Cindy the Cinderblock pit gets another tweak

So, yeah, I decided to name her. Not terribly imaginative, but it works!

I've been doing more cooks Hot n' Fast rather than low and slow lately, and have been getting good results. Shout out to Pitmaster T for preaching the gospel! The problem with my current pit design is that I build a fire on the firebox floor, which gives almost zero airflow up through the coals.

I made a trip down to Vasbinder's this morning to pick up a heavy duty expanded metal grate to make an elevated grate for my firebox.

As usual, i'm doing it cheap and cheerful. It's elevated on some Acme bricks. Figured I'd put the holes on the bricks to the sides and maybe they won't crack? Also spaced them off the firebox walls by a finger width for air circulation. We'll see how long they last.



This gives you a bit better "fire's eye view" of the firebox. I took the top blocks off so I could measure and set it in there easier. The blocks go back on when running.



Does it work? Yep. Fire cleans up really fast and I get a nice coal bed without too much work. Check out the TBS video. Background noise is about a billion cicadas.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMFsHxBrob8"]Reverse flow cinder block pit TBS - YouTube[/ame]

Next step is to come up with better air control for the firebox. It works ok now, but it's a bit of a kludge...like the rest of this thing! :-D

Sid Post said:

Looks nice. I might have to make one myself after enjoying your posts about 'Cindy'.

Click to expand...

Do it! I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by how well it runs. My last tweak will address airflow into the firebox. Probably will do that in the next week or so, depending on when I can get my hands on a torch.