For some people this is plenty, and for some this isn’t enough. Take a look at each grill’s cooking grate size (usually expressed in square inches) and consider if this will be enough.

The best tip is to use the right charcoal along with a charcoal lighter, such as our Lighter Cubes, in conjunction with the Rapidfire Chimney Starter, all available through Weber. It’s best to use odourless, non-toxic lighter fluid or firelighter, to avoid spoiling the flavours of your meal. A chimney starter is also a fantastic way to start a charcoal grill, with the coals held in a canister-shaped cylinder, accelerating the combustion process. Don’t forget your oven gloves and tongs! How much time should you give a charcoal BBQ to heat up? Across this cooking area it has a 3-burner gas grill, an offset smoker, a charcoal grill, anda side burner for searing. Between these three, it has all aspects of BBQ cooking all taken care of. If you don’t have access to this your grill could burn out, or you could be forced to replace it unsafely.The fixings (screws, nuts and bolts etc) were film wrapped on a piece of card. Each fitting was clearly visible through the shrink-wrapped cellophane. The code number for each fitting was printed on the reverse of the card. Brilliant idea, you can clearly identify each component fitting. Gas grill power is expressed in BTUs ( British Thermal Units ) and is usually calculated as a total of the BTUs across all the grill’s burners ( source ). You can use charcoal in a combo grill, but only in the charcoal component of that grill. What’s a Good BTU for Gas Grills?

This is a beast, and boasts separate chambers for charcoal smoking and gas grilling, as well as a propane side burner and offset firebox. We were able to get the barbecue up to temperature in under 10 minutes, and used the main cooking area to barbecue a selection of burgers, corn and sausages in one go – there’s a simple to use electronic SureFire igniter to light each burner so you don’t need to mess around with matches either. While there are only three upward facing stainless-steel burners under the main cooking area, they produced an impressive amount of heat and evenly cooked the meat and veggies we’d laid out. The LED-lit temperature knobs also helps to control the gas flow - and it took us a few attempts to master the perfect heat, but we were suitably impressed with how well this could be controlled. Air holes in the lid are adjustable and under the body is an extra tray, not just for catching cooking grease but also deflecting heat so you won’t scorch the grass. On the downside, it only has 24,000 BTUs of power, which doesn’t compare well to the other combo grills on this list. For a grill of this size in particular, it means that the overall heat distributed heat impact across the grill will be quite low. Char-Broil Gas and Charcoal Combo Grill DeluxeThe Royal Gourmet’s charcoal firebox is impressive. It features dual air vents to maintain good grilling heat, making it easy to operate as a smoker as well. Strictly speaking, this is a gas and charcoal combined grill, but it has the type of chamber that makes it perfect for barbecue smoking too. It has a whopping 860 square inches of cooking space, which is incredible compared to almost any other grill or smoker we’ve seen. It’s great for large families or even for those of us who like to show off a bit with our home equipment. The food came out tender and juicy, with a distinctive “char-grilled” taste, almost the same as for coal.

Incredibly it has 1260 square inches of room across its cooking surfaces, and its 3-burner gas grill component has 40,800 BTUs. The built-in Wi-Fi connection was easy to set up within the app and the temperature reading matched that of the independent probe we always use. The connection was flawless despite sitting out on the porch away from the router. If you don’t fancy piddling about with the mobile app, it’s not essential, it’s a case of turning the dial next to the D2 Grill Controller display to adjust the temp. Naturally, there’s room for a plug-in temperature probe to ensure your meat, seafood, veggies or baked goods reach the perfect internal temperature.As a rule, I would always go for a lower BTU if the unit is excellent and maintaining consistent heat levels with very little temperature fluctuation. Air Vents or Dampers It has an electronic ignition feature, making it easy to get this thing up and running in mere seconds The water boiler is a stroke of camping genius, and heats water for washing up in a matter of minutes. Being able to top it up as you cook also means you can maintain a constant supply. Given the relatively small pellet hopper this isn’t a smoker for all-day cook-a-thons, but thanks to the accurate and consistent temperature achieved by the Digital Arc controller and fan you can roast, grill, fry and smoke, we even made pancakes. It doesn’t quite have the power to flame grill steaks - pro-style where the bars char deeply and the temperature melts the fat - but it will hit 230°C and stay there as long as there’s pellets in the hopper.