends to fit a standard rotisserie motor and handle.
The first thing you need to know is never cut a spit rod! Because they are plated metal the metal will flake at the end you cut and the exposed surface will eventually rust. If you cut a spit rod you will end up throwing it away, maybe not at first but eventually.
Secondly spit rods are not rated for weight. There is some logic to this; if they were to rate spit rods for weight what would you be looking for? How much weight it would take before it bowed or before it bent permanently? The answer to either of those questions would depend on how far apart it is supported on both sides and how the load is distributed across the span of the rod. This I do know the 5/16 rod will significantly bow at about 25 pounds while the ½ inch thick rod bows significantly when the weight reaches the 40 pound range.
The weak point of any halfway decent rotisserie is the spit rod (with a cheaper rotisserie the weakness may be the motor). After all they hold all the weigh, are exposed to the extreme heat of the grill and get all the hardware screwed to them.