Building Your Own Barbecue - You enjoy barbecues. You prefe cooking out of doors and also you like the way charcoal-grilled meals taste. Maybe for you we have a particular DIY, tough self-reliance feel with regards to barbecuing: I'm not cooking in a namby-pamby fitted kitchen, I'm cooking in the great outdoors with nothing but a tray of hot coals and a pair of tongs! It's really no great coincidence that people that make their own burgers from scratch are more likely to cook them on a barbecue than in a frying pan.
You enjoy barbecues. You prefe cooking out of doors and also you like the way charcoal-grilled meals taste.
Maybe for you we have a particular DIY, tough self-reliance feel with regards to barbecuing: I'm not cooking in a namby-pamby fitted kitchen, I'm cooking in the great outdoors with nothing but a tray of hot coals and a pair of tongs! It's really no great coincidence that people that make their own burgers from scratch are more likely to cook them on a barbecue than in a frying pan.
If we extend this DIY aesthetic just a little, it's no great leap to begin fantasising about constructing your own.
Home made Gas Barbeque can take many forms.
The most typical is probably the three-sided brick design with supports to hold the actual grill at about waist height (and immediately has become the best reasons to construct your own, it is unique, tailor-made for your personal use and is not going to match other people quite as well; that's got to provide you with a thrill, surely).
An alternative choice will be the brick-lined fire pit; considerably more bending down, which is a pain in the lower back, but somehow pleasingly primitive.
And finally, starting to appear in the UK are Mediterranean-style barbecue 'kits' consisting of pre-fabricated, shaped concrete, often having a chimney as well as some with a preparation area as well as sink to one side - now you actually are switching the kitchen outside.
On the other hand, building your own BBQ has not got to become a big construction task.
You might try a rather more temporary and improvisatory path.
Things to Take into account
Regardless of the size of the task, there are two factors that you need to appreciate and take into account when designing and constructing your own barbie.
1, air delivery. Should it be wood, charcoal or something else, you are building something that needs to include burning fuel.
For a excellent burn, you require good airflow.
Air will be the supply of oxygen and no oxygen = simply no fire.
The air ideally must pass through the fuel from underneath, therefore you will need some kind of grill for the briquettes or what ever to sit on and it has to generally be pretty sturdy so as not to flex in the heat.
2, various foods need different heats.
The simplest way to alter the amount of heat the food receives is not to mess about with the flames, it really is easier to raise or lower the food itself.
Which means you need some method of modifying the height of the grill.
Bricks
The easiest brick bbq is likewise the most temporary.
Get some house bricks, stack them a maximum of a couple high, position a grill on the top and create a fire below.
It is not pretty, it is not adjustable, it can leave a burn mark and regular house bricks probably will not stand repeated exposure to the heat.
Yet it will perform the job and there is a certain 'roughing-it' feel that is quite nice every now and then.
For a long term brick Charcoal Barbeque, even if you're not a bricklayer, the building work really should not be beyond you.
Particularly if you take a little advice and make it easy for yourself by ordering a brick Charcoal Barbecue kit.
That way, you know the materials are right for the task (heat-resistant!) and it will also at least include some rudimentary instructions.
Besides, the internet is full of step-by-step guides and videos to help you. if it is your first time with bricks and mortar then take heart from the fact that you are building a very simple structure - simply three small walls forming an open rectangular shape - and don't rush, you would like it to be a masterpiece of design and not an eyesore.
Buckets of Fun
For a smaller scale, possibly travel-sized homemade barbecue, acquire a galvanised pail (with no, a plastic one will not really do).
Punch a few holes completely around, about 2 or 3 inches up from the base (a hammer and nail will do or for a tidier job, use a drill) and that is your airflow sorted out.
Next, make some more holes a couple of inchesl higher up and thread through some heat-resistant metal rods.
Here's your fire rack so the gaps between the rods have to be smaller than the size of the fuel (briquettes?).
As for the food, that is going to sit on the surface of the bucket.
Either look for a small grill for the position or simply put it all on kebab skewers that are longer than the bucket is wide.
It's kind of Heath Robinson, but it is also great enjoyment and so long as you are not trying to feed too many people, it is ideal for camping out or even picnicking; much better than those one-use foil tray affairs.
On a final be aware, whatever you build or make, consider where you put it.
For instance, overhanging trees certainly are a no-no, as is being too near to wooden garden storage sheds.
This can be a particularly important concern with regard to brick and concrete bbqs because they are usually rather hard to move if you get it wrong.
Disclaimer: Dime-Co.Com is an online information article and video article network. All articles, video articles, comments, and other features herein are for informational purposes only and are provided "as is" without warranties, representations or guarantees of any kind. The views and opinions expressed in an article, comments, links or blogs are the author's own, and not necessarily those of dime-co.com's owners. For full disclaimer, please read our TOS.