The RUST experiment – Salt is your BBQ’s Enemy

One of the most common questions asked when purchasing a metal BBQ is the one on rust.  Here I have documented the rust issue from my own personal experience with one of the first skewer BBQs that I had used grilling at our local outdoor food market. I hope it can illustrate the mistakes I made and show what to expect if you don’t look after your equipment. Yes – a stainless steel BBQ will last longer but remember that some people want to start with something that is inexpensive – in my case it was a new business that I wanted to grow on a part-time basis and I didn’t have the capital to go full steam ahead on.  It was a particular type of BBQ for my new business of grilling skewers or Arrosticini which follows a certain style which has Italian origins. In fact I chose a painted steel, skewer charcoal BBQ which I imported directly from Italy because I had no idea about BBQs to begin with.

Men Own More Than One BBQ in their Lives.

For those “born with the faculty” as they say, we experiment and expand our knowledge of outdoor cooking by trying different foods, preparation rituals and methods of cooking. One BBQ can only do so much – you really need more than one BBQ to cook with and there is no such thing as a Swiss-Army type BBQ that can do all!

My imported job was made for the task at hand and I never regretted my choice.  The only problem was that I thought it would out last my business. I spent  a fair amount of time researching and figuring how to get the best out of it and there was no substitute for it. To my surprise I found an attachment to that object and discovered that I had difficulty to send it to  the tip when it served no further purpose.  Sounds familiar to you? Put your hands up if you have a BBQ graveyard collecting down the side of the house or in the shed – the wife wants no more BBQs in your ageing collection… am I right?

This  skewer BBQ was solely used at the outdoor markets every weekend – rain, hail or shine. It was totally portable and allowed me to serve between 30 to 50 customers an hour with my signature smokey lamb skewers otherwise known as Arrosticini.  So the journey started with a brand new BBQ with a painted black surface.  The image I have here shows how smooth and clean it looked as new. The paint used is heat resistant but you soon find out that it wears out very quickly. It is hard to avoid and using a metal shovel to take out all the hot charcoal and ash at the end of the day just helps the wearing out of the surface paint.

Rust Comes Naturally

In the first 2 years of use, the BBQ showed no real signs of deterioration. There was a thin red oxide coat forming on all surfaces where heat was in direct contact with the metal, but it remained sturdy and functional. Only in the charcoal box at the end of the BBQ had some metal distortion from high heat – basically to much charcoal alight at the same time.

Inside the charcoal box area, there is hardly any sign that there is terminal rust eating away at the metal. In fact my photo was taken just recently showing 4 years worth of red oxide which seems very light on the metal surface and still good enough to still use. Maybe the high heat of the charcoal when I mistakenly overloaded it, smoothed out or hardened the metal minimizing the rust formation…. I don’t exactly know but maybe a materials engineer can shed some light on this. I can say with certainty that exposure from heat in the BBQ will also wear out the paint surface . Basically my BBQ is hot for 5 hours  every Saturday at the markets, giving it a fairly decent workout in the field.

Where The Salt Ate the Metal.

The BIG MISTAKE!!! It is the way that I cook on this BBQ – I add salt to the skewers whilst they are cooking on the BBQ…… My original thinking was that if I scooped out the hot ash and empty the BBQ before putting it in my trailer that it would be OK…. HOW WRONG WAS I.

Here is the evidence showing that salt is the real enemy….. in the charcoal box at the end of the BBQ, there is minimal rust. Looking under it you can see that the paint has come off as it was in direct contact with the heat of the charcoal. The painted area along side the charcoal box in the photo still has its original paint and has only been scratched during transport. My BBQ was used for 3 years straight – every Saturday.  The painted area actually belongs to the ash catch tray which was not exposed to much heat (although too hot to touch when in use) and shows no signs of terminal rust forming.

The real “impact” area on this BBQ is where I finished off the skewers before serving – just at the end near the charcoal box area. My habit was to push charcoal from the box area to the skewer grilling section and flash heat the skewers before serving. At that point I would shake salt on the skewers and remember that salt loves eating metal!

The UGLY Truth – What 7KG of Salt Can Do. 

I figured out that during my cooking sessions I would sprinkle around 150-180 grams of salt on this BBQ every Saturday during my 5 hour cooking shift -That’s a lot of salt! Over the year that accumilated to approximately 8KG of salt and because this BBQ was in full service for 3 years, that adds up to 24KG’s of salt abuse in total to the mid section, OUCH….

Now most salt landed on the skewers and this grill in its working life grilled over 70,000 skewers on it plus the fact that the salt used also spread across the ground and everywhere else for that matter. But constantly hitting the BBQ with all that salt each week did leave its mark and legacy. It certainly explains why after 3 years I ended up with a hole in the BBQ. Simply I exposed the BBQ to too much Salt, I never completely cleared the accumulated grease and never protected it from moisture – all elements that creates metal eating RUST.

1. Try to minimise salt directly landing on the metal. Try to salt off the grill as much as you can.
2. After use, brush out the grill with a stiff bristle brush and try to have the surface dry and free from salt infused grease from the food.
3. Try to treat the metal with a food safe lubricant. One product that can be used is INOX which is made in Australia. A healthy application of that will form a protective layer to slow down the oxidisation of the metal and prolong the life of the BBQ.