Thanks Neo.. I hope my BBQ season changes this year :stuck_out_tongue:

Good deal on the Butane. Gas Deal with pay £1 if you have an empty.

Pro tip: Ban burgers and sausages from your BBQ. They benefit least from the exciting cooking method and flavours it adds. Chicken, fish, pork, beef, low and slow where possible. Let the BBQ infuse your meat, rather than blast it with heat.

Reviews for cast iron fire pit say that it's not cast but steel, it's cheaper here £19.39

ebay.co.uk/itm…081

Any tips QUALITY charcoal at a reasonable price. Not Weber steak house but also not wilkos dust blocks. Any pointers?

coals2u.co.uk

The 12KG blue bag of Lumpwood for £11 is decent, and the Supagrill stuff is fine :smile:

​Search for restaurant lumpwood charcoal on Google or eBay. I have got some of the big k stuff and it is excellent. A really good price for charcoal of this quality is just over a pound a kilo, although hard to find (Ocado did a deal on the 15kg big k boxes, not bags or the smaller box, they're lower quality, of the 'best' grade restaurant charcoal, 3 for 2 last year, maybe they'll repeat this year), but I can see there are other brands that get close on eBay (long burn, 20kg for £25), although never tried them so can't comment. The good stuff you'll use less of it, so the higher price might not actually be that much higher in use, I've never had to top up a BBQ since switching to the big k stuff, it just keeps going!

I've used gas BBQs for the last 12yrs, had to chuck the old one away last summer so on the lookout for a new one...or debating going back to charcoal. I know it's a better way of cooking but gas is so much quicker and easier for a cheeky last minute BBQ.

Hmm fire pit or chiminera?

It's all about having two bbqs. Proper charcoal BBQ for proper BBQ situations and a gas BBQ for emergency BBQ situations!

That's my debate too!

looking for a decent chimnea. the cove one oh here looks good, but still unsure. any suggestions?

If you want a great one for camping as it folds flat and holds a 1 kg bag of instant lighting coal - £15 delivered

amazon.co.uk/Yel…EU/

i want to build my own fire pit im to damn lazy:D

At these prices, why not have both. Charcoal for pre-planned Saturday afternoons, and gas for convenience should you want an impromptu supper.

I threw away my chimnea and opted for a fire pit which is much better, more heat, cooking surface and doubles up as a table !
I cant find my exact one but its like this garden4less.co.uk/pro…wcB
We cook fresh mackerel on it in the afternoon and then chuck a log on afterwards to use it as a fire pit.

you can add the Tesco one. Same price as Argos, but with cover

tesco.com/dir…_bb

i second Big K

Every time I have a BBQ party, there's always at least one person that brings cheap nasty burgers & sausages that ruin the barby!

Can't find any Weber deals at the moment.

Wilko Page links all display "Page not found"

INCREASE IN £: BBQ 14" on eBay now displays at: £9.49 not £8.49

INCREASE IN £: Cast Iron Garden Fire Pit Basket Patio Heater now displays at: £22.79 not £21.99

DECREASE IN £: Portable charcoal BBQ grill cast iron fire pit now displays at: £15.99 not £17.98

Happy BBQing everyone

For those of you who are looking for a more Eco, or wallet friendly fire pit an old washing machine drum makes possibly the best fire pit out there. Its debatable.
Most tips and recycling centers have them lying around.
I was skeptical when it was first mentioned to me. But they actually are awesome.

​interesting..... any pics?

List is fine, but cheapo barbecues are really a waste of money. The UK is increasing getting into smoking now, this is the only real 'barbecue'. It was an African method of cooking in a pit, popularised by African slaves in USA. Such cooking depends on maintaining a low and slow temp of around 225 faranheit. These cheapo smokers simply cannot do it. My advise if you want to get into true barbecue is to buy a Weber Smokey Mountain or at least a Pro Q. Higher end go for a komado like a Big Green Egg. What many people call 'barbecue', i.e cooking sausages and burgers over coals or gas is not really barbecuing, it is grilling. I'd go with coals every time for grilling, and I'd just splash out on a Weber Kettle, it will easily last 10 years, is extremely good and you can even do some basic smoking on it. Nice day today, I'm getting 6 racks of baby backs and a chicken on the Weber Smokey Mountain at 1pm for a 5 hour low and slow cook...

Drop the gas, all you are doing is grilling. Bad cleanup time also. If you want true BBQ get into smoking. If you want grilling, get a Weber Kettle, I doubt you will want to gas grill again.

I was thinking of a brazier like the one pictured, but I'm not sure if the ash etc from logs would just end up falling out of the side and making a mess?

+1 What he said!

See above for Charcoal deals. Restaurant grade charcoal is as good as briquettes and doesnt have the binding agents. Bookers / Makro sell the blue bags for £9.99 ex vat.. If you cant do that checkout BigK. Most garden centres that sell BBQ's will probably have the 10-12kg bags from them

The Smoker above for £28.99 is truly a piece of junk. You need serious mod's to get it operational and as an intro most punters will find it unworkeable. If you are intent, check out the Mods

I would go for a basic Weber Kettle. It is 150, but will be good for all grilling and do a semi decent job for simple smoking jobs. riversidegardencentre.co.uk/web…tml

I just got the Weber Mastertouch on Friday (from Riverside - free next day delivery!) and am currently smoking a large rack of beef short ribs. They are gonna be going for 6 hours, using the "weber snake method". They have also been covered in a nice rub that I got from Riverside by a company called MeatChurch.

I went a bit overboard and got £40+ of rubs and sauces, but a basic weber and rub will set you back £160ish and do a decent job.

(p.s. a meat thermometer that measures both grill and meat is needed if you want to accurately slow smoke, there are some decent ones on amazon for £25ish)

Can anyone recommend a BBQ that has a thick cast iron grilling rack and not the cheap stainless steel cooling tray racks?

Was looking at getting a fire pit and this thread has spurned my interest more. Was looking at this one - an 80cm pit @ under £50. Anyone had something similar?

ebay.co.uk/itm…5cf

thanks

That looks like it will end well.

Never had a BBQ but sort of pondered with idea for a few years, Like the look of them gas ones but with Lava rocks for added flavour etc, Anyone used one? Any good?
Seen the Outback models with Lava and the Weber with flavour bars???

Here we go folks, I did a video of my smoke on my Weber Smokey Mountain yesterday so you can see what a good piece of kit this is- well worth investing in over a cheap alternative if you want to smoke properly- youtube.com/wat…50s

Its a tough call in that price bracket. Most of the quality smokers that will get you good results are priced @£200+ The only option you have in or about that area is either a second hand smoker OR to repurpose a Weber One Touch for smoking, which is possible for shorter smokes (ribs / chicken / lamb) of 5 hours or less. For longer cooks you will need either a vertical smoker (eg ProQ / Weber Smokey Mountain) or an offset. You can get some decent offsets for this price, but the fire basket is small so you will need to refuel every few hours which is fun but a tough ask. If you want some recommendations in that space I am happy to provide

Fantastic video!

Cheers bud, I'm very much an amateur but with a WSM anyone can get decent results.

Can see the enthusiasm in your video. Nice job.

Does anyone know, how to treat and make non stick grid of the cast iron BBQ..ages ago there was some link shows how to use clean and make it non stick.
And any budget cast iron recommendation?
Thank in advance

Google cast iron seasoning

Nice video. Is that the 57cm smokey mountain? Also do you mind saying where you bought the cheaper chinese hot air fire starter?

Hi pal. Yes the firestarter is on Amazon. Search for Looflighter which is the expensive one and it should come up. It is v good. The WSM is the 47. The 37 is too small, the 57 is fine, but takes a lot more fuel and temp maintenance is more difficult so unless you have large numbers to feed, the 47 is generally preferred.
Edit: Amazon have removed it, probably because it was ripping off Looflighter. This is the one , same company that was selling on Amazon m.ebay.co.uk/itm…RCH

interesting

totally agree and im do it this way :grin: its just perfect and you are pretty flexible too :smile:
op heat added +1 :smile:

Heatermeter and ProQ for the win, been smoking for years. It's the future ;-)

Dobbies have some decent Weber prices. I am just investigating whether one can use Tesco vouchers to get membership to access Dobbies member prices.

Great thanks, just need some decent weather back now.

The Haynes BBQ Manual now at £14.95 +postage RRP £22.99 prezzybox.com/hay…spx

​I just use a hairdryer, if there's even the tiniest smouldering bit of coal (for example after an unsuccessful start), you can get it going in no time.

You can build a UDS (Ugly Drum Smoker) for a lot less than £100 - just make sure you get a food grade drum, or better yet - one with no kind of internal lining/painting.
Results... well Smokey Mountain was born out of the success of UDS home builds.

I personally got fed up (or old) with the hassle of charcoal. Now I use a Weber Q (gas!) for grilling & a Bradley (Electric) for smoking.

Any decent deals for the george foreman indoor outdoor BBQ? I think amazon are selling it for £70-80 but I want it cheaper lol :grin:

can anyone recommend be any good briquettes? thanks

I bought the Wilko ones recommended at the top of the post. They might not be restaurant grade, but they did the job.

I have just purchased my second one of these from tesco but they have made a fantastic change. The grill now comes in three pieces so they are small enough to wash properly after your BBQ is finished. Used to hate going back to a large griddle with stuck on food... Well constructed and slightly different than the one from argos.
Gas is good but just don't think you can beat charcoal.
tesco.com/dir…387

Sounds Middle Class. BBQ's aren't Middle Class. We like Iceland crap. For we are English.

You can build a UDS on the cheap, but if you cant land a decent drum, drop some money on the big poppa smokers kit, add some weber grates, maybe a force draft system, you can easily spend more 2-3x that price. I see alot of people saying charcoal is hard, but with the right charcoal and right tools (fire starter) you can easily have a fire going in not much longer than a gas grill. I get the gas thing (and used to own a Weber Q220) but dont get the Bradleys, if you going that route are the traegers or GMC not a better option? Curious on this one.

Aussie heat beads are good for smoking. Burn hot and long. I got some in The Range for about the same price as online when you take into account postage.

For hot and fast cooking, not sure. I use gas for burgers and sausages(Shhhhhh)

Good thread! Thanks OP. As much as we have all these options out there, there's something about the old half oil-barrel style braai that I miss... can't put my finger on it, even after owning loads of BBQ devices today now. :stuck_out_tongue:

I have had my Bradley for about 3 years - there was not many options around back then. I have more confidence than leaving the Bradley if I wanted to leave home for a few hours. Cant say I had that with a UDS (even with a PID I built based on a Raspberry Pi). Bradley does fine for me & get consistent results.

I use Heat Beads, got a lot of bags, the Rolls Royce of charcoal briquette. Then I saw an offer in Aldi when they were selling off all their charcoal briquettes (it is decent stuff) at 50 pence a bag I think it was (put it on here) so I bought 15 bags of that and using that up before I start on the Heat Beads again- I did my smoke on my Youtube video I posted here with the Lidl stuff.

My video is here, for some reason previous link was not working- youtube.com/wat…46s

​Big K Restaurant Grade Charcoal 15kg, 3 for 2 Ocado £49.98 / £25.99 each

posted this, thought might be of use on here too

would like a cheap but good quality fire pit. I spent a few hundred on a large "cast iron" chiminea from argos after 1st winter is was a bucket of rust, and had to be dumped. miss it though, so would be nice just to have something to maybe warm up when outside plus stick a few veggie burgers/sausages on.

Without wanting to get into a tedious debate about terminology and the meaning of the word "barbecue", smoking food is great, but there's absolutely nothing inferior about grilling food. It's just a different cooking method giving a different final product. But your point about cooking low and slow does apply to grilling as well as smoking - the biggest mistakes with UK barbecues are using poor quality ingredients and cooking over too high a heat.

Not sure I fully agree with this. Certainly ban cheap, low quality sausages and burgers, but good quality ones (preferably home-made for the burgers) do taste much better grilled on a BBQ than cooked by other methods. I've been learning to cook a traditional Argentine asado (my OH is from there) and the sausages and morcilla (blood sausage) are as much a part of it as the big beef cuts. And a good homemade burger cooked over a charcoal grill is heaven.

Neither. Get an old washing machine drum and either stand it on six bricks or fit some legs (or buy one ready-converted).
They are fabulous. If you were designing a wood burner you couldn't do much better.

So wheres a good place to get smoking wood from then ?

Anyone know where I can get a half decent charcoal BBQ with Smoker? Been looking at a Landmann one at Tesco for £85 but not sure if its a decent brand?

I get mine from these guys smokewoodshack.com/ .. they also sell on the bay and amazon. Prefer big chunks myself compared to the smaller chips.

Aussie Heat Beads from The Range are the best briquettes. Last longer and burn hot.

We bought the cast iron fire pit off eBay for £22 or so. It is not heavy gauge but in my opinion good value for money. We've used it a couple of times and had no issues. It arrived quickly too, had it delivered to Argos so nice and easy to collect.

Went for this one in the end:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tepro-Biloxi-Smoker-Barbecue-Black/dp/B009ATRA9G

Looks like we'll be having the weather to try it out the weekend too!

German company so should be sturdy!

You can do smoking on a weber kettle bbq aswell, . Theres guides on it. Charcoal set underneath in small amount, one side, Woodchips added regularly, small amount of water in a tin or something to keep the moisture. . I've done brisket a few times like this, 8 hours I cooked if for and it was unreal

this is good deal

Yes you can. I also have a Weber kettle. However for proper smoking you simply cannot beat a Weber Smoky Mountain for the cash. Cash no object get a Green Egg or Smokey Joe ceramic.

Everything should at least be cooked indirect with the lid on, on a standard Weber kettle if possible.

Buckar00 - I bought this one recently and it's a bargain at £49.95 delivered. Huge size (80cm bowl) and thick steel (3mm). Comes unpainted so I've treated mine with heat resistant black matt paint

ebay.co.uk/itm…AIT

Just make a Swedish Candle & not bother with a firepit.
Maybe not if you have kids.

Also - be careful of the brush bristles used to clean grates, etc.
Quite a few stories in the world press of the wires breaking off & ending up getting stuck to food & swallowed.
Over 5,000 cases a year in the US!

Use onion then?

Hmm need bbq but still not got money. Now thinking of one for next year

Homebase are doing the Outback Excel 310 for £99.89 at the moment which I think is a cracking deal.
I bought the older version 5 years ago (without temperature gauge) and it has lasted well! Did not know where to post separate deal about it but searched and found this comprehensive post.

Does anyone have any experience of the Outback oven grill charcoal BBQ? link

I'm looking for a BBQ that's going to last at least a few years. Is capable of cooking for a decent sized groups. I'd also like to try out smoking if possible.

Thanks

To chip in on the smoker tips, I've been using a Weber Smokey Mountain for around 5 years, if anyone is looking at rubs, here are two excellent rubs you can make yourself to save having to buy them. They are very good and can be made with a few herbs and spices from your favourite supermarket.

For pork: amazingribs.com/rec…tml
For beef: amazingribs.com/rec…tml

Heat 4 effort

The Range have 5kg bags of Big K for £3.99.

Just bought the WEBER® ORIGINAL KETTLE® 57CM (BLACK)
riversidegardencentre.co.uk/web…tml
for £125.00 delivered, now I bought this model in the late 80s exact same but with Wooden handled for approx £90.00
Excellent product with 10 cover.

10 YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY


Bowl and lid – 10 year
Handle – 10 year
One-Touch® cleaning system – 2 years
Charcoal grate and cooking grate – 2 year
All other parts (legs, base, triangle, ash catcher, wheels and vents) – 2 year

**Absolute must or your one touch will rust up (part can be replaced but you'd rather not) £14.99 for green fiver more for Weber Black
amazon.co.uk/gp/…c=1

Highly recommended
amazon.co.uk/gp/…c=1
do a camelcamelcamel fo £18.99

and these are amazing as well esp for £12.99
amazon.co.uk/gp/…c=1



Cheers