pit bbq ?

[seti]

Since I'm grilling in arkansas I can't be seen using a conventional grill..

I'm going to try to build a small in ground bbq smoker / grill. I have a
collection of dead weber grills and smokers. I think I can make a pretty good
franken bbq pit/smoker/grill using these parts. Since it will be in the
ground it should hold heat much better and longer than what I have used. If this is
successful I'm thinking about trying a bigger in ground pit bbq.

A little more sophisticated than old school bbq.

Dig deep hole.

Firebrick bottom and side. River stones in the bottom.

The bottom would hold more coals than conventional smoker so wood coals can be used instead.

Slide in old weber until the top without lid sticks up an inch or two. Wrapped in firebrick and backfilled with sand. It would be nice to be able to also cover the lid with sand but that may not be practical on this version.

The ultimate goal is to try something like this... http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103020

Have any of you Q addicts tried anything like this?

[dtel]

A long time ago I did something similar for a whole hog. The big difference was is was not completely underground, part was above ground. The hog was for a party, I think it was good because it disappeared before I could try it, i was busy because we were also boiling crawfish, I did not miss them.

[dtel]

Seti, if you have old Weber grills you should try a UDS (ugly drum smoker), they work very well and are easy to build.

I built one for my nieces husband and it works great, I used it a few times before I gave it to him. I did not have the dome top from a Weber so i just used the top from the barrel with an exhaust built on it. The dome top gives you much more room.

I put two grates in his and built a charcoal basket for the inside with a piece of steal in the center with a hole in it. A metal rod with a curve on the end is used to hook the basket to remove it when lighting the charcoal.

It worked so well I think I will make me one. Ten pounds of charcoal did two different cooks, total of probably 12 hours. It held temps very well and was much less work compared to tending a fire in my big smoker. When the first cook was done I just closed the pipe damper and the coals went out, for the second cook I removed the basket shook it to remove the extra ash and re lit the coals, worked great.

This is just one version to give you an idea. not mine

http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=59202

[Gilbert]

A long time ago I did something similar for a whole hog. The big difference was is was not completely underground, part was above ground. The hog was for a party, I think it was good because it disappeared before I could try it, i was busy because we were also boiling crawfish, I did not miss them.

When's your next party? and what's your address?

As soon as I moved the family back to Texas I made this pit in the back yard. It's about 42" deep, with a 6" tall reinf. concrete curb around it. To cap it off, I had a custom stainless steel assembly that works with counter-weights..... requires only 1 1/2 lbs of effort to lift the hatch,... I'm lazy and didn't want to have to bend over everytime I opened it up.... I merely use the tip of my boot and lift on a tab.

At the bottom is a custom made stainless steel grill that's used to place the food on. The grill is lifted and lowered via a small winch. I corraled the pit with rail-road-ties and ran a beam (of same) centered over the grill which supports the winch. The rail road ties added a nice rustic-look and makes for a great aesthetics, or at least I think so. All stainless is extreme high-heat type (A316 and A321).

[dtel]

That's funny

It's been years since we had a big party, it was wild and took a few days to recover. 3 kegs, a rented daiquiri machine, a whole hog, 300# of crawfish and whatever else others showed up with?

It was fun, lasted all evening and night, it rained the next day and many helped pick up all the mess in the back yard in the rain while we finished the beer. It would probably take me a week to recover now, I have not had much party practice in a while, not like that anyway.

You are putting crazy ideas in my head.........it was really fun and now we have a big enough yard for any amount of people. They could even swim or float around the pond on rafts, it could be wild

We could put Seti in charge of BBQ/smoking ! [Y] He has had plenty of tasting of local places in AR to know good BBQ.

[dtel]

As soon as I moved the family back to Texas I made this pit in the back yard. It's about 42" deep, with a 6" tall reinf. concrete curb around it. To cap it off, I had a custom stainless steel assembly that works with counter-weights..... requires only 1 1/2 lbs of effort to lift the hatch,... I'm lazy and didn't want to have to bend over everytime I opened it up.... I merely use the tip of my boot and lift on a tab.

At the bottom is a custom made stainless steel grill that's used to place the food on. The grill is lifted and lowered via a small winch. I corraled the pit with rail-road-ties and ran a beam (of same) centered over the grill which supports the winch. The rail road ties added a nice rustic-look and makes for a great aesthetics, or at least I think so. All stainless is extreme high-heat type (A316 and A321).

Now that is a very nice pit, what scares me about others is how easy it would be to get dirt on everything, great idea. That thing would probably stay hot very easily once up to temp, Jackonsbart has something similar where the cooking grate is adjusted up or down in the hole, he had pic's here somewhere.

Very nice. [Y]

[seti]

Thanks Dtel I like th ugly smoker but I really want to get down into the ground so I can do really long cooks. Just an experiment if I don't like it I won't try stage 2.

[seti]

A long time ago I did something similar for a whole hog. The big difference was is was not completely underground, part was above ground. The hog was for a party, I think it was good because it disappeared before I could try it, i was busy because we were also boiling crawfish, I did not miss them.

When's your next party? and what's your address?

As soon as I moved the family back to Texas I made this pit in the back yard. It's about 42" deep, with a 6" tall reinf. concrete curb around it. To cap it off, I had a custom stainless steel assembly that works with counter-weights..... requires only 1 1/2 lbs of effort to lift the hatch,... I'm lazy and didn't want to have to bend over everytime I opened it up.... I merely use the tip of my boot and lift on a tab.

At the bottom is a custom made stainless steel grill that's used to place the food on. The grill is lifted and lowered via a small winch. I corraled the pit with rail-road-ties and ran a beam (of same) centered over the grill which supports the winch. The rail road ties added a nice rustic-look and makes for a great aesthetics, or at least I think so. All stainless is extreme high-heat type (A316 and A321).

Gilbert now that is what I'm talking about. Do you have anymore pics?.. That would be my ultimate goal. I'm wanting to try this makeshift one to see if I like the results.