# Grill / Smoker combo build w. problems



## MattH (Jul 30, 2019)

Hi Guys, 

I have started to build a smoker/grill combo and thought I´d share my project and ask for some advice at the same time. 

It all started with my mother-in-law talking about having a large grill made of masonry. 
A few days earlier I had tried a small offset smoker at a friend’s place and was very amused by it. 
Smoking meat is not very common in my parts of the world (Sweden), the common practice is to grill one’s food over charcoal. There is however a culture of cold-smoking fish. 
So, my only experience with smoking meat BBQ-style beside trying my friend’s smoker was ordering it at restaurants. 
Anyhow, I decided to build a grill for my mother in law, and to incorporate a proper smoker in the design. 
I am a construction manager by profession, so I know construction in theory. 
My father in law used to be a welder before he retired, so there where a lot of tools and advice for metal workings accessible.  

This is how it have played out so far. 



The design I came up with focuses on a large coal grill with a worktop to make outdoor cooking as nice and easy as possible. 
The space left underneath the grill/worktop should be used for the smoker and for storage. 
As I wanted the worktop to be the same height as a standard kitchen worktop, the height of the smoker is somewhat limited. 
I figured an off-set design for the smoker would be beneficial because of the height limitations. Also, I had a theory that an off-set smoker would help limiting the direct heat from the fire, making it easier to keep temperatures down and maybe allowing one to cold-smoke. 








The construction would be a concrete slab to support the structure built with bricks, doorframes from angle-irons to support the bricks, doors from sheet-metal, a worktop made in concrete and a big rounded lit for the grill. 
Firebox and the grill will be lined with firebricks. 
A bit into the build I decided to build it from cinderblocks (or rather light ceramic blocks) instead of bricks as it would be easier to work with and cut the cost. 

Simple enough. Let’s get started!







Hole for the concrete slab dug out, gravel for draining water to avoid frozen ground in the winter, frame for the concrete and rebar. 







Finished slab.







Form for the concrete worktop. 
Angle iron in the back end of the grilling hole for attaching hinges for the lid. 
I have milled out the form lining the hole to create a small elevation in the worktop, stopping rain from running down into the grill. 






Doorframes






Firebox door and air intake. 






Putting it all together. 


























I used square piping for the smoke channel between firebox and smoker with a simple metal plate acting as a sliding valve operated with a rod from the outside. 
The channel runs almost all the way trough the smoker on order to distribute heat more evenly (sort of a reverse flow). 






Exhaust/chimney from the smoker. 






Worktop with the elevation to stop rainwater and mounting points for a future rotisserie ( two holes next to the elevation)






This is the progress so far. 
Still have to fit the air intake valves for the grill, line it with fire bricks, finish the lid, fit thermometers and plaster the thing. 
The smoker is all finished, and I tried to fire it up, but *it doesn’t work*. 
I can’t keep the fire alive. 

While planning I have looked at air intake and chimney sizes of wooden stoves for heating, stoves for saunas and the air intakes on a regular weber-kettle grill for reference, figuring that I would burn less amount of fuel and therefore need less air than all of the above. 
However, while researching the problem I found some guidelines on this forum that shows I have undersized air intakes and outlets badly. 


Size of the firebox is 10*10*12 inches (1200 cubic inches). 
Area of the air intake is 2 inches square. 
Smoke channel between firebox and smoker and the exhaust from the smoker is 2*3 inches (6 inches square). 


I should be able to rework the firebox door the increase the air intake a lot. 
The size of the exhaust should also be easy to increase. I don’t know it a proper chimney would help to create a better airflow or just add resistance. 
Smoke channel is the tricky part. I could probably get the piping out and increase the size of the hole to the firebox to twice it size or a bit more, but I’m not sure I could get a new pipe or valve in without deconstructing the thing. 

Any ideas or advice?

Anybody else that ran into similar problems? 


Oh, English is not my native language, so my writing might be a bit off especially around technical terms.


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