The monster grill

I needed a grille for a very large party that I would be throwing for my daughters Graduation and 22nd Birthday party. There will be between 70 and 100 people attending. So I will need a large grille to cook 12 slabs of ribs and 30 lbs of hamburgers ,hot-dogs and to smoke a turkey.

This is going to be a BBQ???

I looked around and came up with some barrels and steel.....

Hmm, this looks usable.....

Some old pipes from a damaged greenhouse (hot house ), bed frames.....

Stainless steel, that could work!

And some stainless ½ inch tubing from a damaged solar panel.

Starting the stand fabrication

I started by cutting some uprights and a cross bar to help support the weight. I flattened out the ends to made assembly and welding easier. Flattening the ends of the tubing makes it easier to weld then ends to another round piece, and avoids having to cope, or "fishmouth" the ends of the pipe for a good fit.

Fitting the barrels

I then test fit the barrels to make sure they would line up well, and tacked them into place where they had the closest fit.

Tacked and ready to fully weld

Continuous weld bead around the barrels

It took a while, but I managed to run a nice weld bead around the complete circumference of the barrels. Now they were joined as one large unit, and let me tell you this will be a big BBQ!

Adding the stand

After welding the barrels together I then added the legs to the barrels and with the cross bar in place it kept them in place till they were tack welded on to the barrels.

The stand is done

With the legs all welded up, I made some cross braces to stiffen up the assembly also flattening the end of the pipe to made welding easier

Cutting out the doors

once this was done I then laid out the openings for the doors. I could have made one very large door but decided to make two as this would minimize the heat loss when the door was opened. Once they were laid out I used the plasma cutter to make the cuts.

Attaching the hinges

After some figuring I used a piano hinge to for the doors and welded them on. With the heat expansion this thing will go through I had figured welding to be better than using lots of little bolts. Besides, it was easier just to weld it than to look for a million bolts that would fit in my "stock pile" of fasteners in the garage!

Making a tight seal on the doors

then I added metal straps to the side of the doors to help seal and stop the doors from falling in when closed. They just barely overlap the main body of the grill when the doors close, and will hold in the heat much better than leaving even a small gap.

Making the grill surface

That's a lot of cooking area!

Lots of tack welds here

I now started on the grilles that will support the food while cooking. I cut the ½ inch stainless tubing to 21" lengths and spaced them ½ inch apart. This should work good for the ribs when cooking them up. I will also make a griddle plate the I can cook the hamburgers on before they go on to the grille. This will help in keeping them from falling apart when first put on, the way hamburgers sometimes try to do.

Looks like a John Deere Tractor right now!

Or a big truck!

But these are just the vent stacks, or chimneys

After the grilles came the chimneys and on top of them are dampers that when closed will help keep the heat and smoke in the grille. The dampers were cut out of thin gauge sheet stock with the plasma cutter, and a small bolt was tacked to the top of the chimneys to make the dampers adjustable.

The red area will be the side damper

The damper fully closed

The damper fully opened

The damper as the meat being cooked will see it!

Now I turned to the air damper to control the fresh air that is allowed into the grille for the coals. With out these the grille with burn to hot and out of control. Again, I used the plasma cutter to cut the openings in the ends of the grill, and also to cut the thin gauge sheet metal for making the covers. The covers were then secured to the sides of the grill with a bolt right in the middle. The dampers will allow me to get the heat just right for all of my home cookin'!

Dowel rod handle

Both sides get one of these

The door handles were made with some small pieces of the stainless tubing and 1" wooden dowel rod. The wood will keep the handles cooler to the touch to make opening up to check on the food easier since I won't have to reach for an oven mitt just to open the doors.

The coal bed

in the bottom of the grill I put some 1/8 inch plate for the charcoals to sit on. The coal bed will keep the charcoal better distributed so that it doesn't build up to deep in the center of the grill. That could spell disaster for some choice cuts of beef on the grill.

Close up of the grill

The stainless grill surface will be much easier to keep clean than if I had used normal carbon steel. To make it nonstick I will season the grill with a nice fire and some brushed on oil a couple of days before I ever use it.

And finally, it is done!

I finally finished up the "Frankengrill" just in time to get it all ready for the party. I gave everything a coat of black BBQ paint to make it look nice, and seasoned it. At the party, the new grill performed like a champ, and everybody ate well I can assure you! There was plenty of room for everything to get cooked, and the food came out perfect. Of course that may have a little something to do with the skills of the chef as well.

Sorry there wasn't a turbine on this project, but we wanted to cook the food, not incinerate it! I assure you there will be more than enough jet projects on the other pages to whet your appetite! Speaking of appetite, if you are ever in the neighborhood, stop by, because I am sure this grill can give you something to sink your teeth in to!