DIY Brick & Concrete BBQ

[Blokky27]

Hello all

Looking to build a brick BBQ, and have a few questions about products to use along the way.

Firstly, it's going to be in an area where I have fastidiously chiselled, cleaned and laid about 1,000 old reclaimed bricks of various different sizes (so frankly it was a pain, but looks lovely!). I'd likle to continue this theme with the BBQ for aesthetic reasons, but will these type of bricks be up to the task or will they suffer really badly with the heat from the BBQ, or are all bricks fine with such heat?

Secondly, I've gone through a few cheaper metal BBQs that have rusted and rotted through after a couple of years. So thinking that it would be better to make a concrete slab the the coals to sit on, rather than metal. Thinking of making this up on the ground in a lined frame of sorts, using some rebar for additional strength. Any guidelines on the concrete mix, amount of rebar, and dimensions (i.e. how thick should I make this slab). The cooking area will be approx 85cm wide by 50cm deep, so the slab will be similar but a little wider to be set between two courses of bricks.

I'm thinking that the concrete slab will not conduct much heat downwards at all so all the bricks below this can be reclaimed ones, but possibly those above it will be more problematic. Could I still use them but do something to protect them at all? Any helpful ideas gratefully received. Thanks all.

 

[mcprinter]

A few places I have stayed have had concrete or brick bases for the charcoal
Never really got on with them. Might be OK with a starter chimney for the charcoal.
Nothing to contain the ash. I think you need a grate and pan for the charcoal

Stayed somewhere recently that had a brick bbq. Bog standard bricks by the look of it.
It had a fairly cheap metal charcoal pan and cooking grate but the brick setup allows them to be easily changed
This kind of thing. Worked pretty well.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/barbecue-Grilling-Charcoal-Barbeque-barbecues/dp/B07C5MNNW7

Maybe look at integrating a quality BBQ. Have seen some of these dropped into outdoor kitchen worktop.
Green Egg £££££££££
Kamado £££. Get good reviews and might be a good fit going by your description of the area?

Not what you asked but maybe carbonised food for thought

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

I had a garden fire on a concrete slab. It continually exploded, sending hot rocks and embers into the air with a loud bang each time. There were lots of voids in the surface after the fire.

I'm guessing that some of the pebbles within the concrete wanted to expand more than the surroundings, and sat there under pressure until the force exceeded the strength of the surrounding mortar, at which point it exploded into the air.

This was perfectly conventional concrete - natural pebbles within sand/cement mortar.

Definitely don't use concrete in a barbecue!

 

[Blokky27]

OK - so the current thinking then, is a couple of concrete lintels across and then 20 x block paving "bricks" (4 rows of 5 bricks each) onto the lintels onto which the coals sit. Small gaps between the lintels and the pavers give the coals a bit of air and then the grill over the top of all this.

The clay pavers should be heatproof ok and if any do crack then they are also very cheap and easy to replace.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Normally people use metal bars and bricks.

I don't think reinforced concrete lintels would do well in heat, they may explode and/or collapse, as they do in fires in buildings that include them.