Why Buy an Electric Barbecue Grill… ?
You might think that it’s a bad idea to buy an electric BBQ grill. After all, you might say, it can never give you the same results as you would get from a gas or charcoal grill.
But, you couldn’t be further from the truth. With the Weber Q 140 you can enjoy BBQ grill food that’s as good as anything you’d get using charcoal or gas. You might miss out on the range and type of BBQ meals you can make, but you will still be able to enjoy the taste of the essential barbecue-grilled steaks, fish and veg.
For some people an electric BBQ grill is the only option. If you live in the city and only have a small balcony or outdoor space a charcoal or gas grill might not be sensible. In many situations it might not be permitted for reasons of safety.
In this article we’ll look at three ways in which Weber has managed, with the Q 140 electric grill, to enable people living in places with limited outdoor space where gas or charcoal grills are not possible to enjoy the pleasures and delight of outdoor barbecue-grilled food.
1. The Weber Q 140 Has the Power to Perform
A good grill has to get hot. The Q140 is heated by a 1.5 kilo watt electric element. This is about the power of a small electric fire. The heat from the element is very intense. It produces mainly radiant heat, and so you don’t get the large amount of convection heat that you would with a gas or charcoal BBQ grill. Weber compensates for this by ensuring that as much heat as possible is trapped inside the firebox. It does this by lining the top and bottom of the firebox with an aluminium skin. This skin reflects the heat back into the grill and also provides an insulating layer.
This design approach works well. With the top setting on the temperature control the porcelain coated cast iron cooking grate gets sufficiently hot to sizzle and sear a steak in 15 to 20 minutes. The grilling area of the grate is 185 sq. inches which is sufficient to cook four medium-size steaks very quickly.
There is a downside however; Weber doesn’t recommend using the grill for much longer than an hour at a time. That’s not a problem if you just want to grill, but it is if you want to use a traditional “barbecue” recipe which requires a longer period of cooking with the grill lid down.
2. Dealing with Grease and Flare-ups
On a balcony or in a restricted area a grill has to be safe. On gas and charcoal barbecue grills grease either burns off or drops to the bottom of the firebox into a drip tray well below the hot area of the grill. An electric BBQ grill needs to be much more effective at dealing with grease and removing it from exposure to the heating element. When grease isn’t funnelled away effectively there’s a danger of flare ups if deposits of grease reach a triggering ignition temperature.
Weber deals very effectively with this problem by shaping the lower aluminium skin of the firebox so that it funnels falling grease down into a drip tray underneath the grill. So long as you don’t allow grease to build up in this drip tray flare ups won’t happen. This is why Weber stresses the importance of cleaning out this drip tray after every barbecue session.
3. The Q 140 is Light and Easy to Move Around
If space is limited your electric grill needs to be light and easy to move around. To achieve this Weber decided to base its Q 140 electric grill on its Q 120 gas grill. The Q Series gas grills are made of cast aluminium and glass-reinforced fiber, and because of this they are very light. Even the larger Q 240 electric grill which has a larger grilling area can be easily carried around using the built-in handles.
Because the Q 140 is light and compact it can be stored away in a convenient cupboard and moved out onto a table in a nearby open space whenever it’s needed. For those who want to keep their electric grill permanently on a balcony or in a small open area Weber supply a cart to fit it in.
So Who Should Buy the Weber Q 140?
The Weber Q 140 is an ideal BBQ grill choice for people with limited space or for those who aren’t able to use a gas or charcoal BBQ grill at home.
With this electric BBQ grill you don’t need to store a large propane gas bottle or bags of charcoal around the home. Providing you can move the Q 140 easily to a barbecue area with a nearby electric point you can grill and produce excellent barbecue grill food.