Anybody use their side burner?


 
TimA said:
I bought my Spirit thinking I would and could use the side burner all the time. Turns out, the dang thing runs too hot on low for much good, it’s almost never used.
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I think there is too much pressure to the burner. I have trouble lighting it-on high, it blows itself out when trying.
 
Bruce said:
Does it light OK on low?
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Seems if I turn it down a little and hit the igniter, it will light. Have never lit it with the grill on, so maybe that would tame it down? Have only used it solo to sear salmon and not "stink up the house and splatter grease everywhere". Yes, I am married.
 
I hardly use the sideburner on my old Genesis. It does not regulate very well and is way too sensitive to wind. I really don't like it. When I cook I use my gas stove top in the kitchen. More powerful and more burners since I often have 2 or more running at the same time. When we renovated our kitchen a few years ago I installed a very powerful over the range hood with about a 5" duct moving everything outside to avoid smell in the house. It has been working great for even really smelly food.
 
Stefan H said:
When we renovated our kitchen a few years ago I installed a very powerful over the range hood with about a 5" duct moving everything outside to avoid smell in the house. It has been working great for even really smelly food.
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Did that too with a dual blower model that sounds like a 747 on high. My problem is the wife has the nose of a blood hound.
 
Another use I thought of today.

Use the side burner to sterilize your utensils between flips and stuff.

No side burner here but it sure woild be helpful
 
For those who poo poo their side burner. Tuesday evening (knowing my dad requested shortribs and I had a hankering for my grandma's recipe Italian beef (the TRUE Italian beef not the stuff of drive ins) I figured I would simply cook it the day before and simply warm it with hard rolls, my special fried peppers, and giardiniera. However we've been having a bit of a heatwave and I did not feel like having the pressure cooker steaming my kitchen. So off to the grill side burner I go with one of my trusty Fagor cookers. The beef was incredible. Like grandma came down from heaven and helped. (BTW she never used a pressure cooker or boneless short ribs). But with the help of that Fagor her hours long process took me 35 minutes
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I loved the idea of a side burner but only used it a few times and wind was an issue. So I didn’t opt for one on my latest grill purchase. But, it really did come in handy when we had a major winter storm with extended power outages… boiling water, making coffee, cooking of course. So I’m going to buy a cheap single burner gas stove just in case we have more of that this winter. That worked out cheaper than the grill with the side burner option.
 
Don, consider buying a simple Turkey Fryer burner. They put out a lot more heat if desiered than a grill side burner and they normally have shielding to help protect from wind. Probably not something to use to heat up a sauce, but great for boiling water, or heating up medium to large size pots of whatever. You can find them used on CL and FB MP for about $20 or even garage sales in the summer.
 
Yeah but only if you're heating up 5 or more gallons at a time. Many turkey fryers don't throttle down well if at all and actually can become dangerous if you try to take them too low. They are really meant to run pretty much full on or full off and typically have more BTU than the average home furnace
 
The two we used at the grill meet this summer seemed to throttle down just fine once we good the parts dye solution up to temp. Not sure what the BTU's were on them, but they seemed pretty easy to control.
It was just a thought anyway.
 
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