BBQing in Hemel Hempstead, Herts

[Col (Shizzling)]

I had some proper photos of the smoker lids at Kreuz Market in Lockhart. The lids here are extremely thick steel so they set up a system with pulleys and counterweights to allow the lids to be easily raised. Because the counterweights are balanced with the lids, you can lift and then, when you let go, they hold in place.

Mine doesn't need to be anywhere near as solidly constructed as that, but I may well use the same technique.

[Smoky Joe]

Hi Col

Nice Picture I have to say I don’t think I will ever have a setup like that. lol. I would love to do a tore of the US and check out BBQ joints along the way. What are the lids made of in the picture? It looks like a slab of concrete but I cant tell.

Gav

[Col (Shizzling)]

Hi Col

Nice Picture I have to say I don’t think I will ever have a setup like that. lol. I would love to do a tore of the US and check out BBQ joints along the way. What are the lids made of in the picture? It looks like a slab of concrete but I cant tell.

Gav

Hi,

I zoomed in on the original photo and it does indeed look like concrete slab.

The one at Black's, also in Lockhart, is made of thick steel, although I'll need to check my video to see if they have insulated the outside of the lids in some way.



It makes sense really - maintaining even heat is the key and so anything that gives good insulation will help with that.

Both Black's and Kreuz have open fires feeding the pits. Ruby's in Austin did have firebox doors. All were burning post oak.

Here's one of the fires in Kreuz Market.

[Smoky Joe]

Hi Col

I have to say the smoker at Black's look amazing the food in there smoking looks really good as well. I have to say I like the open fire at the end though a great way of getting air to the fire and keeping the heat up. I would love to do something like that at home as it doesn’t look like it would cost that much. But with two young boys I don’t think it would be a good idea. Keep the pictures coming as this type of BBQ is fascinating to me as you can see this in the UK.

Regards

Gav

[Col (Shizzling)]

Hi Gav,

Yeah - seeing it done this way is what spurred me on to build my own back garden version.

I'll post more photos and videos on here soon.

In the meantime, this page has the initial blog posts for my road trip on it.. ..the family came halfway through to join for a proper holiday so I fell behind on posting to the blog - I'll have to backfill soon, while the memories are still relatively fresh.

[thebarbecuemaster]

nothing is better then a roadtrip thru texas eating bbq!

[Col (Shizzling)]

Here are some pictures of the inside of my breeze block BBQ, plus pics of my Heath Robinson approach to building a lid opening mechanism that frees up both my hands to put stuff into and take it out of the smoker.

This is the inside of the smoking chamber. Chimney outlets back left, heat vents from fire box to the right. The whole thing slopes upwards from right to left.


Here's the inside of the fire box. You can see the vents through to the cooking chamber.


Here's the lid mechanism closed - notice the counterweight hanging in the air.


And here it is open.. ..I am the king of string. Well, shock cord and sash cord.

[bencops]

That is so cool, keep us up to date with it!

[JEC]

The king of string is a good title, you should add it to your tag line on your posts. I recognise that bucket did you buy some Wicked Willies Wood Chips from Planet Barbecue?

[keith157]

The dedication of the man. building decking to hold the lid up awesome dude