Barbeque.

[Arthur]

About 30-40 people and god knows how many kids. Anyone know a how to build a diy barbeque from a readily available (make do and mend) parts?

Thanks,

Arthur

[Rob Morley]

Split a 45 gallon steel drum lengthwise to make two fire baskets - support securely on concrete blocks or a bit of scaffolding. Bakers used to use metal trays with a wire grill base, don't know if you can get them any more but it might be worth asking around, otherwise some old display rack, but make sure you get it really hot to burn off any crap (and maybe scrub with a wire brush) before putting food on it (likewise the drum to remove any contents or paint).

[Andy Dingley]

30-40 people aren't actually that many for a barbecue. One halved oildrum is quite adequate - most barbie builders go overboard on the size, then find they've built something too cumbersome to ever light up again.

You need a big fireproof bucket, a grille over the top, and some legs to support it. How you build these is up to you, and what tooling and time you have to hand.

You need nothing more than this. Anything else is mere flummery.

My barbecues are propane gas cylinders, sliced with a plasma cutter and MIG welded. They're thick enough steel to last outdoors for years, even unpainted. I don't advise working these, unless you're moderately well equipped, understand the safety aspects of working them, and have read the slicing-up method I've posted in the past.

As an easier source of steel to work, then oil drums are a possible, But these are now rare (in steel), getting harder and harder to find, and may contain toxic or noxious materials. An angle grinder and steel cutting disk is an adequate way to cut them, even if you have to buy it. You'll also need that angle grinder for grinding edges, and with a wire brush for cleaning.

Flat sheet steel boxes work fine as barbecues.

If you can't weld, then you've a problem in building a multi-use barbecue. But drilled holes and cheap stove bolts (Screwfix) will hold it together for a one-off.

For legs, use steel pipe/angle, especially if you can weld. Otherwise make small steel feet to stop wobbling, then support it on something else. This can be brick piers (clumsy IMHO) wooden trolleys (huge wated effort IMHO) or a foot of narrow steel is enough to keep it cold enough to sit on wooden trestles or sawhorses.

Grilles can be bought as commercial stainless steel welded mesh - but this is expensive. Cooker oven grilles can be recycled, grilles from the council fridge tip (take the plastic off!) or even shopping trolley panels.

Veggie food won't barbeque on a grille (it falls through the gaps), so make a flat sheet griddle instead. I use 3/8" steel, for even heating and better pancakes.

Plain rusty steel is usually food-friendly after a trip through a bonfire and an angle grinder with a wire brush.

Avoid galvanised and zinc plated materials. Avoid cadmium plated fasteners ! Prefer stainless over chrome plate - chrome is OK, but it tends to flake off as razor-sharp shards once rusting.

Don't cook on the first lighting. You'll be amazed how much oil and paint still needs to burn off.

Lighting:

#1 Use a chimney to light it - two foot high, 6" diameter and used as a charcoal pre-heater with newspaper in the bottom and charcoal on top. Let it burn hot, then dump it onto the main flame bed.

#2 Use a propane blowtorch to light it.

#3 Use oxygen gas from a welding torch to get it burning. This can burn black charcoal into grey coals ready for cooking on within a minute.

[Michael Mcneil]

Do you need all that for an outdoor grill?

If he hasn't a supply of old oil drums or doesn't trust them (polyester resin drums perhaps that need to roasted clean) he can knock a pit up out of concrete blocks or if he fancies himself, make it permanent with bricks and mortar.

A length of steel mesh would be the only expense if he can find a dump of old bricks.

If he wants the steel drum style without the steel drums, perhaps he can find a couple of car bonnets or boots to make the fire tray and the grille.

Some more ideas on here:

[Arthur]

Thanks for the tips.

Any recommendation on fuel?

Minimal smoke would be a preference.

Arthur

[Owain]

Expanded metal mesh is quite good for sausages and vegetables, but burgers tend to stick/disintegrate.

Owain

[Rob Morley]

What does anyone use apart from charcoal? The smoke is part of the reason BBQ food tastes better than indoors food.

[Andy Dingley]

LOCALLY FELLED charcoal. B&Q are usually quite reasonable, but check the bag for an FSC logo

Much of the cheap borg stuff is mangrove swamps, recently ripped out of the Thai or Vietnamese coast to make room for more shrimp farms. This is as environmentally degrading as slash-and-burn rainforest ranching to make McDonalds.

[Rick]

Local fallen tree branches, get a good fire going, and then cook on the embers when it has died down.

Rick

[Andy Dingley]

Potentially great, but they'll take literally hours to burn through before they're ready to cook over. You'll also need about 3x the volume and 10x the weight, compared to charcoal, to get similar "cooking power".

You can also throw more charcoal on and be back cooking in a couple of minutes, but a log of timber will set you back ages.

[Rick]

Cooking on a wood rather thanb a charcoal BBQ does take more skill, where as cremating the food takes less skill.

Rick

[Pete C]

IME pallet wood from fairly clean pallets is pretty good, doesn't take too long to go to embers.

cheers, Pete.