Time to Jump In...

[JoeT62]

I've been lurking for a while now, and recently joined. This forum is an amazing resource.

So....here goes....

After much negotiation, I have now started my oven project. It has now evolved into an outdoor patio, with countertops and a grill attached to the oven. We excavated for the pad this week and I spent this morning laying rebar and mesh.

Pictures, of course, will follow.

A quick question - I have room on the side of my oven to make the grill almost any dimension, but I am lacking plans for such. I've been looking around for these, and I am thinking 3 feet high, 2 feet deep, and 3 feet wide. Sound good, or am I way off?

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Time to Jump In...

Welcome! By Grill, do you mean a masonry grill? The size sounds pretty good to me. Will you have a separate vent for that or will it just be open at the top? Does the height represent the back wall of the grill?

Drake

[JoeT62]

Re: Time to Jump In...

Well, to be honest, I was originally thinking of making the grill out of building blocks, and then facing it with some brick, but I got to thinking why not make the darn thing out of brick?

I was planning on an open grill - the height represents the cooking surface height.

[JoeT62]

Pad Prep Done, Waiting Concrete Delivery

Finished off the pad preparation today - thusfar the project entails a corner installation oven with the grill and a countertop coming off of it (like an "L") and another pizza prep/guest counter on the opposite end of the patio (free standing).

As soon as I locate where my 9 year old put the USB cable, I'll be uploading some photos...

[james]

Re: Time to Jump In...

Welcome Joe,

I am looking forward to seeing how your grill goes from concept to construction. I am thinking of doing something similar, whether the grill can work with both wood coals from the oven, or charcoal when I'm not firing the oven.

Are you thinking of doing some hand sketched drawings? If you are, you could scan them and post them here. I could convert them to a drawing tool if you are interested. I think other folks would be interested as well, so maybe we can come up with some plans for a traditional open grill.

James

[james]

Re: Time to Jump In...

Hey all,
I have moved this thread to a new forum category on designing an open grill. Let's see if we can make some progress on this. I'm looking forward to it.
James

[Archena]

Re: Time to Jump In...

If his 9 year old is anything like my cat it could be a while...

[JoeT62]

Re: Time to Jump In...

Welcome Joe,

I am looking forward to seeing how your grill goes from concept to construction. I am thinking of doing something similar, whether the grill can work with both wood coals from the oven, or charcoal when I'm not firing the oven.

Are you thinking of doing some hand sketched drawings? If you are, you could scan them and post them here. I could convert them to a drawing tool if you are interested. I think other folks would be interested as well, so maybe we can come up with some plans for a traditional open grill.

James

I was thinking of something fairly simple - a place to dump the coals and a simple metal grate that I could change the level to perhaps two or three heights.

I will work on getting my sketch scanned in.

[gaptogap]

Re: Time to Jump In...

Here's a link Building Masonry Barbecue Pit a couple of features in these pics could spark idea's

[JoeT62]

Beautiful job

Here's a link Building Masonry Barbecue Pit a couple of features in these pics could spark idea's

That is a bit more than I was imagining, but you got my mouth watering! Now how do I convince the wife that building a barbecue that will hold a whole pig should go next to the dome oven?

[JoeT62]

Finally got some pictures

The "before" picture. This is an area behind the house that is a "dead space" next to the deck. Perfect for my outdoor kitchen!


My handy neighbor to be, Mike. He's a fantastic help, and I'm not just saying that because he has an excavator.


After moving away the sod...


Now we have a basic form. The shape measures 15 feet on the long left-most side, 12 feet next to the house, and another 7 on the right. The hypotenuse measures 14.42 feet of course!


Still working on getting my scanner going, but the oven will be a corner install into the back corner on the right with a countertop attached along the back perimeter, and the grill attached on the right side.

Now we await a non-rainy day to take delivery of concrete!

[james]

Re: Time to Jump In...

Joe,
I'm with you. I am looking for a design that works with the brick oven, and is big enough for family and party entertaining. I want to engineer it right for airflow and how the various grill heights will work -- and I want to get the cooking height and the size of the grill right.

Make sense?

What are you going to use for the grill itself? A freestanding grill, ala the Tuscan grill, or are you building the grill itself into the structure? What about raising and lowering the grill?

And my favorite question of all -- how do you get airflow through the charcoal, without the air holes that you have in the bottom of a Weber kettle grill?

James

[JoeT62]

Re: Time to Jump In...

What are you going to use for the grill itself? A freestanding grill, ala the Tuscan grill, or are you building the grill itself into the structure? What about raising and lowering the grill?

And my favorite question of all -- how do you get airflow through the charcoal, without the air holes that you have in the bottom of a Weber kettle grill?

James

I am thinking the cooking surface will be a movable grill insert that I can slide in or out onto embedded lag bolts in the mortar (2 or three levels ought to do it I think). I have a friend who's a welder who told me he can fashion any kind of shaped cooking surface I like out of scrap, as long as I make him a big steak when it's done. That's an offer I can't refuse!

As for the air holes, I was thinking of going the "missing brick" on the back (or side) wall route - not sure how I'll make it adjustable (or if it really needs to be). The coals would sit on a metal grate "table" a few inches above the brick floor and the missing brick. The metal grate table would be removable for cleaning but not adjustable.

Of course this is all in my "minds eye" right now, so changes are inevitable. I just want to get my concrete pad poured (damn you New England weather) so I can start laying block.

One more picture - my wife daughter and neighbor supervising the progress...

[Archena]

Re: Time to Jump In...

Um, how do you move it if the door is smaller than the oven? Will the grate be smaller?

[james]

Re: Time to Jump In...

Joe,
Is that Lindemans Chardonnay? :-)
James