horizontal burners function


 
R

Ross W

TVWBB Fan
Not sure if that's the right way to put it but I'm talking about grills where the nobs control front, middle, and back as opposed to left,right, and center. What's it like trying to grill indirect on these? Seems weird to me, but can you just throw the front burner on and food on the back? Trying to decide if this would be an issue, might pull the trigger on an early 2000's genesis that's hardly used.
 
That model is commonly referred to as a "sidewinder," or "having east/west burners" as
opposed to north/south on the newer front control models.

You can easily cook indirect, however, you will likely want start out with all burners
on to start, and then adjust from there. It may take you quite a while to reach your
desired temp if you only use 1 burner from the start.
 
They are the best and the only grills that should truly be called "Genesis". They are especially versatile (far more than their counterparts). Indirect is easy. I.E. last night I wanted to spin a chicken but honestly ran out of time because I forgot to pull one from the freezer. So I bought a pair of organic birds at Costco. Instead I did a simple spatchcock. Prepped the bird and "vented" the skin for fat rendering. Gave it a nice shower of a rub and olive oil. Got my Genesis hot, than stabilized it at 400 on the hood thermo. With front and rear burners on middle off. I got a beautifully cooked bird, crispy skin, tender and juicy. And some pieces I removed prior to cooking for the soup pot. But the next bird will definitely go on the spit. Something only a sidewinder can truly do well. The grills with front controls can only "pretend" :D You get food cooked primarily on the "ends". So ends over done to get the middle done. Meh. With that nice wall of heat across the front and back of the grill you get perfect results
 
For rotisserie cooking the east west burners are ideal. It is how you would design a grill for a rotisserie. Even some Summits and other grills sometimes have a "rotisserie burner" in the east west orientation. As far as zoned cooks, you get used to it pretty fast. I like to use the back as the hot zone, because all the heat is heading front to back anyway, so that's just my preference. You'll get accustomed to it faster than you think, or at least I did. I much prefer this burner configuration to north south or "bowtie" burners. More control, and the zones are north and south, that's all.
 
Ross W said:
Not sure if that's the right way to put it but I'm talking about grills where the nobs control front, middle, and back as opposed to left,right, and center. What's it like trying to grill indirect on these? Seems weird to me, but can you just throw the front burner on and food on the back? Trying to decide if this would be an issue, might pull the trigger on an early 2000's genesis that's hardly used.
Click to expand...
I have an 2007 Genesis and use it weekly. Depending on what I am grilling, for indirect, I normally go with the front burner only. For smaller items, I may go with front and back burners. If I want to add smoke, I have found pellet tubes work better than wood chip boxes, even the one from Weber. In my 15 years with this grill, I have replaced the burners once and the flavorizer bars twice. Current bars are to be replaced this spring when I do my annual maintenance. All Weber products are built like tanks. If you can get a good deal on a lightly used Genesis, pull the trigger!
 
I have one east/west grill and one north/south.

I go back and forth on which configuration is best. The east/west is clearly optimal for roti (which I don't do).

Main disadvantage of the sidewinder is that the knobs mess up one side table. But the old Gennys have the flip up table to compensate for that.
 
@Ross W if you post a pic of the grill you are looking at we may be able to suggest some areas to look out for.

If it has 13 flavorizer bars, then it is probably a late 90s. If it is a "silver" or "gold" then its likely early 2000s.

An advantage of the 5 flavorizer bar models is greater availability of replacement parts. Some parts on the x000 13 bar grills are becoming harder and harder to find.

One piece I suggest checking is the pull out bottom pan under the cookbox. if it is a 13 bar grill.
 
I've had both styles and my preferred is E/W. Because that's what I'm used to, seeing that I still have my 1998 Genesis for 24 years now. Also our NG E320 is an E/W configuration.
But both ways have their pros and cons.
 
LMichaels said:
They are the best and the only grills that should truly be called "Genesis". They are especially versatile (far more than their counterparts). Indirect is easy. I.E. last night I wanted to spin a chicken but honestly ran out of time because I forgot to pull one from the freezer. So I bought a pair of organic birds at Costco. Instead I did a simple spatchcock. Prepped the bird and "vented" the skin for fat rendering. Gave it a nice shower of a rub and olive oil. Got my Genesis hot, than stabilized it at 400 on the hood thermo. With front and rear burners on middle off. I got a beautifully cooked bird, crispy skin, tender and juicy. And some pieces I removed prior to cooking for the soup pot. But the next bird will definitely go on the spit. Something only a sidewinder can truly do well. The grills with front controls can only "pretend" :D You get food cooked primarily on the "ends". So ends over done to get the middle done. Meh. With that nice wall of heat across the front and back of the grill you get perfect results
Click to expand...
Larry this is 4 U;-)... Doing a chicken on N/S grill, make the chicken go N/S :ROFLMAO:

1648575904075.png
 
Having gone from a Silver B to the new configuration, I would not want to go back. I do not rotisserie and the indirect cooking is much better with the new grill. Nothing wrong with the classics-I got 20 good years on it.
 
Perhaps others have beaten this to death elsewhere, but I will add three more thoughts on North-South vs. East-West

- Home stoves never purposefully put the controls on the side
- It is a tad easier to slide food like burgers front to back vs. left to right with a spatula
- For the same size cooking surface, three individually controllable short burners going North-South theoretically give you more control than two longer burners going East-West. Too look at it the other way, two burners are simpler to operate (and fewer parts).
 
Scott Smith said:
Perhaps others have beaten this to death elsewhere, but I will add three more thoughts on North-South vs. East-West

- Home stoves never purposefully put the controls on the side
- It is a tad easier to slide food like burgers front to back vs. left to right with a spatula
- For the same size cooking surface, three individually controllable short burners going North-South theoretically give you more control than two longer burners going East-West. Too look at it the other way, two burners are simpler to operate (and fewer parts).
Click to expand...
And if Weber had done it that way originally, most people would probably like that better. We get so used to something being a certain way that change can be hard to accept. I will admit that I can be like that myself.
 
Steve Hoch said:
And if Weber had done it that way originally, most people would probably like that better. We get so used to something being a certain way that change can be hard to accept. I will admit that I can be like that myself.
Click to expand...
Steve, I don't think you have to admit to anything. For every good progressive idea that does catch on, there are a dozen others that prove to be duds.
 
Scott Smith said:
Perhaps others have beaten this to death elsewhere, but I will add three more thoughts on North-South vs. East-West

- Home stoves never purposefully put the controls on the side
- It is a tad easier to slide food like burgers front to back vs. left to right with a spatula
- For the same size cooking surface, three individually controllable short burners going North-South theoretically give you more control than two longer burners going East-West. Too look at it the other way, two burners are simpler to operate (and fewer parts).
Click to expand...
Your points are well taken. Note that most classic Weber's had three E/W burners. When you did indirect, you either had a narrow left-right area if you used 2 burners or a bigger area in the back if you used the front only at a high setting. That requires you to reach over a hot burner if you need to flip the food. With the N/S orientation, you have a nice rectangular are between the burners or a quite large one if you use 1 burner at a high setting. I managed quite well with both, it is just better the new way. I do not rotisserie, but I would imagine with the N/S burners, you could use all 3 and adjust the heat of each to get even cooking. Even when I did have a grill with a rear IR burner, it was not perfect as far as even cooking.
 
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