Xavier G
TVWBB Member
Hi Everyone
I have loved grilling since forever, and all through school I grilled maybe 4 days a week. There was even a month when I didn't have hot water (late payment!), but I could not would not be without propane in the grill. Since I was young and ignorant, I thought I was fine with the $100 Home Depot cheap Chinese special I had scrounged for because, who cares? It gets hot, cooks meat, whaddaya want?
People savvier than I always told me that for someone who is as passionate about grilling as I am, I really should have a Weber. I have always chalked that up as zealot rhetoric, in the same way a Ford guy and a Chevy guy could debate fuel pump location superiority for weeks. How wrong I would prove to be.
This fall I had an out of town training and visited an aunt who lived nearby. She picked up some FAT bacon wrapped filets, and asked if I would grill them. I went out to turn on the grill, which I would later learn is a *pristine* burgundy lid Genesis 2000. I cranked all the burners to max, as you do with a 2" filet, and went back in to season the cuts and bring them out. When I opened the lid on my return !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!POWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!! Holy Freaking COW - a shockwave of intense heat blasted my eyebrows and dried out my windpipe to the bottom of my throat. This thing was HOT. Like a tiny sun, peeking innocently out from under the flavorizers. MUCH hotter than my Depot special.
That night, September 14th, 2016, I ate the best and most deliciously, perfectly cooked steak of my entire life.
The Weber silently smiled from the patio, knowingly.
I have thought about that grill every night since, and decided I needed Weber in my life. I have searched and searched on Craigslist for the right one to come along, but every time a contender appeared, she was snatched up by the time I would get a response. This happened multiple times, as if fate was testing my resolve and commitment to excellence.
Earlier this week a 1200 Skyline Series was listed for $80 including propane tank. I immediately emailed my interest, but alas, I was too late. I took a picture of the $80 and sent that, as if that would somehow convey how bona fide I was, and offered to pick it up that day. No dice, spoken for.
Then, I found a SECOND Skyline, which appeared to be in even better shape. Weird because I almost never see this exact flavor - 2 in the same 24 hours? So weird. This guy wanted $100 without the tank. I emailed him that I was in at $60, keep me in your back pocket.
Fast forward to yesterday. The first guy writes back - the other buyer was a no show so I could have it - and, he found the rotisserie and spit which he would throw in for another $20. I got in the car immediately.
This Skyline was kept outside, no cover, and the plastic bits are def worse for the wear. But I was looking for rust, which being in Colorado, we don't have to worry too much about. Burners / crossover ok, innards were filthy but the frame was good. Missing one caster, but had all the baskets, trays and even the popup sidearm. Original quick release, but he had all the doodads. Despite the stamped steel cooking grate, I was in love. I didn't even haggle.
I was on my way back to work when lightning struck - the SECOND seller said HIS guy was a no show, and I could have HIS Skyline, could I pick it up that day?!!
I chewed on it for a solid 30 minutes. What - what would my wife say when I showed up with not one but TWO grills that needed hours of work? Would she remind me that she has no less than three honeydo projects that have been ignored in the queue for months? Would she remind me that we are in a very budget minded mode right now due to planning to have a second kid? Would she make me sleep in one of them?
I closed my eyes and asked the universe for direction. I breathed in deeply and tasted the sunny spring breeze.
It tasted like steak.
I took the first Skyline out and left it at work, and went to pick up the second. This one was in much better condition, cleaner, had a new style regulator and the nicer tank scale. Again, all the goodies intact. Flavorizers worn but workable, minimal rust on the burners, none on the frame, this one had the porcelain cast iron grates. This one was loved. Only reason he was selling it was he got a Traeger and was going down that path.
So here I sit, two Webers rich, in it for $160, and I can't touch em till I finish my honeydos.
Talk about motivation.
Stay tuned, race fans...
-X
(this is my first post!)
I have loved grilling since forever, and all through school I grilled maybe 4 days a week. There was even a month when I didn't have hot water (late payment!), but I could not would not be without propane in the grill. Since I was young and ignorant, I thought I was fine with the $100 Home Depot cheap Chinese special I had scrounged for because, who cares? It gets hot, cooks meat, whaddaya want?
People savvier than I always told me that for someone who is as passionate about grilling as I am, I really should have a Weber. I have always chalked that up as zealot rhetoric, in the same way a Ford guy and a Chevy guy could debate fuel pump location superiority for weeks. How wrong I would prove to be.
This fall I had an out of town training and visited an aunt who lived nearby. She picked up some FAT bacon wrapped filets, and asked if I would grill them. I went out to turn on the grill, which I would later learn is a *pristine* burgundy lid Genesis 2000. I cranked all the burners to max, as you do with a 2" filet, and went back in to season the cuts and bring them out. When I opened the lid on my return !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!POWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!! Holy Freaking COW - a shockwave of intense heat blasted my eyebrows and dried out my windpipe to the bottom of my throat. This thing was HOT. Like a tiny sun, peeking innocently out from under the flavorizers. MUCH hotter than my Depot special.
That night, September 14th, 2016, I ate the best and most deliciously, perfectly cooked steak of my entire life.
The Weber silently smiled from the patio, knowingly.
I have thought about that grill every night since, and decided I needed Weber in my life. I have searched and searched on Craigslist for the right one to come along, but every time a contender appeared, she was snatched up by the time I would get a response. This happened multiple times, as if fate was testing my resolve and commitment to excellence.
Earlier this week a 1200 Skyline Series was listed for $80 including propane tank. I immediately emailed my interest, but alas, I was too late. I took a picture of the $80 and sent that, as if that would somehow convey how bona fide I was, and offered to pick it up that day. No dice, spoken for.
Then, I found a SECOND Skyline, which appeared to be in even better shape. Weird because I almost never see this exact flavor - 2 in the same 24 hours? So weird. This guy wanted $100 without the tank. I emailed him that I was in at $60, keep me in your back pocket.
Fast forward to yesterday. The first guy writes back - the other buyer was a no show so I could have it - and, he found the rotisserie and spit which he would throw in for another $20. I got in the car immediately.
This Skyline was kept outside, no cover, and the plastic bits are def worse for the wear. But I was looking for rust, which being in Colorado, we don't have to worry too much about. Burners / crossover ok, innards were filthy but the frame was good. Missing one caster, but had all the baskets, trays and even the popup sidearm. Original quick release, but he had all the doodads. Despite the stamped steel cooking grate, I was in love. I didn't even haggle.
I was on my way back to work when lightning struck - the SECOND seller said HIS guy was a no show, and I could have HIS Skyline, could I pick it up that day?!!
I chewed on it for a solid 30 minutes. What - what would my wife say when I showed up with not one but TWO grills that needed hours of work? Would she remind me that she has no less than three honeydo projects that have been ignored in the queue for months? Would she remind me that we are in a very budget minded mode right now due to planning to have a second kid? Would she make me sleep in one of them?
I closed my eyes and asked the universe for direction. I breathed in deeply and tasted the sunny spring breeze.
It tasted like steak.
I took the first Skyline out and left it at work, and went to pick up the second. This one was in much better condition, cleaner, had a new style regulator and the nicer tank scale. Again, all the goodies intact. Flavorizers worn but workable, minimal rust on the burners, none on the frame, this one had the porcelain cast iron grates. This one was loved. Only reason he was selling it was he got a Traeger and was going down that path.
So here I sit, two Webers rich, in it for $160, and I can't touch em till I finish my honeydos.
Talk about motivation.
Stay tuned, race fans...
-X
(this is my first post!)
