Q My MIL (mother in law) wants me to discover some ultimate home
made bbq plans for FIL (father in law)to build. Can you tell me if there are
any
links to suitable plan net sites, particularly 44 gallon drum conversions?
Brad
Armidale
NSW
A Hi Brad, there's any number
of sites offering plans for barbecues on the
web but they are nearly all American. They call them 'pits' and are what I term
slow
smokers. Sites such as www.mikesell.net/smoker/
give good advice about
converting 44 gallon barrels (they're 55 gal in the states – they have smaller
gallons)
but they're very much slow cookers with offset fireboxes. They're big, heavy and
quite
complicated and take a lot of practice to get right - but the results are
fantastic.
The best Australian source is probably Mark Thomas' excellent book 'Meat.
Metal and Fire' which is reviewed on the BBQ Blue site (Mark also has a site
at www.ibys.org ) . It has a lot of photos
of home-made barbys (including a
few drum conversions). While they are pics not plans they do provide some
great ideas. I've seen this book remaindered lately as it will be re-issued
with a new title so you might pick one up for just a few bucks.
Brad, sit down and have a bit of a think first. While originality is great -
it can come at a price. By the time your FIL carries out some fabrication
work on the drums (or pays for someone else to do it), he might be a lot
better off buying a second hand Weber kettle barbecue ($50 to $100).
Not much can touch them for roasting (and they not bad at grilling over
charcoal either) and they're covered with a layer of non rusting vitreous
enamel.
Cheers
BBQ Blue