THE GUIDE TO
Selecting The Right BBQ For You
How & What Do You Like To Cook?
When it comes to choosing the right barbecue for you, it's very important to understand your personal style and flavor of cooking.
What does this mean?
Well a common staple for most Australian backyards are steaks and snags with grilled vegetables, so there is no need for any specialised grills like smokers, spits or charcoal barbecues.
In that case, you can stick with the traditional LPG/Natural Gas barbecue.
Although if your passion is the low and slow method of cooking meat, then you’ll be wanting to consider buying a smoker and/or a charcoal barbecue with a hood.
But what if you want to grill 80% of the time but also want the option of smoking every now and then?
Then buying a charcoal grill is the best choice for you!
A charcoal grill has the flexibility of increasing heat for grilling steaks and decreasing heat to slow smoke briskets.
The perfect product for the best of both worlds is the Big Green Egg.
Space Availability & Safety Considerations
Before you go to buy a barbecue it's very important to consider your available area for your barbecue.
If you live in an apartment, it is not advised to purchase a 5-6 burner barbecue as getting the barbecue up to your floor will be a mission and a half, and the space available on your balcony may not allow for the barbecue to fit comfortably.
In an apartment situation, a product like the Beefeater Bugg is perfect!
It's small enough to to move around easily, but it's large enough to fit enough servings for 6+ people without having to do multiple cooks.
If you own or rent a home with a sizeable backyard, space availability is not an issue.
However, that doesn't always mean the available space you have in your backyard is suitable for a barbecue.
Before buying your barbecue, you must ensure the space can have the appropriate ventilation needed for a barbecue.
Does your outdoor area comply with one of the following:
An enclosure with walls on all sides, but at least one permanent opening at ground level and no overhead cover.
Within a partial enclosure that includes an overhead enclosure and no more than two walls.
Within a partial enclosure that includes an overhead enclosure and no more than two walls.
Within a partial enclosure that includes an overhead cover and more than two walls (as shown in figure 4 & 5).
In the case of balconies, at least 20% of the total of the side, back and front wall areas shall be and remain open and unrestricted.
Basic Features You Should Be Looking For
When you are purchasing a barbecue, there are some basic must-haves you should consider.
MATERIAL
Type of Stainless Steel
What kind of stainless steel is the barbecue made from?
There are 3 main grades of stainless steel: 406, 304, and 316.
406 is less expensive but will rust quickly if not maintained, whereas 304 can withstand corrosion from most oxidizing acids.
That durability makes 304 easy to sanitize, and therefore ideal for kitchen and food applications.
316 is perfect for more marine environments as it lacks iron in the steel making it even more resistant to rusting than 304-grade stainless steel.
FEATURE
Flare Up Protection
How does the barbecue deal with flare-ups?
Well-designed barbecues reduce flare-ups by redirecting grease away from the burners and into an easily cleanable grease tray or cup.
But a poor design can cause fat fires inside your barbecue that can be extremely dangerous!
FEATURE
Bench Space
Does the barbecue come with sufficient bench/side shelf space for your style of cooking?
It is an often-overlooked aspect of a barbecue but if you ignore this feature, in the long run, it could become a nuisance to deal with whilst cooking!
MAINTENANCE
Ease of Maintenance
Ease of maintenance is extremely important as this is what will greatly impact the life span of the barbecue.
Find out how easy it is to clean components of the specific model you are looking at and if the design is made to last.
