Christening the BBQ

Labour Weekend (Oct 23-25) marks the beginning of the BBQ season for many Kiwis. I'd been looking forward to christening the new barbie since I finished building it last summer. So it was great to finally be able to do it and the weather was perfect. I started the fire about an hour before the guests arrived so there was a good amount of embers ready for cooking by the time they arrived.

The Ti tree I used was great. Being a hardwood it creates really hot embers that retain the heat well. There was a good variety of food to cook including chicken, steak, boorevors sausage, potatoes wrapped in tin foil and a huge snapper that my mate Bruce caught the day before, which we also wrapped in tin foil. The whole evening was pretty good for a trial run although darkness came all too soon making it difficult getting back to the house for some of the guests. There was about 15 people to cook for altogether including 3 kids. I'm thinking that cooking for a larger group (20-30+) will be quite challenging, but that's my next goal for later in the summer. I might have to organise a few lanterns as there's no power out by the barbie which is a good 30 or 40 metres from the house.

This is a Boerewors sausage before it's cooked. If you look carefully you can see it cooking on the grill (all rolled up) on the right hand side nearest the foreground.

BBQ Fuel

One of the advantages of having a BBQ fire place in the backyard is being able to burn a lot of the rubbish the garden seems to produce. When I say rubbish, I mean organic rubbish like tree trimmings, the odd gorse bush that needs pulling and branches that snap off in high winds. The advantage works both ways because there's always plenty of fuel for the wood fired BBQ.
A lot of the wood is Titree which is perfect for the Barbie. Being a hardwood means it retains the heat well. The bigger stuff will produce large glowing coals and it will also give a nice flavour to the food – Ti tree's often used for smoking fish.
I've been gathering up all the wood over a period of years as the BBQ was still in the pipeline, which meant I had stacks of wood in various places around the garden, sometimes getting in the way. So I finally decided to get serious about storing it properly. 

Using bits and pieces I had lying around the property, including some old wet-wall lining out of an old bathroom, I knocked together a handy storage area under the trees only a stones-throw from the BBQ. I kept it nice and open so it gets plenty of blow-through, which helps to dry out any of the wet stuff.

The BBQ/fireplace

The woodfired BBQ has been a long time in the planning so it's really good to see it finally realised, although there are still a few finishing touches (and attachments) to add. There were several objectives I wanted to accomplish with it hence the need for some careful planning. 
I wanted to create not only a BBQ but a structure I could use as a fireplace, an incinerator (for burning all my tree trimmings), and an outdoor oven for cooking wood fired pizzas. I wanted it big enough to cook for a large crowd if necessary and to be able to cook large items on a rotisserie (ie. lamb, chicken or pork on a spit). Many of my mates are South Africans, some of whom like to hunt and fish, and who swear by the wood-fired method, so there'll be plenty of expertise available when it comes to doing the cooking.
The whole idea started when I acquired a load of recycled bricks from a mate. But before I could get started I had to chip off all the mortar from about 500 bricks.
The first thing I did was to establish the dimensions, which essentially is based on a standard NZ-BBQ Factory hotplate or grill which will be very easy to replace if needed later plus I can borrow them from mates or from my other gas BBQ when needed. I got an engineer to weld me up a frame out of 40mm angle iron which will house 4 hotplates or grills in any combination depending on what I'm cooking. 

Then based on that size I got him to build a steel grate – slightly smaller to allow for the brickwork. I designed it with skids so that if I needed to move it I can drag it with a hooked rod as it will be too heavy and at times too hot, to lift. 
Once these dimensions were established I set about laying the concrete pad on which the whole structure would sit. I set the first layer of bricks into the concrete, then built it up from there. Once I got it to the right height I cemented in 4 steel shelf brackets for the grill to sit on, all the while making sure everything was level (see pictures).

I left some spaces in the brickwork so I could attach a rotisserie setup later. I boxed up inside the fireplace to create a concrete shelf that the grate will sit on when being used as a BBQ so that everything's at the right height for cooking. When using as an oven, fireplace or incinerator the grate will simply turn 90 degrees and sit on the bottom. Next, using a curved piece of boxing I created a platform on which to build the chimney. I strengthened it with a piece of galvanised steel pipe to help support the weight of all the bricks going on top.
The chimney's still not as high as it needs to be. I concluded this when I tested it the first time. I was burning a lot of tinder and when it flared up the flames started leaping out the top of the chimney by at least a foot.
Needless to say I'm looking forward to using it for all its intended purposes. I'll post some pictures later when I do.