Fire pit grill

[bertterbo]

So I recently bought a fire pit like below so I can have some nice summer fires burning left over offcuts. I thought it would also be nice to cook some food over an open fire so am pondering how I can get a grill over the flames. Ideally, I want something height adjustable to control cooking speed. So just sticking a round grill over the top would not be ideal.

I was thinking of knocking together a tripod with hanging grill like below. I like the idea of chain allowing for height adjustment. Are they a pain to use? are you constantly moving the food around to get it to balance properly?

My other idea was something like this where you can swivel the grill around. As this is going on a concrete patio, it'll need something with legs

 

[Richard_C]

The hanging chain one looks OK to me, the single central chain branches into 3, so as long as they divide far enough up the grid might swing but not tip unless you do something silly.

Some garden centres have them in their stuff-and-things department so you could go look and play. I'm not a fan of firepits and haven't been tempted to buy one but each to their own. Back in the 70s I used to cook saussages on the oven shelf placed on an old car wheel (no tyre). 25p from a scrapyard, a year earlier it would have only cost 5 shillings

 

[TRITON]

are you constantly moving the food around to get it to balance properly?

I think with the main chain split into 4(one to each corner) it would balance better, and I dont see how position of food would affect that. Certainly its the cheaper option of the two, and far less complex. Easier to store too, plus easier should you take it on a camping trip.

 

[eribaMotters]

I've been thinking along similar lines for the last couple of months and some to a different conclusion.
Use the firepit bowl initially as a BBQ with charcoal and a simple grid sitting on top. When finished remove the grid, put the logs on and enjoy as an outside heat source as the sun evening closes in.

Colin

 

[Jacob]

We just use one of the shelves from the oven - saved from oven before this one.

 

[Richard_C]

I think with the main chain split into 4(one to each corner) it would balance better

Getting 4 lengths of chain balanced out with no slack wil be a pain, 3 is easy. As the grill is round, no problems and a bit better access for sausage manoeuvres. Rectangular grill I would agree with 4.

3 legged tables never rock.

 

[TRITON]

Getting 4 lengths of chain balanced out with no slack will be a pain, 3 is easy. As the grill is round, no problems and a bit better access for sausage manoeuvres. Rectangular grill I would agree with 4.

3 legged tables never rock.

Three legged tables are supported by Planet Earth
But indeed yes on the grill shape.I assumed it would be rectangular. For round 3 would indeed be better.
However, it can be unbalanced on 3 points by shifting the weight, but that cant happen on 4. Straight lines innit

 

[Fitzroy]

We went glamping a few years back and I cooked on one that had the tripod and chain idea, it was actually really good.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The fire should die down before you cook on it, so any grid will do. Ideally keep the fire hotter on one side and shift the food around to suit.

 

[JimJay]

I'm a bit of a "BBQ freak" - my wife says so, so it must be true (and 7 BBQs say she's right ) .

Among my collection is a massive circular firepit on legs, with a swingable grill; wood is the main heating source here in Bulgaria, so there's no shortage of different types of timber and I cut slices of different wood for plank cooking as well as direct heat. I do sometimes cook while the wood's flaming - it mainly makes it more smoky but there is often a slightly harsher taste as well, which is not always a bad thing but may well not be too healthy; since I only do that on the odd occasion I don't think it's likely to do any lasting damage.

 

[LittleEars]

I have the hanging setup and it works very well for slower cooked foods where you can lift the food far enough away so that you don't need to keep fiddling with it.

With a few quick-cook exceptions, BBQ/grill cooking involves cooking close to, but not directly over the heat source (a fact lost to most of us Brits), and this means not really using the firepit as they are "intended".

What do you want to cook?

 

[Keith Cocker]

A barbecue is good food spoiled just as golf is a good walk ruined!!

 

[eribaMotters]

Keith, you sound like my brother in law. O a serious note, I taught Technology at secondary school level for 35 years. The faculty included the catering/cooking side, and as I enjoy cooking I got drawn into it, teaching lower school and examination level. One thing I have never been able to get into is the BBQ side. It could be as we are not big eaters but I think it is because you really have to work at it. The only good BBQ's I've been to have been those done by people who are near addicts to the craft. I do not think you can drop in on it as a whim, you just wreck food then.

Colin

 

[LittleEars]

Spending 3 hours cooking something that gets devoured in 5 minutes doesn't make sense to many people

 

[Richard_C]

Three legged tables are supported by Planet Earth

So are 3 chain suspended grills, it's just that the planet is pulling, not pushing.

Before Newton invented gravity you could just put things where you wanted without support and they stayed put; at least I think that's what our physics teacher said.....

 

[Thingybob]

The hanging chain one looks OK to me, the single central chain branches into 3, so as long as they divide far enough up the grid might swing but not tip unless you do something silly.

Some garden centres have them in their stuff-and-things department so you could go look and play. I'm not a fan of firepits and haven't been tempted to buy one but each to their own. Back in the 70s I used to cook saussages on the oven shelf placed on an old car wheel (no tyre). 25p from a scrapyard, a year earlier it would have only cost 5 shillings

Nice one Richard 25p 5s April 1st has gone

 

[JimJay]

Spending 3 hours cooking something that gets devoured in 5 minutes doesn't make sense to many people

And most people don't want to eat the same thing every day but so what? BBQ is just another technique for cooking food, and one which makes it more of a family occasion, but who's suggesting that it should be an everyday one.

The point you seem to be making is that people are happy to devour the food, so they clearly find it worth eating, and if someone else is prepared to put in 3 hours of graft to produce it then everyone's happy, wouldn't you say?

There are also many different BBQ techniques, so one might as well ask "Why would someone put in 3 hours work to feed their family/friends?" The taste of good barbecue food answers that question.....

 

[Richard_C]

Nice one Richard 25p 5s April 1st has gone

No, really it wasn't an April 1st. I am pretty certain I bought the wheel when I moved in to a ground floor flat with outside space in late 1971. So the year before, in 1970, it would have been 5 shillings being as how decimalisation happened in Feb 71.

Five shillings, or two half crowns ( 12 and a half pence pieces as they would have been had they continued.) Or change from a crisp brown ten bob note, no equi-curved heptagons to weigh us down.

 

[Thingybob]

No, really it wasn't an April 1st. I am pretty certain I bought the wheel when I moved in to a ground floor flat with outside space in late 1971. So the year before, in 1970, it would have been 5 shillings being as how decimalisation happened in Feb 71.

Five shillings, or two half crowns ( 12 and a half pence pieces as they would have been had they continued.) Or change from a crisp brown ten bob note, no equi-curved heptagons to weigh us down.

Yes but 5 shillings was 25p so still cost the same a year later

 

[J-G]

...no equi-curved heptagons to weigh us down.

Ah.... equi-curved - The 'shape' of a 50p (and 20p) piece is in fact a Reuleaux Heptagon.
The point being that - although it appears to be a shape with 7 sides (albeit curved) - it does have a constant 'Diameter'. This is necessary to facilitate acceptance in vending machines.

Looking at my Avatar you'll no doubt see that I use a Reuleaux Pentagon.