A great winter BBQ grilling tip from Dr. Charschan

A great winter BBQ grilling tip from Dr. Charschan

Many of us love the use the BBQ during the summer, but what about winter? Some of us have grills just outside the door to the back yard of our homes. One obstacle to grilling is not enough gas pressure. During the summer, if you have a reasonably good grill, getting temperatures in the 500 degree range when the lid is closed is easy. During the winter, it may seem that the cold is preventing the grill from getting hot enough to sear in the juices properly.

The reason that you are not getting that summertime hot flame has to do with the temperature of the gas in your propane tank. If you remember from chemistry lectures, gasses are less active in cold weather, propane included. When the temperature drops into the 40’s and below, the gas molecules are less excited, and therefore, the pressure is less, resulting in a smaller and weaker flame.

An easy solution

A couple of hours before grilling, remove the tank from the grill and place a space heater in front of it. Two hours later, you will have warmed up the gas in the tank. When the tank is about 70 degrees, reconnect it to your grill and light the grill.

You will be amazed at how hot your grill can get in the middle of winter.

Another solution that helps is a propane tank blanket. These are relatively inexpensive and claim to be able to improve your tanks efficiency by as much as 35%.