Grill Rehab

Just a few days ago i was given a old gas grill that still had some life left in it.  It was my girlfriends parents old one.

Its an old Ducane Americana gas grill, it must be at least 6-8 years old.  I was over at the girlfriends parents house when the offered me the old grill.  I could not pass up on this opportunity to one have a gas grill that was larger than the one i had and two, it needed some work and seemed like a great project for me.

I wheeled the grill into the garage and found some tools to start taking it apart, not only to refurbish but also to fit in the car.  While taking the grill apart, i was breaking bolts because they were so rusted and or actually part of the grill and had been exposed to high heat for long periods of time.  The grill was in bad shape, alot of rust on the grill stand.  The grill itself was very greasy therefore had alot of buildup.  

Once i had it home, i soaked the grill racks and sprayed them with some heavy duty degreaser and let them set overnight.

The next day after work i went to Home Depot and got some metal brushes for my cordless drill, few more cans of grill cleaner, few cans of high heat black paint, 60 and 120 grit sandpaper.  There I also had to get a few bolts and screws to replace the ones that i broke in the process of taking the grill apart and some were so rusted that there was a need for some new ones.

With the metal brushes for the cordless drill i was able to get all of the loose paint and rust off the entire grill. This also worked really well to get all of the grease build-up off from the inside of the grill.  Once this was done i sanded the entire grill with  rough sand paper to not only make a better surface for the paint to adhere to, but also to even out bumps from the paint that chipped off and rust.  I then used the much finer sand paper to make the finish even more beautiful and a nice glossy shine once painted.

Once i was satisfied with the results i washed the entire grill, let it dry and then wiped off any residue with a damp cloth....now it was time to paint.

I chose a glossy black finish for the grill.  I very lightly spray painted the grill pieces, let dry and repeated 4 more times for a nice coat of paint that would hopefully last a few summers.

I let the paint dry overnight before I began to put it back together.  Note:  When taking apart your grill label you bolts and screws.  It will make your life alot easier when you start to put it back together.

My grill went back together fairly easy, i had just a few problems putting some screws and bolts in, but it was from the paint, so it was easily fixable.

Once it was all together i put the gas burners back in, the grate for the ceramic briquettes, the briquettes and the grill grates.

However i did not have a propane tank to test out the rehabbed grill, none the less a electric starter.  My new neighbors have a grill with a propane tank.  I didn't think they would mind if i used it for a few minutes.  I hooked the propane to mine and turned it on.  I turned one burner on and lit it with a long match, and the same with the other.  It worked!!! I was so excited and really felt like i accomplished something that i really had a great time doing it.

This project took me about 2 weeks to complete, usually a few hours after work, the most work went into sanding all of the parts.  I spent about 50-60 dollars on this project, the most expensive items was the spray paint.  The bolts and screws are cheap, just bring them with you when getting new ones.  Next year i will get a new grill grate and ceramic briquettes, the ones i have now will do for this summer.

Below are some pics of the finished grill, sorry i forgot to take pictures of what it looked like before, but trust me it needed to be rehabbed. 

The Green Thumb

Its almost that time of year here in the Chicagoland area for farmers markets and planting of your own garden.   Some farmers markets are open now and others will open the first week of June.  The Chicago Tribune just had 2 pages in the good eating section of Wednesdays paper(May 13th) and i am sure can be found on there website as well, or you can just contact me via email and i can find out for you.

I am so looking forward to getting some fresh LOCAL produce from the area and creating some fantastic food and memories.  I have already had the chance last week to chow down on some fantastic morels that my sous chef brought in for me to have.  I was so excited.  He had said that he was able to pick quit a few morels and that evening he had grilled pizza with morels and made his son, who you can count his age on one hand a morel omelet for breakfast.  What a spoiled brat, lol.  We both commented that we never had such a gourmet meal like that at such a young age.  

I brought my morels home that night, but not before stopping at Whole Foods and picking up 2 NY Strip steaks to grill.  I made a very simple sauce with the morels, i did not want to hide the delicate and earthy flavor of these once a year treasures.  The steak and morels paired well with a earthy wine like a pinot noir, a meal that will stay in my head till next years harvest, and then i hope to find some of my own.

This year my garden is all organic, i have maintained a very nice patch of land if you will, actually just the other day i put on 50# of organic manure, 40#mushroom compost and 40#organic peat.  You see here in the Midwest most of the soil is clay, which is great its already very fertile but clay compacts with rain and makes it very hard for roots to get deep into the soil and have good structure for tall plants, for example a tomato plant.  So with that being said adding some organic ingredients like whats list above and some grass clippings i am in good shape to start planting.  

What am i planting you ask, well i myself do not know, all i know is that it will be organic and mostly heirloom items, i actually found a great selection at the Jewel-Osco near work that i am going to get some of my plants from.  My next post i will have more about the garden and what i have selected.

I like to think of myself as having a green thumb, thanks to my grandmother who really got me started.  I also am going "green"  not only in the house, but also in the back yard, i have started a compost in a 5 gallon bucket that i got from work and i place all of my food scraps in this bucket, except items like meat and bones.  In about 2-3 weeks of tending to this compost bucket i should have some good, organic compost to feed my garden.

It would be nice to see others get into going green, not only in gardening(which by the is up drastically from a year ago.)  Which is not surprise in these hard times its cheaper to grow your own food and more satisfying.   I feel that growing your own produce you tend to value it more and not want to waste any of it either so you come up with creative dishes to use up every bit of it.  

With that being said i hope all of you that read my blog have a very successful growing season and would also be curious to see what you have planted as well, so please feel free to comment on this post.

Life's a Garden Dig It-Joe Dirt