Need advice with a brick bbq pit

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S-L-A-C-K-E-R

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So, I bought this new house and it has a brick bbq pit in the backyard.

I really want to get this thing up and running and used for some grilling. I’m a little nervous about it though because it’s really dirty lookin. Here's a picture:

2lauc5s.jpg



The grilling grate looks like it’s actually one of those rectangular grated sewer drain covers you see on the road. :shocked: It’s really rusty too. So, that’s obviously going to need replaced. Anyone know where I can find large grill grates? I’d like to avoid using another drain grate. It doesn’t look like the ideal cooking surface (even if it were flawlessly clean). I’m wondering if the previous owners used the drain grate though because it was the only thing they could find that was big enough.

The rest of the pit looks like it could use a good cleaning too. I really don’t know the history of the pit. I don’t know how old it is or what it was used for or how it was maintained. I just want to be sure it’s safe to use it for cooking. Any tips on any precautions or cleaning I should do before throwing some steaks on there for my family? Is it a lost cause? Should I just use this thing to burn leaves and forget about trying to cook on it?

It looks like there is a gas line hooked up to it, but I think I’d like to use it primarily with charcoal and continue using my char-grill for any propane cooking.

Any ideas of what the potential is for this pit too? Anyone think it can it be used for smoking? It doesn’t have a lid or anything, so I’d have to figure out some way to enclose the cooking area I guess. I’m new to smoking and I know squat.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
Need better pics, clearer and of the innards to make speculations/suggestions.
 
Norcoredneck said:
Need better pics, clearer and of the innards to make speculations/suggestions.
Click to expand...

Gotcha.

Unfortunately, that's all I got available right now. Sorry. I'll try to take some more (and better) pics when I get a chance.
 
I'd high-pressure wash the whole thing(bricks and all) and take a look at what that accomplished. You could always buy grill grates and simply place on top.Have a lid welded up at a shop to fit over it with vents for smoke. Just my crazy thoughts. I've spent my whole life trying to make things work in a way they were never meant to work:doh:
 
for a grate i would get some expanded metal and build a frame out of square tubing or angle iron thats what I use on my somker and if you seaon them good they wont rust, if you frame the expanded metal you could make it into 2 or 3 sections for easy removal. I am a welder/ fabricator so its no big deal for me to make my own stuff but if you dont have a welder im sure you could find a local shop to build you something. Looks like the outside could use a good scrub, and i would clean out the inside and do a good burn to get everything burnt off, to season my grates I get a normal fire going and cover with bacon and let cook, always seamed to do the trick for me. I want to buld a pit like that at my house, big enough to put a hog on. that would be sweet
 
Yep, what Maxwell7 and Chef Country said! :becky: Does that setup, by any chance, have an access panel at the back of the chimney...? Reason that I ask, my grandparents had a setup like that, with racks (made of some ancient rebar-like substance) that they used for cool-smoking salmon- you can literally smoke meats n' fish for DAYS on those in-chimney racks. I'm green with jealousy- what a great bonus! :mrgreen: Congrats on your new digs, too.
 
Leopardstripes said:
Yep, what Maxwell7 and Chef Country said! :becky: Does that setup, by any chance, have an access panel at the back of the chimney...? Reason that I ask, my grandparents had a setup like that, with racks (made of some ancient rebar-like substance) that they used for cool-smoking salmon- you can literally smoke meats n' fish for DAYS on those in-chimney racks. I'm green with jealousy- what a great bonus! :mrgreen: Congrats on your new digs, too.
Click to expand...

There's no access panel in the back of the chimney. Bummer. That sounds like it could be pretty cool.
 
Leopardstripes said:
Shoot, that's too bad...wonder if you could retro-fit, somehow....
Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing. :confused: I'm certainly not a masonry expert so I would need to do some major research on the subject. I'm glad you brought it up. I'll be looking into that once I get it up and running.
 
Is there a fire grate between the two front opnings? The top opening used to add fuel and the bottom to clean out ashes? You may be able to add a damper to the lower opening, put a door on the top opening, and build a box over the cooking grate and a new vent into the chimney above the cooking grate(s) you add. I think it could be easily adapted to make a very nice pit! Pressure wash with care not to blast out any mortar between the bricks, a TSP bath before that whould clean everything up real nice.
 
FretBender said:
Is there a fire grate between the two front opnings? The top opening used to add fuel and the bottom to clean out ashes? You may be able to add a damper to the lower opening, put a door on the top opening, and build a box over the cooking grate and a new vent into the chimney above the cooking grate(s) you add. I think it could be easily adapted to make a very nice pit! Pressure wash with care not to blast out any mortar between the bricks, a TSP bath before that whould clean everything up real nice.
Click to expand...

Yes, there is a fire grate between the two front openings.

In addition to the two openings in the front, there is an opening at the base of the chimney in the back.

I think I'm getting your drift on your setup idea and I really like it.

What's a TSP bath? :redface: I'm very new to this, so you have to bear with me. :becky:

As for the lid, I was thinking of measuring the grate and then trying to see if there are any commercial grill lids that would fit. I figure I could order a replacement lid and just put it on there instead of building something from scratch. Anyone see any potential issues with that idea?
 
TSP is tri-sodium phosphate. You can get it or an equivalent at Home Depot, Lowes, any paint store.

Trisodium phosphate (TSP, E339) is a cleaning agent, food additive, stain remover and degreaser. It is a white, granular or crystalline solid, highly soluble in water producing an alkaline solution. The item of commerce is often partially hydrated and may range from anhydrous trisodium phosphate, Na3PO4, to the dodecahydrate, Na3PO4·12H2O. Most often found in white powder form, it can also be called trisodium orthophosphate or just plain sodium phosphate. Trisodium phosphate was at one time extensively used in formulations for a wide variety of consumer grade soaps and detergents, but ecological problems have largely ended that practice, at least in the western world.
 
jgh1204 said:
TSP is tri-sodium phosphate. You can get it or an equivalent at Home Depot, Lowes, any paint store.

Trisodium phosphate (TSP, E339) is a cleaning agent, food additive, stain remover and degreaser. It is a white, granular or crystalline solid, highly soluble in water producing an alkaline solution. The item of commerce is often partially hydrated and may range from anhydrous trisodium phosphate, Na3PO4, to the dodecahydrate, Na3PO4·12H2O. Most often found in white powder form, it can also be called trisodium orthophosphate or just plain sodium phosphate. Trisodium phosphate was at one time extensively used in formulations for a wide variety of consumer grade soaps and detergents, but ecological problems have largely ended that practice, at least in the western world.
Click to expand...

Sounds like something thats known to cause cancer in CA
 
Nope, not cancer. TSP is good stuff, you just have to be careful with it.

TSP was once the major component of laundry and dishwashing detergents. However, the phosphate contained in these products was not removed from wastewater during treatment and was then subsequently discharged into watersheds and larger bodies of water. There, phosphate was often the limiting agent for waterborne plant life, and the excess caused algal blooms and subsequent eutrophication of lakes and estuaries. In the United States, the Clean Water Act severely limited the use of phosphates in general, and trisodium phosphate in particular, in consumer cleaning products.
Products sold as TSP substitute, containing soda ash and zeolites, are promoted as a direct substitute. However, sodium carbonate is not as strongly basic as trisodium phosphate, making it less effective in demanding applications.
 
Has anyone ever seen jgh1204 and Alton Brown at the same time? Just sayin.......
 
Looks like a handyman special and could make for a neat project.

You can clean it up and make it work. Then again, you could just take a sledgehammer to the middle part and slide a nice cooker (green egg, Spicewine or Backwoods, etc.) in there and you'd have yourself a real nice smoking area with side-tables :p

Let us know how it goes.
 
You need to determine if the brick work is worth saving or not. It appears that there is alot of water(freeze) damage in the bottom corners.
I would sandblast the grate, pressure wash the whole thing and then try using it to see if you can make it work. If you can make it work then you can consider repointing and repairing the brickwork but most importantly, making the cement toppers so they protect the brick. Fixing it is alot easier than removing it.
90% of the brethren would love to have that in their backyard and do what it takes to make it the centre piece of our backyard. Your picture has me jealous. Look forward to more pictures- don't be a slacker!!
 
jgh1204 said:
TSP is tri-sodium phosphate. You can get it or an equivalent at Home Depot, Lowes, any paint store.

Trisodium phosphate (TSP, E339) is a cleaning agent, food additive, stain remover and degreaser. It is a white, granular or crystalline solid, highly soluble in water producing an alkaline solution. The item of commerce is often partially hydrated and may range from anhydrous trisodium phosphate, Na3PO4, to the dodecahydrate, Na3PO4·12H2O. Most often found in white powder form, it can also be called trisodium orthophosphate or just plain sodium phosphate. Trisodium phosphate was at one time extensively used in formulations for a wide variety of consumer grade soaps and detergents, but ecological problems have largely ended that practice, at least in the western world.
Click to expand...

:thumb: Cool. Thanks!
 
h20loo said:
You need to determine if the brick work is worth saving or not. It appears that there is alot of water(freeze) damage in the bottom corners.
I would sandblast the grate, pressure wash the whole thing and then try using it to see if you can make it work. If you can make it work then you can consider repointing and repairing the brickwork but most importantly, making the cement toppers so they protect the brick. Fixing it is alot easier than removing it.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good plan. Thanks. I didn't really think about brick repair. I'll have to definitely read up on that subject too.

90% of the brethren would love to have that in their backyard and do what it takes to make it the centre piece of our backyard. Your picture has me jealous. Look forward to more pictures
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'm excited about it! This is really good timing because I just starting getting into grilling this past summer and I have wanted to kick it up a notch or two anyway. The bbq pit was a nice bonus to the house we ended up liking.

don't be a slacker!!
Click to expand...

lol :laugh:
 
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