Whole hog brick pit build

[Porterhouse]

I'm finally building my legacy Bbq pit, with bricks from my former ranch house. Lived here fifteen years; a 120' oak dealt a death blow on our home back in June '13. We decided on a full tear down, and moved forward on a new house built for the future on our beautiful lot. I made myself a promise before tear down- save bricks for a BBQ in memoriam of my first home- good memories, and we're just starting on building more in the new home.

Whole hog style. 4x16 blocks with brick veneer. Approx 4x5'. Custom coal doors w/ vents. Poured a 6" slab a few weeks back, and starting to lay blocks. Having a custom standing frame built to drop in( no bolts in the masonry) , and a custom rack and top. Hope to complete in next 3 weeks so I can fire up late October.

I've cooked a few whole hogs with rented cookers, and did a cinder block weekend special last year ( always charcoal). I'm looking forward to having a well controlled unit that doesn't run too hot. Will probably only use 2-3times per year.

Pics to follow over next few weeks. Still have some recycled brick to demortar-I have considerable blood, sweat and tears into this project- can't wait for Pigtoberfest 2015 in my backyard!

 

[Mike Twangzer]

That's a large oak !!! Glad .. I hope ... the family was safe. Lots of wood for smoke. Good luck with the build. Blood sweat and tears are the right ingredients.

 

[landarc]

Sounds like a great and memorable plan is coming together

 

[KellyB]

Looking forward to see your future posts. Sorry for your loss! What a great way to keep the memories alive.

 

[MAB52]

This is going to be cool, can't wait to see it cooking.

 

[oldbill]

Very cool, I've always wanted to build one of those myself and I know that I wouldn't have a shortage of pork to put on it either.
We have a problem down here with feral pigs and the counties will actually put a bounty on them sometimes. A couple of years back they were giving $2 per tail and you could take them to your local Tractor Supply store for redemption.
A nice BBQ roasted pig or two would make for a good 4th of July celebration or even a Christmas gathering but they'd have to be pretty small to fit on my LSG vertical offset, so I'm definitely thinking about a brick "hawg" pit. Thanks for the post, I think you might have lit a little fire under my arse!:wink:

 

[Thingfish]

Great to hear your plan is underway. Hang in there through the de-mortaring ... I've done some of that myself. Good luck!

 

[SmittyJonz]

So you got plenty of Oak splits for the pit too. Waiting for pics.

 

[Smoke on Badger Mountain]

Sounds like a great build. Looking forward to photos

 

[cowgirl]

Sounds like a great idea! Sorry to hear about your house.

I've thought about putting in a permanent block pit too. I get a lot of use out of my cinderblock pit, but can't decide where it would best be located.
Looking forward to your build!

 

[Lighter-Fluid]

What a great idea to honor the old house. When was it built? On our farm there are piles of old bricks where there used to be old smokehouses, houses and stock dipping pits. Some of them have been picked up over the years but I wonder if I could get enough together to so something like this.

 

[Woody Butthrie]

That's sounds really good. Can't wait for pictures. I am waiting for my 9 gauge expanded metal to come in for my block pit I am building. Like the Pigtoberfest name.

 

[Porterhouse]

A few pics to start

Thanks for the kind words- but all is well that ends well. We wanted a larger home with a growing family, but just couldn't part with the acre lot in a nice location. So Mother Nature had her way and we made lemonade. And now a new BBQ pit.

Old house ( just 30 years) and new. Promise to have more pics of pit under construction tomorrow.

Yes, that's the master bedroom where my head lays- you can see the white nightstand. If this happened at nighttime, not so good. Incidentally, we had arborist check out the tree months before.

 

[Porterhouse]

New.

New build less brick. Less 35 large trees!

 

[Porterhouse]

Base for slab

I actually poured 33 bags of quikrete at first. FAIL. Jackhammered it out, and called in a massive truck with just one yard on it. I strive to do things right, and once, but overestimated my Quikrete skills!

 

[mike-cleveland]

We had storms in my area a few years ago that knocked down some larger older trees, in the year that followed people actively remove some along the tree lawns. Poor planting locations for the types of trees. Glad no one was hurt and you are making it better. Trees are no joke.

 

[Porterhouse]

Pit, bricks on deck, and quikrete rubble

As it stands today

 

[Porterhouse]

Another

Another. Framed out block where the coal doors will be added next week.

 

[Woody Butthrie]

Porterhouse. The new house looks beautiful. I see you are right down the road. Did that happen during one of the ice storms this winter? Glad all is good and the lemonade is too.

 

[jermoQ]

awsome!

That is a great idea both for the memorability and the whole hog part! I am looking forward to seeing your pit. :-D