Indirect techniques for a 3-burner horizontal model (i.e Genesis 1000)

I just picked up a genesis 1000 - with the three horizontal burners and the criss-crossing flavorizer bars.

I bought it with the intent to use it for direct-heat items that cook in short times (i.e. chicken pieces, pork chops, burgers, hot dogs, etc) - but to continue to use charcoal for longer cooks since I think that the longer cooks allows the charcoal to make more of a flavor difference.

That being said - I've been reading a bit on here about how people use their gassers for indirect cooking.

How well does heat circulate inside these grills? I've thought that the best approach for indirect would be to use the back-burner only and have the food slide towards the front - and to rotate the food around. I do this kind of indirect cooking all the time on my kettle where I have a bank of coals on one side only instead of on two sides. (The main reason I'll do this instead of the banks on both sides is if I want to have some area to sear and then move to indirect - but I've done it this way for other things like ribs too)

With the crisscrossing flavorizer bars, would indirect cooking be more difficult to achieve?

Also - how do others who "swing both ways" on the gas / charcoal grilling decide which foods to cook on which grills?

For me, my criteria thus far is - I'm cooking everything on my gas grill because it's my new toy but I'm also limiting what I'm cooking to thin cuts that take 10 or 15 minutes or less...

If I have all three burners on low, the lowest temperature it will want to sustain is around 350 to 400 - if I just have one burner on low I think I can get it to stay in the low 300's - but I haven't tested it much.

Ryan

First off read this post Grill Burner Front to Back

The generally accepted method for indirect on a Genesis 3 burner is front on high, middle off and rear on low, food positioned over the middle burner.

Using the method described in the above post enables you to use all or part of the cooking area for indirect, you can also to combination cooks if you want. You just need a barrier between the direct heat and the food and an air gap between the barrier and the food. 1/2" minimum, 1" is better, this will allow the hot air to circulate as in a convection oven and cook the food evenly.

You can do combination cooks using this method very easily. You can have the front and middle on high and use the uncovered area above the front and middle burners to sear and then turn the middle down to low when not searing.

As for the temperatures it will depend on your BBQ if you place a tray of water on top of the Flavorizer bars of the burners that are not on you can maintain lower better-controlled temperatures. You can add smoke by soaking a few chunks of your favourite wood in water for a few hours and then placing one or two chunks between the flavorizer bars over the burner interconnect tube. The chunks rest easily between the “V” formed between the flavorizer bars. You may need to slide the lid on its hinges to the right to reduce the airgap on the left this will create a cross flow of smoke accros the food.

I trust that this helps.

Regards