Santa Maria BBQ

A

amg1444

Knows what a fatty is.
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I am relatively new to the Brethren and this will be my first real post. I have lately become obsessed with this site. Normally after I put my daughter to bed, I'm on this site. I will say that my BBQ knowledge has increased greatly since I started viewing this site. Recently I have become very interested in the Santa Maria style BBQ. In doing a lot of research, on this site and other BBQ forums, I was able to locate some plans were changed to my liking. I will now soon be the proud owner of a custom Santa Maria style BBQ. I am working with one of my prototype shops to get this built. The original concept was to be just an open flame BBQ, but wanted something with a little more versatility. I decided to have a lid with a stack installed. I will now have the ability to cook with an open flame, or be able to smoke. Here are a couple pix of the box and lid. There will be more to come soon. I'll continue to update this as progress is made on it.
 
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First of all, welcome!

Next, that's a badass cooker! It looks chunky, does it have insulated walls?
 
Earlier this summer my work had a company picnic in a public park and our reserved site had a Santa Maria cooker. I was on grill duty and it was my first time using such a beast. Worked out okay, but I admire anyone who knows what they're doing on such a monster.
 
Thanks, and no they're not. Do you think it would be necessary? How would you recomend doing it?
 
That's cool. I/we sure would like too see it opened up.

I've been working on some plans to build my own pit and although I initially wanted to build it Santa Maria style it was cost prohibitive, so this will be interesting to follow.

Good luck & please keep us posted.
 
amg1444 said:
Thanks, and no they're not. Do you think it would be necessary? How would you recomend doing it?
Click to expand...

Well I'm no expert, but I think a "traditional" Santa Maria is open air but uses a crank mechanism to raise and lower the cooking grate closer or further from the heat. We're already into new territory with a lid.

That said, an enclosed, insulated cooker will be easier to maintain steady temps, cooks with convection, and is more fuel efficient.

To build an insulated cooker, you basically have to make everything double-walled and put an insulator between the layers. I saw pix of a great build elsewhere, if I find them again I'll link.

But you don't need any of that to have a great cooker! Not by any means. The Weber kettle, the UDS, the Lang reverse flow... none of them are insulated. Only asked because it looked like yours might be. :)

Looks like an awesome build... what's it like to cook on?
 
It's not yet complete. I've been traveling for work a lot this month, so haven't been able to check it out lately. Gonna have to make a

I was going for something a little less traditional for this. When complete, it will still have the ability to cook over an open flame, and the grate will be able to be raised and lowered. The lid just adds a second dimension to it.

I'll post more pix soon.
 
Talked to the shop today, haven't been able to work on it much lately. A little disappointed, but that's OK, I'm in no rush for it to get done, and they're doing this as a favor for me. Hope to be able to post some more pix next.
 
amg1444 said:
Talked to the shop today, haven't been able to work on it much lately. A little disappointed, but that's OK, I'm in no rush for it to get done, and they're doing this as a favor for me. Hope to be able to post some more pix next.
Click to expand...

Looking forward to it! :thumb:
 
I don't know if you've looked at them but Hasty-Bake makes a lidded, adjustable height fire tray.
gourmet257.jpg
 
Marty - Your build is what got me so interested in the Santa Maria style. Never heard of a Hasty Bake. I'll have to do a little research on them.

mbshop - Big fan of their grills. They were an inspiration for this build.
 
That is a great start on a cooker. I have not seen many that were covered, but, the cover will certainly offer some advantages, especially in bad weather.
 
Talked to the shop earlier today. Frame is complete, SS grate has been ordered. Should be all complete next week. Next thing will be to figure out how to get it to our new place.
 
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