BBQ pits made from concrete block

[Tenifer17]

I am getting ready to make a bbq pit out of concrete block at my home. I was wondering if any of you guys had any good pictures of any ? I am wanting to put the fire pit next to it and make it out of concrete blocks too. I have heard of lots of people just stacking the blocks togather and not using concrete or mortar . This would be a lot easier I think.

I want a concrete block BBQ pit and an area where I can burn my hickory slabs and the shovel them in the concrete pit next to the fire pit.

Any pctures and ideas are appreiated. I plan the build around april.

[JAB]

Sounds like a cool project. I have also been thinking about building something like that out of block or brick - although my mansonry skills are pretty much non-existant. It sounds like you are thinking along the same lines as me - that it would be cool to build it as an 'offset' so that the fire source isn't directly under the meat. That would allow for long, slow smoking. Of course, for that I would want the meat to be in a space that could be enclosed and vented - complete with an exhaust pipe/chimney. At the same time, though, I think it would also be cool to build another cooking unit - more like an oven than a grill - right above the fire source so I could cook bread, etc. in it, too. If one were to design it so that a fire/coals COULD be placed directly below the grill grid, too, then it would work as an outdoor oven, smoker and grill. Pretty awesome.

My big concern is how well the building materials would stand up to wood fire - which can generate some high temperatures, at times - without cracking/busting and so on. If I build such a project, I will probably use mortar, etc. to make it a little more 'sturdy'.

Edited February 22, 2012 by JAB

[gregintenn]

Use fire brick. Concrete degrades very quickly under the heat of fire.

[Guest nicemac]

Use fire brick. Concrete degrades very quickly under the heat of fire.

This. Regular concrete blocks will not hold up.

[gregintenn]

You could build it out of block, and line it with fire brick.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I can't send pictures, but dad made such a beast about 1958, fairly large, and it didn't crack from the heat at least until we moved to another city a couple of years later. Maybe it cracked some time later. In years past such concrete barbeques seemed common in campgrounds and public parks, so it must be possible to make them crack-proof?

One possibility-- Just guessing-- Dunno if cinder blocks are common any more in these parts. AFAIK, cinder blocks use coke cinders rather than sand. Coke cinders are the granular hard mineral remains after fully combusting coal. Maybe it can come from other processes like power plants, but I think it usually came from iron/steel smelting. My old ancient shop building is made out of cinder block which is lots harder and denser than typical modern concrete block. It is easy to drive a concrete nail into an ordinary concrete block, but you don't drive a concrete nail into my shop. No way Jose. If you want to attach something to my shop you use a hardened concrete drill bit and a hanger insert.

Anyway-- Just wild guessing-- MAYBE cinder block is more immune to heat than ordinary block? MAYBE old-timey barbeques may have been more likely cinderblock? Alternately, possibly you can buy special heat-resistant concrete block?

====

Wife made a circular firepit out of those 8 inch long semicircular concrete landscaping bricks. We had a bunch of em left over laying around. Those are about 4" tall and intended for stacking to make decorative "freeform curved" dirt retainers and such.

Wife overlap-stacked two layers of the landscaping blocks for about a 5 foot diameter firepit. No mortar. She made me feel guilty for working while I sat on my butt, so I built her a hemispherical firescreen to sit on top. The fire-screen frame was made out of semicircles of bent 3/4" galvanized conduit (using a conduit bender tool of course). The curvy pieces were assembled using conduit connectors, chain link fence clamps, and quarter-inch thru bolts as appropriate. Two handles were made of bent 1.5" X 1/4" aluminum and bolted to the frame. A couple layers of "hardware cloth" fine steel mesh were stretched over the frame and tied to the frame with rebar soft iron wire ties. Then the whole shebang primed and painted with black "stove paint" hi-temp spray paint. It still seems holding together good enough.

Back to the topic-- After a couple of years we had a minor flash flood in the little valley where the firepit lived, scattering the blocks. We noticed that several of those 8" long, 4" thick landscaping concrete bricks had cracked in half from the heat. For a simple fire pit it didn't matter. Wife just stacked em up in a two-high circle again. But it does demonstrate that perhaps heat would be a potential hazard. Wife is a firebug and sometimes she will have some pretty rip-roaring flames in the firepit.

====

As best I recall of the bbq dad built-- Was fun to watch him work-- He was just amateur, not pro at bricklaying-- It was maybe 4 feet wide and 6 feet long. Or maybe a little smaller. It would cook a lot of meat at one time.

Can't recall fer sure but think it had a chimney on the back. Maybe a fire wouldn't burn very well without a chimney to improve the draw. Pretty sure the front was open down to the concrete patio it was built on.

The grille area was either a series of round iron bars, or flat iron strap laid narrow-side-up. Can't recall. After the thing was "near complete" he put a layer of mortar atop each side, then set the grill bars regular-spaced onto the concrete sides (the ends of the grille bars resting on the top of each side wall, laying in the wet mortar). Then he added more mortar and put those 2" thick "cap stone" blocks on top of the grille bars to make the finished product look tidy and help capture the grille bars.

Can't recall his mechanism for holding the wood or charcoal underneath the grille. Maybe he embedded more rods down there to keep the fuel off the ground. Or maybe had some kind of movable iron pieces as were used in old fireplaces.

I don't think he filled up the block with concrete. Can't recall. Filling the blocks with Quikrete wouldn't be real expensive on something that small, and might make it more heat-proof? Hopefully you wouldn't later need to tear it down, if you filled it with Quikrete and a piece of rebar down each hole.

[peejman]

Build this (or at least use this basic idea)....

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/Build-An-All-In-One-Outdoor-Oven-Stove-Grill-And-Smoker.aspx

Edited February 22, 2012 by peejman

[Lumber_Jack]

Build this (or at least use this basic idea)....

http://www.motherear...And-Smoker.aspx

linky no worky

Edit: now thats weird, the link doesnt work in your original post. but it works when I quoted you. firgure that one out

Edited February 22, 2012 by Lumber_Jack

[peejman]

linky no worky

Edit: now thats weird, the link doesnt work in your original post. but it works when I quoted you. firgure that one out

There was something weird with the first link I posted. I think I fixed it. If not, just google "mother earth news outdoor oven".

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Thanks peejman, that is an interesting article.

[peejman]

Thanks peejman, that is an interesting article.

I'd love to build something like that, though I think the $300 cost they list is rather optimistic. It doesn't include the counter-top, door, or tile on the outside, and assumes you have fab skills and make the sheet metal stuff.

[cflatt]

http://www.bbq-4-u.com/forum/

Give this forum a try. Lots of great BBQ talk there. The search function works great or just make a post and ask. A handful of guys there have built some great ones.