Homemade Grill with a Firebox

Grilling vs. Barbecuing

• Although grilling and barbecuing are often used as interchangeable terms, they have discrete differences. Grilling uses high temperatures to cook meat that is directly above its heat source. Barbecuing uses smoke to cook foods at lower temperatures and for longer times. In some smoker grills, a firebox is designed as a separate chamber from the grilling area. Smoke travels through an opening from the firebox to the grilling chamber, where it provides an indirect heat source for slow cooking.

Grilling Pit

• When roasting a large meal -- for example, a pig or side of beef -- a homemade grilling pit can be excavated in the ground with an adjacent, smaller pit dug for the firebox. Digging a shallow trench between the two pits provides the opening through which smoke travels from the firebox pit to the grilling pit. Wood chips provide the fuel for the firebox, and a grilling grate is laid on top of an open metal frame so that smoke can circulate around the meat for even cooking.

Concrete Block Grill

• MotherEarthNews.com uses the same principle as an in-ground grill pit for its basic design of an above-ground concrete-block smoker grill. Its recommendation is to use a firebrick liner inside the concrete blocks for better heat conductivity and durability over time. PopularMechanics.com offers a more challenging design for a three-part homemade grill, which incorporates a firebox, a cooking/smoking chamber and a metal frame. Its design requires forming sheet metal into a barrel and welding it together. The barrel is lined with firebricks to prevent the drum’s bottom from burning prematurely.

Wood

• Preparing and using wood as your barbecue fuel source is an important component to successful and flavorful smoking. Choices of wood types vary according to individual preference and include apple, cherry, hickory and mesquite. Regardless of the wood you use, chips should be soaked in water before using them. This ensures they smolder slowly at a lower heat and create smoke, instead of being consumed too quickly by fire at a higher heat. Homemade grills with separate firebox chambers allow you to continue adding more fuel without uncovering the cooking chamber, which wastes cooking smoke.