DIY gas grill: step-by-step instructions for building a homemade product

Vasily Borutsky
Checked by a specialist: Vasily Borutsky
Author: Julia Oschepkova
Last update: August 2019

Classic barbecue connoisseurs are sure that for fun gatherings in nature it’s worth building a gas grill with your own hands, without overpaying for the finished product. Such a simple design will allow you to cook your favorite dishes on the grill at any time of the year, while you can install it both in the gazebo and on the terrace or balcony.

Today, buying a gas BBQ for a barbecue is not a problem, but if you want to get a truly reliable design and save on the purchase of a finished product, you can build a gas grill yourself. Let's see what is required for this.

Varieties of gas grills

Depending on the use of the grill, its size may vary. So, for the preparation of dishes from small or large pieces of meat, different designs will be used, having their own manufacturing features.

Grill from the old gas stove. To cook kebab, sausages and small steaks in the kitchen, it is enough to build the simplest option. In the role of the heater is a home gas stove, on which an old pan with a cut bottom is installed. A grid or stainless steel grid is attached to the top of the pan.

Gas Barbecue Grill
With your own construction of a gas brazier, you can save on materials using an old receiver or a metal barrel as a case

Mobile grill with separate burner. This option is ideal for preparing large portions of steaks or homemade sausages. Since the “royal” portion of the barbecue is unlikely to be prepared in the kitchen, you will need to build a mobile structure with the ability to connect to a gas cylinder.

Oversized BBQ on gasdo-it-yourself, often made from an old receiver, and involves installing a lid, a temperature controller, as well as a massive grill.

It is not difficult to build a grill from an old gas stove, but in this case all “gatherings in nature” will be limited to cooking barbecue in the kitchen. The ideal option is to make a mobile grill with a separate gas burner, which can be installed in any corner of the yard.

Gas grill on wheels
For convenient transportation of a homemade grill, it is recommended to install two metal wheels, and the remaining two legs - to equip with supporting platforms

In the article we will consider both methods, which will allow you to get acquainted with the features of the construction of two different gas grill structures, and choose the most suitable option for yourself.

Mandatory structural components

Regardless of the structure of the structure, the classic gas version has constant components, which include.

Frame. As a container for grilling, food stainless steel is used. When constructing a structure with their own hands, they often install a frame from an old gas cylinder, a beer kegs or a large pan.

Heaters. Often, burners are mounted from a conventional gas stove or home-made nozzles. The main condition is that the heaters must be isolated from dripping grease.

Lattice. The design should be made of small stainless steel rods, and fixed on the sides of the grill.

Rotary skewer. Both on the sides of the tank and on its lid, it is necessary to designate triangular cuts for rotation of the skewers.

Fat collection. To prevent the burners from being completely filled with grease, it is necessary to install the pan in advance.

Gas grill in the yard
For lack of a factory burner, you can build home-made nozzles by installing several metal tubes with the same gas outlet openings

Cap. The presence of such a simple element distinguishes the grill from the grill, since only the lid provides the highest possible temperature inside the container, and evenly distributes heat.

Required Toolkit

If for the construction of the simplest possible construction it is possible to confine ourselves only to a bench tool - a hammer, a metal saw and a drill, then in the manufacture of a high-quality autonomous device you will need to arm yourself with the following:

  • measuring equipment. Specialized tools include a vernier caliper, a ruler, and a level;
  • welding machine and electrodes. It will be enough to connect two elements from stainless steel use welding. For lack of such equipment, the case will have to be welded from ordinary iron;
  • metal cutting equipment. In this case, all metal trimming work is carried out. using a grinder or plasma cutter.

If you previously had to work with professional equipment, then you can quickly figure out the principle of building an autonomous grill. The main condition is compliance with the rules of proportionality, on which the correct functioning of the gas barbecue will depend.

Preparatory work before installation

The process of cooking meat on the grill involves interaction with an open flame, so it is important to secure the location of the structure in advance.

If the gas grill is installed on the street, then for it you will need to prepare a stable base with good fire fighting characteristics.

Gas stove grill
As a material for creating a flat surface, you can use paving slabs or sand. Even if the structure topples over, such a non-combustible base will help prevent the spread of fire to nearby areas

If the design of the barbecue is based on an old gas stove, and its installation will be carried out indoors. Floor and walls will have to be finished with slabs of fire resistant materials whose role is ideally suited tin sheets or ceramic tiles.

For this design, it is better to allocate a separate room good ventilation, and try to install it away from objects with a high level of flammability.

Old gas stove grill

If the cottage has an old gas stove, which still performs its functions, then it will take you a few hours to assemble a home-made barbecue.

First you need to calculate the stove and the components of the future grill, based on which you can draw up a detailed drawing or diagram. After the preparation of the equipment and the acquisition of all the necessary materials, you should proceed to the manufacture of the structure.

Gas stove grill
For better stability of the structure at a height of 10 cm from the floor, it is recommended to weld a metal shelf on which the gas cylinder will be placed

A small hole is drilled in the bottom of the plate to collect fat and liquid. During cooking, a huge amount of fat is released on the grill, which can interfere with the burning of burners. A nozzle is attached to the hole, and a flexible tube is fixed. Such an installation will help maintain cleanliness not only inside the frypot, but also under it.

Next, you need to assemble a frame that acts as the base for the frying chamber. The design is welded from several steel corners. The upper frame must have dimensions corresponding to the dimensions of the stove and the side of the stove. A suitable height of the legs is 70 cm, while at a height of 10 cm from the floor, reinforcement is welded to the legs, from which a frame for a gas cylinder is formed.

After assembling the frame, you should begin to manufacture the sides and bottom of the barbecue. The height of the sides should be no more than 20 cm. First, the sides are welded to each other, after which the bottom is welded between them.

To ensure sufficient heat supply, holes with a diameter of 10 mm are drilled into the bottom, while the distance between them should be 7 cm. The holes should be located so that there are no burners under them. A stainless steel grill is mounted above the bottom.

A rectangular grill lid is cut out of a steel sheet, while a handle with a wooden plate must be welded in the center. Slots for the grill handle should be provided in the lid itself. If you plan to use the gas grill as a homemade grill, then at the edges of the sides and the lid you will need to make triangular cuts for skewers.

The next step is the assembly of the finished structure, and connecting the grill to gas bottle. On a flat surface, you will need to install and fix the frame in a static position. If necessary, permanent grooves can be welded for added stability.

Grill
If you wish, you can independently weld a durable grid of stainless rods, or “digest” the grill from the old gas stove

Next, the gas stove is installed on the base, and fixed to the corners withscrews. A brazier is mounted above the stove, which can be fixed in the grooves or simply welded to the frame. Immediately after installation, it is important to check the stability of the frying chamber. In a special strip for the receiver, you must insert a gas bottle, which will subsequently be connected to the stove.

If the gas grill is working properly, then you can start cosmetic procedures for cleaning and painting the finished structure. All steel parts should be cleaned of scale and rust, after which the product is coated with refractory paint.

Making a gas grill from a receiver

A gas cylinder grill is ideal for lovers of the classic barbecue, when you have to cook meat for a big company. This overall design is ideal for barbecue in the fresh air, while you do not have to worry about logging firewood or charcoal. The construction of the grill from the receiver is carried out in several stages.

As the case for the grill, you can use any container made of food stainless steel, with a diameter of at least 40-50 cm.It could be an enameled pan, an old beerkega or housing from an old receiver. In this case, a propane cylinder will be used.

When preparing the gas receiver, the valves and the axle box valve are removed, after which the cylinder should be filled with water by two-thirds, and boil. Next, a sector is cut out in 1/3 of the side surface, which will later be closed with a special cover. To remove paint from the cylinder, you will need to burn it, and, after heating, remove the remaining coating with sandpaper.

Gas bottle cutting
The size of the cut sector should be 1/3 of the side surface of the container, since only such dimensions of the cut allow the grill to be installed at the full thickness of the container, which means to place more meat

To collect fat, it is recommended to install a special pan in the form of a removable bottom, or to drill several holes in the bottom of the tank and fix the pan to the frame. At the bottom of the tank nozzles are installed - metal tubes, 1-3 cm thick, with drilled holes of 3-4 mm.

It is through these openings that the gas-air mixture will pass. It is better to make the nozzles removable so that they can be cleaned later.

The nozzles are mounted as follows: into the cylinder wallwelded in 3-4 cm pipe section (connector) connecting nozzles and mixer. The diameter of the pipe should be chosen so that the nozzle tightly enters into it by 2-3 cm, and at the same time is securely fixed.

A gas and air mixer is connected to the outside of the connector, which is a tube with the same diameter as the nozzle and a length of 5-8 cm. A hole is made in the wall of the mixer into which the gas nozzle is inserted.

The grill is installed at a distance of 5-10 cm below the edge of the container. It is recommended to use a stainless steel grill, with a diameter of rods of 3-5 mm. If you do not want to waste time making a mesh, you can cut it from the original grill from the grill. The design should stand firmly on the supports, and, if necessary, easy to remove.

The cut out part of the body of the container will be used as a cover that will need to be fastened with hinges. You can install a thermometer in it, allowingto monitor temperature inside the frypot and regulate the gas pressure. The final stage iswelding handles on the cover for the most comfortable use of the grill.

Grill after painting
When painting the product, it is better to give preference to aerosol packaging, which allows you to evenly distribute the paint over the entire surface of the structure

Since the receiver itself is quite heavy, it is better to install the finished grill on a metal base welded from a square steel pipe, with a separate place for a gas cylinder. To make the structure easy to move around the territory, two of the four legs can be equipped with wheels from a wheelbarrow, for example.

After completing all work on the construction of a gas grill, the outer surface of the body is painted with heat-resistant black paint.

We build an automatic skewer

The installation of an automated skewer will help increase the functionality of such a simple design, allowing you to expand the menu of a classic barbecue. To do this, you will have to slightly change the design: instead of the grill, mount the skewer mount. On the one hand, there is a simple tube in which the sharp end of the skewer is rotated, and on the other, a triangular notch for fixing it.

Outside the housing, a motor is mounted from a conventional tape recorder along with a power supply. After installation on the skewer, a strap from the motor is thrown, and the spit rotates at the speed that you set. In this case, the speed controller is the diameter of the pulley.

Connecting the burner to a gas bottle

When connecting a home-made grill to the receiver, you will need to purchase and install an adjustable gas reducer, which allows, if necessary, to regulate the gas pressure in the nozzle.

Gas cylinder grill
When constructing an autonomous barbecue on gas, the safest option is to connect it to a gas receiver

For safe use of the system with a cylinder, it is necessary to perform the following algorithm:

  • close the valves on the grill, open the cylinder valve and adjust the gas pressure using a gear;
  • light a match, turn the grill faucet and ignite the gas above the nozzles through a special hole;
  • after completing the cooking process, it is necessary to tighten the gas on the cylinder, and after complete attenuation - turn the grill valve in the opposite direction.

Often, the grill from the old gas stove is connected to the main gas, and it is enough to screw the tap onto the pipe, and connect it to the grill using a special gas hose. To achieve maximum safety during the operation of the grill, it is important to seal all joints and threads.

What difficulties may arise?

The main task when creating a gas grill is to guess the proportionality of all the details. Cutting out too small a sector in the housing will not allow fixing full size grill, which means it will be impossible to prepare the required portion. If you install a too powerful nozzle, the meat in the process of frying will simply begin to burn.

The inner part of the case must be made of food stainless steel, or coated with a special heat-resistant composition on a Teflon base.

Nozzle arrangement
You can see the correct location and number of holes on the burner of an old gas stove, and build home-made nozzles with an identical structure

Unless absolutely necessary, it is not necessary to paint the inner surface of the housing, since the choice of the wrong or poor-quality coating can lead to poisoning. All heated parts of a homemade grill should not emit smoke or smell - the meat absorbs all toxic fumes during the frying process.

Therefore, before proceeding with the preparation of the first batch of barbecue, it is necessary to make a trial launch of the barbecue. During this time, all residual paint and dirt will burn out, and your gas grill will be ready for further use.

Conclusions and useful video on the topic

Making a gas grill with your own hands does not require special knowledge, because for this you just need to understand the principle of the construction. If you have all the necessary tools and materials, you can build a barbecue gas grill with a gas cylinder yourself, saving a round sum of money on the purchase of a factory grill.

With such a multifunctional gas grill, you can arrange gatherings with friends over barbecue in your country house:

If you can supplement our material or share your own experience in creating a gas grill, please write your comments, ask questions in the block below.

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Visitors Comments
  1. Nikita

    I liked the design of the receiver. Really a real full-fledged grill, and it is not so difficult to make. Gas grills are very expensive in stores.

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