Barbecue Grills Fuel DIY Projects Craft Ideas & How To’s for Home Decor with Videos

Every barbecue buff has an opinion about the best fuel to use on their own backyard grill, why not you? The fuel you use can make a sizable difference to the quality of your barbecued meals. If you haven't given much thought about which types to use, we've arranged here what we’ve found out about the different types of fuel and how each they compare.

Fuel Reviews|5 Fuels to Cook Up Your Summer Barbecue Grills

Who doesn’t love a good barbecue? With summer well underway, you might be thinking of having your lunches cooked over an open fire again. From hamburgers to kebabs, there are probably over hundreds – as much as thousands – of barbecue recipes out there that would doubtlessly make your friends and families ask for seconds when it’s time to pull out the backyard grill.

But how exactly should you cook these barbecue recipes? Should it be by propane, methane, charcoal, wood, or perhaps electrically powered heat? If you’re thinking about this age-old question as much as we have, here are some of the things we’ve found out about the different types of fuel you can use to grill with on your cookouts.

1. Propane Gas

Propane is probably what your neighbors are already using in their own backyard grill. It’s the popular option, burning effectively clean, giving off more heat compared to methane, allowing you to be a little more versatile when you start flipping patties on your backyard grill. Couple that with the fact that propane’s also convenient to use. There's no need to stack coal and supply is accessible and plentiful in most areas.

2. Natural Gas

Methane is the less popular option when it comes to gas grilling. Get past all the inconveniences of the set-up, however, and you’ll find that using natural gas gets pretty convenient. Since your line is always connected at home, you can enjoy an almost unlimited supply of natural gas. Other than that, you’ll find that methane burns a lot cleaner than propane. The smoke you emit when you grill won’t be as harmful to the environment, giving away less pollutants than propane.

3. Charcoal

Grilling with charcoal may be a lot less convenient than grilling with either types of gas, but it’s hard to deny the main reason why most purists stick to charcoal: the taste. Charcoal heats meat rather briskly and as a result, you get meat that is sinewy and that has the signature smoky taste that charcoal has been known to give.

Charcoal grilling is also seemingly less expensive than gas grilling, though charcoal grilling seems to be less cost-effective overtime. (But this entirely depends on the set prices of charcoal briquettes in your locale.) Charcoal is also lightweight, you can bring it along with you to your adventures away from home and you don’t necessarily need kettle, barrel, or ceramic grills to start cooking with it. A few well-placed bricks can even do the trick.

4. BBQ Wood Pellets

Wood pellets have become something of a fad lately. They are basically compressed wood that can be used as cooking fuel. They also require a special type of backyard grill – a pellet grill – which are quite uncommon still, making repair, if needed, a little bit difficult. If you’re willing to go for something a bit unorthodox, then here’s perhaps the barbecue for you. Wood pellets come in different flavors and are exceptional at giving the barbecue a low, slow smoky taste.

5. Electrically Powered Heat

Electric grills have been around for some time now. They use no combustion, require an outlet to work, and basically act as frying pans that sort of imitate how a grill should work. The taste of meat grilled over electric heat is completely distinct as to the taste of meat grilled with gas or charcoal. Even still, electric grills are mostly portable and they save a lot of space. Temperature control also plays a huge factor here. Just turn the dial to get to the heat you need when you want it. Also, most electric grills nowadays come with no-stick feature, making the process of cleaning up quick and easy.