Even when a pit room is air-conditioned, it’s never really cool. That’s the nature of the game when it comes to making Texas barbecue. When you have a constantly burning fire, using a mechanical process to remove heat from the air is the barbecue equivalent of a dog chasing its tail.
Still, every little bit helps when it comes to making a pit room habitable for the people who stoke the fires and wrap the briskets.
A typical pit room is attached to the back of a barbecue restaurant, separated from the main structure with a fire-proof barrier like concrete block. The remaining three sides of the structure are often open, to allow for as much air flow as possible. Per health department rules, these openings are covered with a mesh material that allows for the movement of air but keeps insects and other harmful airborne materials out.
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There may be a large exhaust fan built into one wall, or even the roof, which helps to evacuate smoke and keep the air moving. Still, these types of “sheds” or “shacks” can get as hot as 150 degrees Fahrenheit during especially hot summers.
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So why not just build a self-contained pit room that fully encloses the pits and then air-condition that like any other building?
It comes down to physics and economics.
Economically, the amount of electricity needed to sufficiently cool the heat produced by the fire in a typical 1,000-gallon offset steel smoker would be prohibitively expensive.
Air conditioning a pit room would affect the cooking method, too. Especially with offset-style smokers, the process of cooking world-class barbecue comes down to the pitmaster’s skill in coaxing the flow of air, heat and smoke through the cooking chamber to flavor and cook the meat.
It’s a surprisingly precise thermodynamic process. Without using any mechanical fans or other appliances, offset smokers create one-way air movement or “draw” using the differences in air pressure created by the heat of the fire as well as the design of the various components like the firebox, cooking chamber and exhaust flue.
All else being equal, these smokers need the surrounding air pressure to be consistent, which is why most pit rooms are open to the outside. If you enclose and seal the pit room and pump cool air into it, that can change the air pressure in the room and effect the “draw” in the smokers.
Still, some barbecue joints have air-conditioned pit rooms. These rooms use insulated, rotisserie-style pits that have more manageable heat levels and air flows than offsets.
At the Spring Branch location of Feges BBQ, co-owner and pitmaster Patrick Feges has a glass-enclosed pit room adjacent to the dining room. Using a combination of Oyler-brand rotisserie smokers, exhaust fans and air-conditioning ducts, he’s able to keep the temperature to the relatively cool 80- to 90-degree range while maintaining proper air flow to cook the barbecue.
Still, management of air pressure between the kitchen, pit room and dining room can be a challenge. For barbecue restaurants with this type of design, they are constantly maintaining “balance” between the air pressure in the various zones of the restaurant.
For example, at Feges BBQ, if there’s a problem with the exhaust fans in the pit room, a pressure difference will build up with the dining room, causing the pit room doors to swing open.
“If I see the doors swing open, I know I need to fix something,” said Feges.
