When you decide to get yourself a grill the very first choice you have to make is to go out and buy one from the local garden or home improvement centre or to make your own. You may be the type of person that would never entertain the thought of building your own BBQ grill, but since your reading this article I'm assuming that you're at least considering the possibility! So let me try and get you over the line and convince you why it's such a good idea!
One of the most common reasons a lot of people will choose the DIY route is money, and it's a perfectly good reason, anything other than the most basic store bought BBQ can run into hundreds of dollars, and when all is said and done, all we want it to do is cook our food, and a homemade grill will do this as well as ANY store bought grill. Depending on the materials you already have available all your grill may cost you is your time, otherwise you should be able to beg, steel or borrow what you need without spending more than a hundred bucks.
Bbq
For me though, the single biggest motivation for building your own BBQ is the satisfaction that you get from building it, never is this sweeter than while your watching the steaks and burgers sizzling away the first time you fire it up. It's a great buzz, and something you'll never get from a store bought BBQ, no matter how many features it has!
Another good motivator for getting off the couch and building your own is the freedom of design and expression that designing something yourself, from scratch offers. Maybe you want two levels of grill, maybe three, maybe you would like to have a work top or prep area on one side of the grill or maybe on both sides of the grill! Maybe your seven feet tall and you don't want to strain your back bending down to a standard height grill, the beauty of designing your own is that you can decide on all of these parameters yourself!
So once you've decided to take the plunge and design and build your own BBQ grill, another world of possibilities opens up! Sure, you can build a standard grill, but why not consider going the whole 'hog' (sorry!) and building a pig roaster, why not a meat smoker! All of these can be built from a standard scrap 55-gallon drum and some light angle iron!
Maybe working with metal isn't for you, no problem, you can build your own brick BBQ grill. This is a great addition to any garden, and when done well, can actually add a little extra value to the house!!
Whether you're using brick or steel, building a grill or a smoker, the principle is the same, with a little bit of enthusiasm and effort, coupled with a healthy dollop of good information, you can build something with your own hands that will pay you back with quiet satisfaction every time you use it!
Homemade BBQ Grills, Roasters and Smokers
Jon Farrell is an Engineer by profession, whose real passion lies with the humble BBQ, and in particular the design and construction of homemade BBQ grills, pig roasters and smokers. You can get free guidance on your homemade BBQ as well as roasting and grilling tips from Jon at http://www.oildrumpigroasterdesigns.com