The Perfect BBQ

[PitMasterAl]

Im designing and building a new BBQ for my A Level DT Project.
It can be extravagant as you want, any suggestions are valid.

A few questions though....

Gas or Coal or Both??

Do you need a warming rack?

Would anybody use a spit roaster?

Do you need any more than one cooking level?

Throw a few answers at me, just think, I could design your perfect BBQ!

[thelawnet]

There is no perfect BBQ.

Everyone has different requirements.

A back garden BBQ is unsuited to a restaurant serving 200 tables.

One of the members here sells BBQ trailers:

http://www.bbqmates.co.uk/gallery.html

They cost thousand of pounds.

Most people here use BBQs costing merely hundreds of pounds at home.

Have you done any BBQing?

Have you tested some of the market leading products? Do you know what they are, and what their deficiencies are?

Are you talking about a grill or a smoker?

I suggest you stick with coal btw....

[Swindon_Ed]

what i've wanted for a while is someone to be able to design a "reverse flow offset smoker" (google it) with the racks on a rottisory like the Rib-o-later (again google it).

The option to use charcoal and wood to start with the option to move over to gas half way through a cook would be a great feature in a BBQ.

If you could also have an optional grill to go over the fire box for direct grilling and a plate on top of the fire box for heating sauces on like on the cactus jacks that would also be good.

If you could make such a thing out of an old oil drum for the cooking chamber & the fire box out of an old gas bottle i think you could keep the costs quite low.

[PitMasterAl]

Thinking about a grill. The rib-o-later looks like a good a suggestion.
I was thinking of having a hot plate in addition to the main grille.
I will also try and think of a solution to the gas takeover, halfway through the cooking. In terms of size Is a 60cm grille, is this considered to small?

[Tiny]

What a great question!! and none of this no perfect answer........
First it needs to be scaleable, ie you can grill a couple of chops or you can smoke a turkey
I like the dual fuel thing, charcoal to get started and to give flavour and then gas for longer controlled temps
For me the smoking chamber needs to be waist to chest height and front door loading, what puts me off the WSM style is at 6' 5" I dont want to be working at shin height
Grills must be cast iron and the racks in the smoking chamber stainless steel.
Yes to a warming rack or in my mind the smoking chamber could also fulfill this function.
I want storage underneath in a cabinet with draw units , I would also like a fridge in the style of one of the camping 3 way ones that feeds off the gas

I want side tables that can swing around so I stand in the middle of a u shape tables left and right and the grill and smoking chambers in fromt of me
and if we are in blue sky mode, I want a dock for my iPod with a bose speaker system integral to the whole affair, I want temp probes built in with wifi transmission to my digital devices, I want it all in a mix of black enamelled cast iron with stainless steel detailing,

And I will call it......The Loviathan

Sorry got a tad emotional there.....best of luck!
Great question!
Cheers

Tiny

[keith157]

6foot 5inches who'd have thought a tall guy would be called "Tiny"

Oh and one of the side tables should have a removeable cutting board insert in "standard sizes" other then that I'll have two, 1 for us 1 for my daughter.

Seriously though I have no need of true portability having a retractable wheeled base would be of benefit for both storage and moving to "catch the breeze"

Al, don't forget to show us pictures as and when you can of your ideas