Weber Genesis - What to consider when choosing amoung the versions?

I need to buy a new natural gas grill and am leaning towards the Weber Genesis 320. I've never bought a 'good' grill before some have some questions:

- I'm in Canada and I see the product advertised as the Premium Genesis, is this just how it is named in Canada or is there a Genesis and a Premium Genesis?

- there seems to be the S series and the E series and the only difference I can see between the two is that one is porcelain enameled and the other stainless steel when it comes to the Flavourizer bars and cooking grates. How do you choose between the two, what should I consider?

- what the heck is a Flavourizer bar anyways?

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

Side note - I'm in Toronto so I'm thinking of going to Dickson's Home Hardware to buy. Anyone have any feedback on that place or can recommend an alternative?

You guys up der up nort got some good questons up der hay... LOL!!! Had to, I'm from up nort too!

The premium is simply an "E"(porcelain enamel) with the stainless upgrades you mentioned. Stateside, they normally cost about $50.00 more. The grates and flavorizer bars do last longer when made of stainless steel vs. the PCS.

The flavorizor bars are just metal bars that cover the burner tubes to help protect them as well as to aid in distributing the heat. When the fat from your food hits one of them it vaporizes it and turnes it to smoke and steam. This aids in the flavor of the food.

Pick the retailer you like the best.

Good luck to ya!

The E series have porcelain coated aluminum shrouds with porcelain coated cast iron grates and Flavorizer bars, the S series have a SS shroud with SS grates and bars and the PE series have the porcelain coated aluminum shroud with SS grates and bars.

The Genesis "premium" EP-3xx series swaps out the porcelain porcelain coated cast iron grates and flavorizer bars on the Genesis E-3xx series for stainless steel grates and flavorizer bars. I went with the EP for the stainless steel, which has a longer life.

I have a Lodge cast iron topper I place (upside down) on the grates when I want a really good sear - for steaks, for instance. It makes a perfect combination!

Robert,

I'm not sure which Genesis you're looking at, but try to get the one with 3 burners (here it's called the silver C, I think). It has a lot more room to cook indirect. Just my .02 (er, .04 canadian)

Weber redesigned their models this year, all the Genesis models come with 3 burners now. They redid the model names also, no more Silver C.

I have seen Canadians refer to a Genesis EP-320. I don't see this on the US Weber's site, but I believe it has a porcelain enameles hood, whic is great, but stainless grates and flavorizor bars. This is better than the standard E320, and should be cheaper than the S320.

The flavorizor bars are angular pieses of metal that go under the grate but over the burners. Grease and drippings hit them and vaproize, which flavors the meat. They are designed to channel away excess grease to avoid bad flareups. Most grills use some sort of similar configuration. Most grills no longer use lava rocks or ceramic briquettes. The flavorizor bars or flame tamers or whatever they are called have replaced the lava rocks.

The cheap Genesis models have porcelain coated steel flavorizors, but they only last a few years before needing replacing. The stainless ones will last longer.

Now the porcelain hood is a different story. Those seem to last just about forever, and I like te nice colors. So you can save some money buying a porcelain hood. But the stainless flavorizor bars are better than the porcelain bars.

Grates are a matter of personal preference. A lot of people love the porcelain-enameled cast iron grates, but those have an expected life of 5-8 years and then have to be replaced. Weber came up this year with 7 mm stainless grates. I don't know how well they cook but they are probably pretty good, and they should last the life of the grill.