The Morgan's Open-Grill

[WFO_Austin]

Re: The Morgan's Open-Grill

Beautiful build Morgan family. Love the extra open fire pit. I am in the process of getting my build planned out and saw that you doubled the stand as a retaining wall. Can you please elaborate on any extra steps or details that must be taken into consideration when doing this. I will be retaining approximately 25" of earth behind the stand as the Oven will be going into a slight grade. Thanks for any input.

[Scopolamine]

Re: The Morgan's Open-Grill

Thanks for the inspiration!

[jjcharris]

Re: The Morgan's Open-Grill

Thanks! I think I've solved the problem. I bought two 24x24 grills with legs that can be used individually in the oven too if I want. Best of both worlds.

[jislizard]

Re: The Morgan's Open-Grill

I'm currently building a LARGE WFO and have enough space to add a grill On the side. I'm looking for a grill top. I don't weld. Is it possible to order on line a large grate or would it be better to find a local welder to make one for me?

I bought 3 smaller/normal sized ones from a BBQ supplier and just pushed them together, which is ok for making them longer, but no good if you want to make them wider. It does mean I can swap around grills and hotplates.

[jjcharris]

Re: The Morgan's Open-Grill

I'm currently building a LARGE WFO and have enough space to add a grill On the side. I'm looking for a grill top. I don't weld. Is it possible to order on line a large grate or would it be better to find a local welder to make one for me?

[jislizard]

Re: The Morgan's Open-Grill

I like your height adjustment apparatus!

Well it looks like the next shipment of ovens will not get here in time for Christmas, apparently this wood fired oven thing is catching on. Anyway, I will be needing the fire pit now to replace the half oil drum BBQ which is more rust than metal.

Ours is quite close to the wooden fence and we have overhanging trees, it would be nice to have it in a more central location so that we could sit around it but as it is away from the main seating area we probably won't be able to see the fire, unless the fence catches of course.

[vintagemx0]

Re: The Morgan's Open-Grill

Here's a picture of our grill working on some steaks for us.



And then a little later, after we've eaten and just want to relax, it doubles as a firepit



We highly recomend adding a little open-pit grill - you'll just love it.

-The Morgans

[jislizard]

Re: The Morgan's Open-Grill

A rotisserie does sound good and firebricks would probably help to cook the food all the way through.

I would like to store firewood under my grill so I will probably have to work something out to keep the ashes and the wood seperate. I want to keep the idea of the ventilation through the bottom of the grill though, that sounds like a vast improvement over my old BBQ.

[vintagemx0]

Re: The Morgan's Open-Grill

Thanks!

We don't do much heavy cooking on it yet - mostly the occasional couple of steaks and various meats-on-a-sticks. My wife is urging me to build a rotisserie contraption so we can do some Brazillian-style steaks and roast some yummy birds.

I used firebrick simply because I didn't put a lot of thought into it. I just felt like it would be a good material, but I did make sure that they were easily to replace. I'm glad I did use them because quite often after we've cooked, we'll throw some firewood on there and use it as a firepit. We really enjoy the ambience it makes and love the dual purpose the simple little thing is providing for us. I would think the firebrick helps protect the cement and blocks from thermal stress.

I prefer to use mesquite wood coal, and I too find it burns fairly quickly. For the most part, it burns plenty long enough to cook for my wife and I, and I do kinda like the fact that they die-off fairly quickly after we're finished. I think if we were cooking a lot of food or doing a slow rotisserie roast, then care would have to be taken to slowly add fuel at a rate that basically keepd pace with what is expiring, but that's part of the fun right? Fussing with the fire with a beer in one hand...

I was going to build a door with some kind of air control, but have decided not to do it. I really don't think it is necassary and the best way to control the heat is to just move the food either closer or further from the coals. Right now, I'm just using some extra bricks to adjust the height of our grill, but plan to weld some little tubes to the metal frame we have going around the bricks to accomodate the insertion of some other metalwork that will offer a better way to make the height adjustments as required. Haven't really thought it through yet, but will incorporate the rotisserie idea and any other accessories that come to mind.

We don't have a cover for the weather (and it rains a lot here). It doesn't harm the grill, and the ash runs down into the cavity below and accumulates in a baking pan I have down there to help with ash disposal. It really doesn't make a mess. The only mess I can speak to is when you have to scrape out wet ashes from the top of the bricks so you can make a new fire - it can make a mess of whatever you're using to scrape it out with, but rinses easily.


Thanks for the interest, and be sure to post your project as well.

Regards,

Ken Morgan

[jislizard]

Re: The Morgan's Open-Grill

Really nice! I am thinking of doing the same and I am just starting to look into how to do it, my last one was made from house bricks dry stacked supporting half an oil drum.

Seeing as you are cooking on the embers is there any need for the fire bricks? Do you cook for much longer after the embers have died? I find my coals do not always last long enough to cook a variety of foods.

Would an ash draw and door cut down the air flow to any significance and finally...

...do you now have a cover for when it rains? If not does the ash get wet and flow?

Cheers!

[PaulB]

Re: The Morgan's Open-Grill

Vintagemx

I like your grill. I'm planning a similar one. I'm looking for a large grill grate like you're using in the photos. Can you tell me what size it is and where you got it?

Thanks,
Paul

[EricU]

Re: The Morgan's Open-Grill

We need to make an adjustable rack system and ash drawer/ door, but we are very pleased with the performance of this grill. Tomorrow, it's steak, so I'll need to McGuiver some sort of rack adjustment, but this is all good R&D.

Bon Appetit !

The Morgans

Vintage! that is a beautiful job, nice fire pit! Really, really nice.

I hope I am not hijacking your thread but I also need to make an adjustable rack system, so now I am asking all of you for some suggestions on how to build/design an adjustable grill or fire/coal support to finish my pit. I have included some photos of my fire pit during the construction stage that I would like to use for a couple of different purposes. It has already been used as a fire pit and I need to add some pieces (I can weld) to be able to use it as a BBQ pit during larger parties. I have a separate gas fired BBQ on the upper porch for daily family cooking and a separate WFO for pizzas, roasts and making little lambs delicious! In other words, the first use will be as a fire pit and the second use as a "overflow" BBQ.

Anyway you can see in the pics below how mine is put together, what you cant see is the floor of fire bricks that I have added, and there will be a bull nose brick counter top on the two lower portions of the fire pit and a concrete counter top on the upper bar section. I also have power available for a future rack for occasional cooking of whole lambs or pigs that will sit on the two side brick counter tops.

[Spunkoid]

Re: The Morgan's Open-Grill

Excellent, very nice idea, functional, and looks good too!

Rick

[vintagemx0]

Re: The Morgan's Open-Grill

We've used it quite a bit now, and it works just fine. We also build an open-fire in it during the evening after dark and it adds a nice ambiance to our patio area as a fire pit. It was a simple, easy addition to our patio area that has a dual-purpose and we are very pleased with it. Using it as a fire pit this winter should help lure us outdoors.

The Morgans

[robs]

Re: The Morgan's Open-Grill

That bench doesn't seem too bad with you leaning slightly forward not as much of a stretch as i thought. Plenty of room to put your beer, food, tools etc.