OSGP stands for, the Open Source Grill Project. The end goal is to have a programmable grill, preferably charcoal. The grill should be sealed as well as possible so that any air reaching the coals is air the microcontroller pushes on the coals via a small fan. By using a well tuned PID controller and a small fan you can achieve a surprising level of control over the temperature. Of course, the well tuned part, is the most difficult part of the whole endeavor in my opinion. Well, I dont really have to concern myself with that anymore since the HOA told me that if I use a charcoal grill on the property again I would be fined $250. As painful as it was bound to be, I resolved to go a year with no bbq since I'm not a fan of gas grills. It was my opinion that the only thing gas grills had going for them is, how quickly you can be cooking when the urge hits. Just turn on the gas, hit the igniter button, and you're cookin'!
My wife is the one responsible for the purchase of the gas grill. Her prejudice doesn't run as deep as mine regarding how 'real' bbq is made. I am talking about real bbq, too, not hamburgers and hotdogs or the like, but pulled pork, ribs of all kinds, briskets--things you cook at low temperature with smoke. Once I was told to find a gas grill that would be in compliance with the ridiculous bylaws of our HOA, I set out to find one, with very little hope of being satisfied. A thousand dollar budget would have made for an easier job, but hahaha, no. Much to my surprise I found a grill that I really truly love. If you knew me you'd be amazed at that statement, for I am outspoken about the need for charcoal when it comes to smoking meat, there is really no substitute. I have come to realize however, or strongly believe, that a gas grill can be modified in to a lean mean smoke ringing machine. The grill I settled on is the Duo by Char-griller. It has a charcoal grill and a gas grill side by side. It also has a side burner, that I cant imagine a single use for. Perfect.
The Plan
At first I planned to sneak in some charcoal cooking just for long smokes, since I think I could get away with it pretty easy. Then, I got a much better idea--I thought, why not take the burner from that side burner that Ill never use, and install it in the charcoal grill? I will probably have to make a few parts to get it to work, that's a plus, Ill also need to modify the grill body to accommodate the hose, the burner, the temperature knob etc. I want to mount a stainless steel bowl to the burner for holding wood chips. These grills are pretty big, each one could pretty easily handle 3, maybe even 4, racks of baby backs. That small burner with a stainless steel bowl full of wood chips would most likely not be able to get the grill above 200F-250F. Since I smoke almost everything at ~220F, this could be perfect(after pondering all this, I now feel I need to be able to squeeze, at minimum, 300F from this grill to consider it a success). I also want to see if I could use an arduino to do what I had originally planned for my Kettle, except rather than stoking coals with a fan, control a solenoid on the gas line. I suspect this may actually afford even finer temperature control than air/coals. As for that shelf with the nice lid that used to cover a burner, I will be cutting that metal out and mounting a box there, perhaps aluminum with some connection to the larger gas grill that would allow heat to move in to the box. That would make a really nice warming box and also a nice place to store utensils when not being used.
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| Here's the burner removed from the side shelf and laying in the charcoal grill. You tell by how small it is that it would never get things hotter than 250F, maybe not even that hot. Perfect for smoking. |
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| The burner-less shelf. This will be cut out to accommodate an aluminum box for storing utensils and perhaps a warming box. |
Wow, this is all of the sudden a potentially fun project. Last night I assembled the grill according to instructions, ie no mods yet, I will cook a couple steaks tonight to celebrate human dominion over cows. The modifications will commence immediately after. My imagination is going wild at this point, thinking about all the different ways in which an arduino and a few other components can and will make this into a bad ass grill, way cooler than anything you will ever see for sale on a large scale, at least in your typical place that sells grills(save actual grill stores that only sell awesome grills). I don't doubt there are some bad ass grills out there that do all kinds of awesome stuff, but I don't know where you'd find them and I couldn't afford one anyway. Btw, in case you're wondering, the Duo cost $299. Not bad at all, especially considering its 18 months no interest.
That's the basics of what's going on with the new, and potentially improved, OSGP. As things actually begin to happen, I will of course post about it here. I should also mention to those who may not know, that an arduino controlled charcoal grill is not my idea alone. Though, I did think about doing it way before I heard about the BBQ Guru or The Stoker, similar gadgets that enjoyed some popularity because of the show BBQ PitMasters on discovery, where they are used by pretty much everybody cooking on small to medium sized grills. There have also been diy versions of these simple devices pop up on a blog or two. Nothing about the device itself is unique, its old news. My vision for what it's capable of, however, I think is a bit broader than what I've read or heard from other people. I envision cooking profiles that can be programmed, ie hold 225F for 7 hours, then jump up to 300F for an hour may be a rib profile. I also imagine people trading these profiles. At some point after its basic evolution is complete you could conceivably have a set up so simple that all you would need to do is load the program and throw your meat in there and wait. Especially with a gas grill with electronic ignition etc. All you'd need to do, besides throw some animal muscle on there to cook, is turn the gas on, unless you attached a servo or two for handling knobs, dont think I havent thought about that :^)
Ill leave you with a few more pics of the grill in various stages of assembly, and will post again when the modifications start. This one could get interesting, besides its been a long time coming. I've been wanting to marry arduino and grilling for quite a while. Let's do it.
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| I wonder if I can get an extra knob and an lcd screen on that panel on the right? |
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| Its a big bastard. I love it. I'm shocked that I do, but I do. |
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| The big empty charcoal side looks like infinite possibilities to me |
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