Our Classic II arrives on Thursday and we are pumped. Wanted to see if you think it’s safe to grill in our screened in porch? We live in SE FL and between the bugs and the sun we would like to stay covered. We have a screened in porch with an aluminum roof. Is it safe to grill underneath?
by tifoley
10 Comments
Yes and no. it depends. the smoke might hang below the ceiling. what you would need to do is have a strip of outdoor fans [maybe get 6 industrial 12cm fans, that you add to a frame that sucks the air out. this would blow the smoke out from the patio]
One issue would be the smoke stain on ceiling. Suggest run vent to the outside or ceiling fan as mentioned
I wouldn’t, kamados get super hot compared to other grills. One time bringing up to sear temps and that roof is going to be permanently altered.
No
I grilled in a screened patio. The screen will get funky with grease. So that’s a big no! Eventually the local strays will climbing the screen for a lick. And it don’t wash off without elbow grease, Dawn and a bristle brush. I added about 700sq/ft of un-screened covered patio.
My patio is not screened, but I grill and smoke under my wood-framed covered patio 99% of the time. My suggestion is to give cooking in your screened-in porch a try. But that does depend on your risk tolerance. You don’t want high heat or smoke to damage the aluminum, paint, wood, etc. I don’t have experience with aluminum roofs like that, but if it was me I’d probably try starting small with cooking in there and see if the smoke is bad enough to make me worry about the paint job or if the heat was bad enough to make me worry about damaging the aluminum.
A few pointers that I have to offer:
1. know how and have a plan to put out a flare up in your grill. I went to burn off the leftover grease after a roast and the thick, heavy smoke sucked. I didn’t want to let the grill get hot enough (because I was under the patio at the time) to try to burn the grease more cleanly so I accidentally smoked out my neighbors for a few minutes.
2. if your grill gets too hot for comfort, your only option may be to shut all the vents to deprive the fire of oxygen which may ruin any cooking plans you have.
3. have a plan to put out any fires that may pop up on the structure. I have the garden hose nearby along with a fire extinguisher for an uncontrolled grease fire (I have never been seriously concerned about a grease fire to date though).
4. start small with your cooks, don’t go straight to inferno mode for a pizza or searing a steak. Play around and practice to get a feel for how to control your fire first
I have a patio like this but without screens and I put it near the edge of it… never had any issues.. it’s all wood
Absolutely not
No it’s never safe to setup a grill under a ceiling 8 feet off the ground. Can you do it, sure. Grilling with any regularity will introduce you to smoke stains, smoke entering your home and polluting that patio, peeling paint, teary eyes and all the general annoyances associated with grilling under a ceiling; and that’s not even talking about the fire hazard.
Easy answer, no.