The Texas BBQ Forum

My son plays baseball for Alabama. I made the road trip to College Station last April with my wife, and we traveled to Lockhart for lunch. I won’t divulge where we ate, but we visited Black’s, Kreuz’, and Smitty’s.

I would like to build a brick barbecue smoker in my backyard, similar to the ones I saw at Kreuz’ and Smitty’s. I would like for the pit to be one element of an overall outdoor kitchen configuration. I plan to return to Lockhart in order to gather more detailed information on pit construction specifications, but I’d like to pose a couple of forum questions prior to the trip.

In keeping with the “outdoor kitchen” idea of mine, is a an off-set/direct heat combination pit practical?

Are there benefits to the open fire off-set, as opposed to an enclosed fire box? The answer to this question is probably important to answering my first question.

I realize I’m a new guy, and missed the first 50 times similar questions have been asked. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I have not cooked on a pit like those in Lockhart, but I do know this. Those pits are all inside a building. So therefore they are not subjected to the elements such as wind that would change how it may draft from day to day. However, you do see those style of pits outside at a lot of the old halls around the state down here. Those pits at Smitty's are iconic, really neat to see.

get one with a firebox and just keep the door open when you want to cook that way and if the weather is bad close the door and cook.