Bar-B-Q anyone?

Had some friends over for some moose steaks on Saturday.

Wife and I prepared all day; we cleaned, she cooked, and cooked, and I got things ready from their winter slumber.

I wheeled the Bar-B-Q to the patio and attached the propane tank. It was a rainy day and it was about 4 p.m. Once all the accessories were attached I opened the lid only to find that my charcoal bricks were now powder gathered around the element. We bought this barbeque in our previous home when we first moved in together. It cost 90$ and needed some assembly.

It would appear that the charcoal was in better shape than the rest of the unit. I cleaned out the ashes in the bottom the best I could and proceeded to light the element. Poof. A bright yellow flame shot out one side of the element, which was more of a torch flame than one to cook on. I turned off the gas and started to evaluate my problem.

"Need a new element and some more coal".

So I cleaned up the rest of the powder at the bottom and looked at a way to remove the element. By this time our guests would be arriving in an hour and I had no barbeque (did I mention that we were having moose steaks?). There was so much rust and blackened metal that I couldn't see how to remove the element, so I took the flipper and gave the bottom of the pit a whack. A portion of my barbeque fell to the ground. Not just a small portion, but half the bottom.

"Need a new menu and a beer".

After evaluating the situation with the wife, we concluded that Kraft dinner and wieners would not be sufficient and that we needed a barbeque. Off to Home Depot I went.

I looked through the selection and found my dream barbeque. A stainless steel 78" grill with a warmer door, two gas elements and inflatable wheels. Once I woke up again I checked the "thrift" section and found a couple of good ones (far better than my 90$ special). I took a pre-assembled unit and headed out. The assembly fee was waived because there was a scratch on the lid. Bonus!

I attached the tanks and sparked up the new grill. Beautiful. It was 5:45 and people were going to be here any second. I figured I had better burn of some of that "new-ness" before making the moose. I tidied up the yard and got things set up. I was coming out of the "dog house (my converted garage)", and threw a quick chance at my new grill. It wasn't so much the newness of it that needed to be burnt off as much as the dials, handles, stickers and tubes.

At least that's what my grill decided. I ran over to my fireball surrounded barbeque and killed the gas feed. The flames subsided and I was left to investigate the damage.

The base had a large dent in it since the steel had gotten so hot that it sagged down about an inch. The lighting button was wrecked (as if those ever work). I also found the culprit. A connection where the gas line meets a tube that leads to the element was mismatched, so eventually the flame followed its way down to the source and was burning pure propane. I guess that's why my grill was on fire.

I fixed the tube connection and cleaned the black off the outside. My lighting button is finished, but, I will get that replaced. Once I re-lit it, it ran with no glitches.

The food was great! The Chocolate pudding shooters were plentiful (***patent pending, Thanks SOL!) and the men totally dominated at "Taboo". From what I remember anyway.

Welcome to my home, "HellGrill", you are now part of the family.