Brick grill and oven

[Chris.R]

Hi,

I'm part way through my own design and build on a combination brick grill and oven. The grill now works really well. The bulk of the oven is laid and the fire bricks are in.

My issue now is how to design the doors. I can't weld so i think I'm restricted to wood as a material but I'm a little at a loss. Does anyone have any ideas?

I work in an office so i have no experience with designing or laying bricks so I've made most of it up as i go along.

Picture for context. Obviously the gaps in the archway will be sealed with brick. The hole in the bottom right is where the fire will be. The hole above it is for food. Under the grill will be wood storage.

 

[rjob]

Do a search for bbq doors. Several sites offer different options as well as custom doors.

 

[BigW.]

Cool looking build. Do you have any scrap metal dealers or iron works places? Getting some old doors off a pot belly stove or fireplace would be cool. Some of the custom made ones will be pricey. Ebay looks like they have a few cast iron doors that might work. Since it's mostly built, finding a correct sized door may be a challenge. If you found the door first, then designed the opening may have been easier. Welcome to the site. There are a couple threads of folks designing similar projects. Hopefully they'll add something soon.

 

[02ebz06]

As rjob said, you can buy SS doors on the Internet.
BBQGuys is where I had bought mine from.
At this stage though, you might have to make them yourself, or adapt your build to fit a door.
Best of luck.

 

[Chris.R]

Thanks all.

I designed an easy build for bricks as I've never layed a brick in my life before. By the end i even had a go at an archway! But yes that leaves the question of the door.

The thermal conductivity of metal is hundreds of times greater than wood. Does that not cause issues with fuel efficiency? Also, is there any method for preventing all the heat from pouring out the chimney?

Thanks.
Chris

 

[Randy1]

Just for a second let's discuss steel vs brick BBQ smokers-oven. One advantage of a steel when doing a low&slow is it transfer heat to surrounding air really well. That is a good thing. The more you transfer to the surrounding air, the larger the fire. The larger the fire, the easier it is to maintain a steady temperature. Brick transfer heat to the air very poorly, which is great for higher oven temperatures but not good for low and slow. Wood for a door not such a good idea.

If I can, I will post some pictures of the door I made out of 1/4" steel plate.

Let's talk air flow. I have found the fire door vent that feeds air to thee fire, should be on the same side as the exhaust vent. That lets the heat flow to the back, then cross the oven back to the exhaust. Now if you choose a central Alabama method of making BBQ then that all changes.
As an example.

Top Hat Barbecue | Southern Foodways Alliance

Opened in 1952, Top Hat Barbecue is located in Blount Springs about thirty miles north of Birmingham. The Top Hat’s second owner decided to retire after only five years in the business. She offered to sell the place to her bread deliveryman at the time, Wilbur Pettit. When the company Wilbur...

www.southernfoodways.org