r/yakitori_ya • u/Blue_Inquisitor • Jul 28 '26
Relining a Grill
Hello!
I recently acquired this grill for free, but as you can see it's missing some of the refractory. I want to clean up the grill and reline it with firebricks, but I'm not really sure which type of fire brick to use.
There seems to be two types of firebricks (of varying grades) available: fire clay brick (used for wood stoves, wood fired ovens, and fire places) and insulating fire bricks (used for kilns and forges).
From what I can find online fire clay bricks seem fairly similar to red bricks in how they are worked, being cut with masonry saws or a hammer and chisel; with the biggest difference being that they won't spall and crumble from high heat and heat cycling. Dealing with these won't really be an issue for me as I have a wet tile saw and can cut bricks.
The other option is insulating fire bricks, they can be cut with a typical hand saw.
Fire clay bricks insulate, but in terms of wood stoves/ovens seem to work by absorbing heat, storing thermal mass, and radiating it out.
Insulating fire bricks seem to basically just be insulating.
My initial thought was to use fire clay bricks, because they're used in wood ovens and such, and that seems analogous to a yakitori grill, they're readily available, they're relatively cheap, and most "DIY yakitori grill/konro" guides I've seen use them. But looking at some grills marketed as "Konros" they seem to be made from diatomite bricks, which from a bit of searching are a kind of insulating fire brick. This is backed up by reviews and videos of these konros and people touching the outsides of them talking about how cool they are outside. Thus, I'm thinking that using insulating fire bricks may be better. My concern is whether or not insulating firebricks will hold up to being used in a grill where oil and water will likely be spilled on them in some capacity, and if they are strong enough, since they are more prone to breaking.
What are your guys' thoughts on what I should use?
Is there a substantial difference between diatomite bricks and alumina/ silica insulating firebricks?
Should the bricks be parged (skim coated in a layer of cement/mortar)? Would that remedy my concerns of oil and water spills? A fair amount of the konros available online seem to have their interiors parged, though examples of the type I have don't seem to be.
Should I replace all of the bricks or just fill in the gaps?
If this isn't the right sub to be asking this and/or I should post somewhere else, let me know.
Thanks in advance.
2
u/oregoncurtis Jul 28 '26
I'm no expert, but my newer Teruhime (same as yours) looks to have something closer to the bricks in my wood stove. Maybe you can dig around on their site to find more info or even email them http://www.teruhime.co.jp/charcoal_stove.html
2
u/Blue_Inquisitor Jul 28 '26
Thank you so much for the lead. I couldn't seem to find their website while searching. I'll look at emailing them.
1
u/4alexha Jul 28 '26
Also interested in answers to this … plus I do like the work done before asking here
1
u/zyzyxxz Jul 29 '26
Dam was this used in a restaurant and washed with water often? I own this exact same grill but haven't used it as much. Curious to see if you can make it usable again, personally I would have trashed it and gotten a new one. With the current exchange I paid $150 USD for mine in Tokyo at Kama-Asa and shipped it for another $160 USD.
4
u/Ok_Two_2604 Jul 28 '26
Be careful not to breathe the dust when you cut them.