The X-Fire Grill

[civilsmoker]

Thanks for the like JC!

 

[civilsmoker]

One more baby step.....we got the inside cleaned up and wiped down the steel with grape seed oil. Then fired it up let it cook :-)

2/3rd chimney of coals and a couple of splits. Burns nice a even. Watching the flames is just calming........

This fire kept it at 350 nicely.

Just a view from the grill, it’s yearning for something to sear :-) ......

 

[civilsmoker]

.........not even the high wind warning today could stop this from happening tonight!!!

The x-fire is seasoned and wiped down.....”I’m ready!”

Starting a chimney with some coals and cherry chunks.....is it ready yet!

Now the fire bed is created with some cherry splits....

Where’s the beef?

The beef, saw these at 5.77/lb. The wife got this pit boss rub to try so here it goes...

This is the moment we have been working so hard for!!!!!

The boy took over the tongs! He also already called dibs on his!

Just sweet the v-grates work! They had less flame up than my grill grates on the Weber.

Lowered the grate down pretty low and it seared up pretty sweet! Again no flame up.

And now the money shot!!!

All we can say is test fire “one” was nothing short of a huge success and we are looking forward to many future experiences!!!

However now that we have had a “taste” we need to get it finished! Be patient cause we are going to take a little intermission (a few weeks) on the build to do some spring time fishing and to build the wife’s promised 10x20 yard shed....

 

[chopsaw]

That money shot is making my mouth water . Awesome job you guys .

 

[HalfSmoked]

There you the results of your labor. Now get that shed done.

Warren

 

[bluewhisper]

Oh for the heck of it I'll be a spoiler. That rig won't really develop its own character until those firebricks are blackened from experience.

Seriously, though, what do you expect the service life to be? 20 or 50 or more years? It seems the firebricks are the weakest part of the design but even so you could tolerate some cracking etc. until they actually start falling out.

 

[civilsmoker]

That money shot is making my mouth water . Awesome job you guys .

Thanks chopsaw, we usually have left overs but there wasn’t any last night....they were juicy and tender! Not bad for 5.77/lb.

There you the results of your labor. Now get that shed done.

Warren

Your tellen us! The shed is going to go up quick so we can get back to the x-fire to put a bow on it! We are really close....all I can say is the wife knows the proper time to leverage us.......

Oh for the heck of it I'll be a spoiler. That rig won't really develop its own character until those firebricks are blackened from experience.

Seriously, though, what do you expect the service life to be? 20 or 50 or more years? It seems the firebricks are the weakest part of the design but even so you could tolerate some cracking etc. until they actually start falling out.

You got that right, I suspect it will take a year or so to really be seasoned right :-)

As far as service life, well a really long time! The floor and bottom bricks can all be replaced without any metal cutting, the doors can be with just cutting the retaining strap. The ceiling bricks will be the weak spot but the top could be cut off at that point. However it would still work pretty good without the ones on the top....

In the next year or so this may get put on a concrete foundation to be a center piece for the out door kitchen.....

 

[bluewhisper]

If you plan to make more of these, how about some equivalent of a VIN or serial number? Maybe some little plaque saying who made it and when.

 

[civilsmoker]

If you plan to make more of these, how about some equivalent of a VIN or serial number? Maybe some little plaque saying who made it and when.

Funny you say that....my daughter is a communication/graphic designer and she is already working on a plaque design, so I’m going to have her add a sequence number and initials.

Not sure if we will make another one for a little bit.....since our shop is just the driveway and some basic hand tools it’s a chore.......however, going into a full production mode has been a thought, but some solid market research would need to be done first .....although our neighbor has strongly hinted he would love to have one and even brought his wife over to show her.......

I will say that we have been working on other designs for smaller & more simple ones, it’s an addiction.......if I knew I could sell 5 to 8 a year of the big ones and a dozen or so of some smaller ones that would change to topic a little bit....

 

[civilsmoker]

So we did test #2....the yardbird special! We posted it in the poultry section, the boy helped out with the “story line”!
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/xfg-yardbirds-2-perfection.287149/

Overall we couldn’t be more please with the performance!

Other than the test of the yardbird cook we wanted to test the temp through out the “oven”. We had a probe on each side so we could compare side to side vs center & compare the tel-tru

223ish at the center with the tel-tru

225 on the right side....

The TT @292ish

The inbird

Over all the left and right sides were +/- 9 deg within each and both birds finished at the same time after the leader stalled a bit and let its buddy catch up.

To be honest I’m shocked at how even it runs and how close the TT was tracking with the ink bird. The TT was a spendy item but I’m thinking I’m sold.....

We are hoping to finish up the shed this coming weekend so we will be able to get back on the XFG....we really want to button it up cause we really want to open up the modes of cooking.....prime rib hovering over a small bed of cherry fire & coals is on the mind......

 

[weev]

All I can say is wow what a awesome build you have

 

[civilsmoker]

All I can say is wow what a awesome build you have

Thanks weev!

I'm not just saying this but the X-Fire Grill would have never been built or even imagined had I not been a member of this forum. Not sure how I even found the forum but it inspired my first build, with the first being a 11 gallon (we use camping) which is my current avatar, the second was the Copper Pot (a 33 gallon air tank with a vertical CC), and now the current the XFG build........the XFG won't be the last build either.....

 

[civilsmoker]

Just a short update, we did another cook with t-bones as the are the item that seems to be on sale these days. I posted it under the beef grilling section.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/xfg-cherry-wood-flamed-t-bones.287363/

Also the intermission project got slowed down from nasty weather....but we made good progress...

The starting point....

What we got done by Monday night....

So just a few more weekends to finish it up then back to work on the x-fire!

 

[HalfSmoked]

Weather slowed you down never heard of a rain coat?

Warren

 

[civilsmoker]

Weather slowed you down never heard of a rain coat?

Warren

....you know when we lived in AK a rain coat was just called a "shirt"....so yes I have lots of "shirts" and even several pairs of AK sneakers....AKA the XtraTufs.....but I'm a soft old man now so I like to watch the and not "live it".....I've done my time of that.....

 

[HalfSmoked]

I can go along with that just sit and look out the window and let life past by and hope for a better day tomorrow.

Warren

 

[civilsmoker]

I can go along with that just sit and look out the window and let life past by and hope for a better day tomorrow.

Warren

........oh I should say watch the rain with the 45-50 mph wind with marble size hail and tornado warning (not a common thing around here) not the time to be lifting sheeting up on a ladder..... watching from the window makes you wonder if the crawl space should be the hangout.....

 

[civilsmoker]

Just thought I would give an update on the intermission honey do project.......it’s getting really close!!! Just a little bit of trim, doors, and paint

The boy and I are really wanting to finish out the x-fire.

 

[forktender]

Look'in great Dad, when are we going to start work'in on my smoker?

 

[civilsmoker]

Look'in great Dad, when are we going to start work'in on my smoker?

You think, the boy got the great privilege of packing the shingles up the ladder to me....Not the same excitement as working on the x-fire..