Barbecue is almost a national sport of many countries around the world, hence the countless number of various furnace designs offered by many manufacturers. From the simplest metal-plate designs, through prefabricated products, to the most durable barbecue grills of clinker brick.
Clinker brick barbecue grill. What brick will be perfect?
Structure of a barbecue grill is not much different from other brick structures – walls, piers or other pieces of small architecture. Therefore, all that it needs is perforated brick joined together with trass mortar intended for clinker bricks. For the topping use either vertically laid perforated bricks or flat laid solid brick, dependent on the design and visual effect that you want to achieve.
The body of the barbecue grill can take various forms. Circular or rectangular designs work very well, but if you want to make use of an abandoned garden corner, a triangular barbecue grill will definitely do the job. However, before you begin to lay bricks, browse for available grate sizes to create a matching construction. This helps to avoid modifications and cutting of steel rods.
The essential components of any barbecue grill are furnace and grate.
To make a simple furnace use ready-made prefabricated concrete element and clad its edges with clinker brick or tile. If you want something more sophisticated, you can make an arch-shaped furnace vault – all you need are bricks, grout and formwork made of flexible MDF or OSB board bent accordingly.
Consider cladding the furnace with a thin (2–3 cm thick) layer of chamotte tiles characterized by the highest thermal resistance of all commonly available construction materials. If you need to replace this part of the barbecue grill in the future, all you have to do is to replace such lining without any modifications to the structure itself.
The best grate will be one made of acid-resistant steel rods. You can make it on your own or order a ready-made one. Acid-resistant steel is a type of stainless steel containing nickel and chromium, which makes it resistant to aggressive acid environments and the corrosion they cause (other types of stainless steels may corrode in such environment).
In terms of colours, due to the smoke, soot, ash and grease splatters which occur when using a barbecue, it is advisable to select dark coloured bricks – ideally bricks with slag or heat traces which appear more natural in this environment.
