Building a Texas Style BBQ

drobertson · March 12, 2015, 10:59:06 AM

Looking good! been wanting to do something on that order for a long time, I reckon in due time it will happen, enjoy!

dean herring · March 12, 2015, 11:40:10 AM

Qweaver, nice pit. That is something I know about , been welding for about 35 yrs. I have the same problem. I quote them a price and they say no way I can get one at Lowes for 400$. I tell them to go get one then go back in 2 years and get another one. Just finished one out of 20" pipe. The one I build it for said he was on his 3rd one in five years. He will never have to buy another one. I have one I built when our son was 2, he will be 28 on March 31. Only thing I had to change is the cooking grate. People don' t know how much time and work is in a pit. Jmho, not everyone can build a quality pit. Iike the benches. I built one for our son out of an 18" 90 degree ell, it took some thought to figure out the door. I will get some pics as soon as I can. Looks good and like the roof idea, all weather grilling. Keep me posted on future ptojects. Dean

21incher · March 12, 2015, 01:37:11 PM

I find most people buying off of craigslist are bargain hunters and only willing to spend a small percentage of the value of a item. Looks like a nice job and I am sure someone will buy it at your price. It would be cool to offer it with a pole mounted to the trailer for mounting a custom carved sign on. People like things personalized.

Magicman · March 12, 2015, 02:30:37 PM

Not that it matters, but I did not realize that you were building it to sell.

Qweaver · March 12, 2015, 07:35:38 PM

Quote from: Magicman on March 12, 2015, 02:30:37 PM
Not that it matters, but I did not realize that you were building it to sell.

Everything I own is for sale...but only at the price that makes it worth it to build another one. :D All of the materials are tax free if I'm building it to sell.

Qweaver · March 14, 2015, 03:44:33 PM

I did a trial burn last evening. It held a steady 220 with the firebox draft wide open and the damper at 90% closed. I had to nearly close everything to get it below 200. It topped out at 400 with everything open and the firebox ablaze. Produced really good smoke at all settings. I seasoned the meat today for the first cook starting tomorrow morning... brisket, deer, ribs and sausage. We should be fine dining for supper tomorrow.

This is my first trailer mounted pit and I would make the trailer a bit bigger if doing it again. 10' just makes good use of material and I only had one 4" channel on hand.

WV Sawmiller · March 14, 2015, 07:05:50 PM

Qweaver,

Hope you get your price and your BBQ pit finds a home where it will be properly appreciated.

Once while I was in USMC I rented a super cooker (Trailer mounted BBQ), filled it with good dry oak, put the tender in place and when it was time to take to a church picnic at a State Park about 10 miles away, in a moment of cerebral flatulence, I lit the tender and drove to the party. When I got there the oak was a bed of read coals ready to cook. How I got that far without setting the woods on fire or getting arrested for driving with flames shooting out of the grill is still beyond me. That is a quick start technique I do not endorse any more.

Qweaver · March 15, 2015, 08:57:52 AM

The smoke is rolling and we'll see how good the pit cooks in about 10 to 12 hours. I can do a brisket in 6 hours if I have to, but I generally shoot for at least 10. I wrap and add a can of beer at about 5 to 6 hours.

LeeB · March 15, 2015, 09:42:24 AM

to the brisket or the chef?

Qweaver · March 15, 2015, 09:58:23 AM

Maybe both! 8)

Qweaver · March 15, 2015, 11:03:44 AM

This BBQ is not for sale on the Forestry Forum and in fact I will not sell it to a member or anyone that sees it here. I did post it on face book at a high price mainly just to see what I could get. I want to support the FF but I would have posted it here if I wanted to sell it here! It would have been better if the moderator had talked with me before moving my post.

Quinton

Jeff · March 15, 2015, 11:12:50 AM

I did not see your post, and I did not move it. but I was told why it was moved. so now I am Telling You, it would have been better if you would have talked to a moderator not the other way around. that moderator was doing their job. you said it was for sale and you said how much it was.

Qweaver · March 15, 2015, 12:06:12 PM

Jeff,
I just mentioned the price in passing as part of my description of the build. This is a long lived post starting back in Nov 2014. I never intended it to be a "For Sale" post. I've paid for sales on FF before and if someone from the forum did offer to buy...I'd charge the listing fee if I decided to sell. But I had no intent to list it that way. I'm in business and nearly everything on my lot is for sale, that does not mean it is listed for sale on FF.

Jeff · March 15, 2015, 12:22:54 PM

Rules are rules. We have no idea what one's intentions are, and this is getting to be a more prevalent practice on the forum. There is no advertising outside of the commerce area. Saying something is for sale as stating a price else-ware means it has been put on sale on the forum. No doubts about it. It puts the moderators in a sticky situation. They can't hardly move it to the for sale section as the person has not agreed to the terms of listing on the forum. This leaves them with one other solution. To delete the topic or edit every post that referred to the sale. If they removed the entire topic the poster is unhappy. Edit a post, they are unhappy. Allow it to stand, and then what the hell good are the rules to begin with?

You said it was for sale. You posted that here.

Qweaver · March 15, 2015, 02:33:17 PM

This is what I said. "It finally got warm enough to finish the BBQ trailer. Now comes the cookin and eatin. I took some pics and put it for sale on Facebook. Got lots of replies until I posted the $4500 price. I have over $2000 in material and parts and many hours of labor. I'm going to buy and mount a propane grill on the open right rear spot. I'm also thinking about a building a roof over it."
I never intended this to be an ad on the forum. Putting it for sale on facebook was my intention. But I will be careful to not do this again in a way that can be misconstrued.

beenthere · March 15, 2015, 03:40:00 PM

Sure looked like a "for sale" ad to me.. If you really didn't want to sell it to an FF member, then you would not have mentioned it here at all.. IMO

But I can see why you would want to sell it, because it will require a lot of storage space when not in use.

Qweaver · March 16, 2015, 06:25:47 PM

Well the pit is now officially broken-in. Cooked brisket, deer and sausage for 10 hours @ 205 deg and they were almost too tender to slice. Not a cook-off winning condition but mighty fine to eat. I guess I need to move all further posts to the cooking section.
I mounted a work table at the front today and installed fire brick. I'm going to add a few more air holes to the firebox tomorrow. I was wide open most of the time. This is going to be a great pit. I might have to consider putting on some cook-offs if I can spark any interest.
And just to be clear. THIS PIT IS NOT FOR SALE! Some of my descendants will be cooking on this long after I'm gone. I was just testing the waters on Facebook.

Qweaver · April 03, 2015, 04:34:56 PM

I called it done today. Although if this follows what I've done in the past, I'm always adding or changing something. There is a bull bell out on the shelve that would look good on the front. And a wood box on that empty spot at the left front. etc., etc. It passed the first test with flying colors and I'm sure it will be used by many family and friends. Tho I have seen lots of poor BBQ done by novice cooks on good machines...and this is a good machine.

Magicman · April 03, 2015, 07:06:51 PM

That is a fine collection of cooking stuff. 8)

Qweaver · July 29, 2015, 03:18:52 PM

Here is a pic of the completed pit. I'm going to cook 3 briskets, a ham and some sausage for our high school reunion next weekend. The pit really cooks well. Temp is easy to maintain at both high and low temps. I'm using mainly dry red oak and I'll throw a few sticks of hickory in there from time to time. No mesquite to be found in W.Va. I wish I had built the trailer a little longer to accommodate a sink and water tank. Maybe a next winter project.