The Texas BBQ Forum

Welcome to the forum.
You say you’re comfortable in the kitchen, you may be over thinking the grill. Think of it more as an outdoor kitchen. You mentioned cooking temps. Consider what kind of temps you would cook at indoors. Of course your grill isn’t going to hold temps as constant as an indoor insulated unit. Mostly and again don’t over think things and most importantly don’t try to make wholesale changes. Get control of temps and make adjustments from there.
It’s a journey to enjoy at a race to frustration.

Congrats on your new grill. You will get some flare ups from the burgers I cook on medium and depending on the grill I would cook on different zones. That is cook one side to medium high and the other side low or even off. Start putting burgers on the hot side and then transfer to the low side. Hope this helps.

I agree with what the others said. I think burgers are a little tricky since they contain much fat. When grilling burgers I also get flare ups but if it isn't lasting long I leave the burgers in place. Too much flare ups and I move them to a cold side in the grill for a little until settled or to another hot place.

It's much easier with lean meat. They usually get a good sear and then finish on indirect heat.

Sometimes a reverse sear is best. Let the fat melt on indirect heat low or medium temp until near finished cooking temperature. Then remove from the grill, crank up the heat and sear the meat on the HOT grill. You can even add some wood chips in a foil package and place on the warm side for a little smoke.

That's my advice after cooking on a gasser for 20 years. I still get flare ups and I still burn the food occasionally.

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I recently bought the Weber spirit ii e-210, so assume yours is similar.
Only used it once for steaks, which is why I bought it, for that and burgers.
Haven't done it to this one yet, but in past, I have taken a baking sheet, put a layer of baking soda on it, and place it under the grates.
Greatly reduces flare-ups by soaking up the grease.

Oh yeah, welcome to the forum!

I'll offer another suggestion.

Get a small set of Grill Grates. You don't have to cover the entire grill surface area.

https://www.grillgrate.com/weber/

They make them in various sizes to fit various grills. They can be used grate side up or smooth side up on top of your existing grates and both ways cut down on flare ups.

Their website seems to be harder to navigate right now for some reason so call them if you want to investigate further. I'd suggest about enough to cover 1/2 your current grate surface to start with.

I'm real happy with mine on my ole antique gasser.

ETA - Welcome to the forum too.

To add to what 1MoreFord said, though I don't have any myself (yet), I have heard nothing but good things about Grill Grates.