Been watching BBQ Showdown alot, and Wife brought me this as Bday gift, thinking its a smoker..tried, some ribs and I failed lol but seeing if there was anyway I could turn this into one or should I just press the reset button and just buy a smoker?
by FastFleetingThoughts
18 Comments
There is no reason why you should not be able to smoke on that. That looks like wayyyy too much charcoal for a smoke. Did you light it all at once? At this point I would say user error so maybe don’t give up so quick.
You can smoke meat with that, wtf you talking about?
You deff can smoke on that. I have a similar style grill. Start your coals in a charcoal chimney, take half the grates on, smoke the ribs on the opposite side of where you put your coals. When coals get low, start more in the chimney and dump em in.
You will need to fail a few times to build the skills to pull it off. Your wife was extremely thoughtful to get you this give and you should express your gratitude to her, and put in the time to pull off a badass dinner to reward her.
Edited to add that like anything in life, it’s less about the gear, and more about the skill.
Try the snake method for coals?
I have this grill and had a few excellent smokes and a few bad. My problem is too much meat because once the fat hits the coals it’s flame time. The snake method worked for me tho.
I got lucky this week going to the store and picked up a grill with the side smoker on clearance. Can’t wait to experience the difference!
Snake method always works my friend, check out on youtube there are many tutorials! 3-2-1 ribs are foolproof, little bit overcooked for my taste but impossible to fail.
So I have the same type of grill, and I love it!!
I’ve haven’t tried doing a long smoke, but you def could set it up that way. The best part of this grill is that you can move the grates up and down.
If you plan on doing a longer smoke like ribs crank that charcoal grate as low as it can go. This will create a more even heat like an oven. Also my recommendation would be to reverse the drip tray, and the side you but the charcoal on. The reason being is that the air intake is on the left side. So you want the air coming in, feeding oxygen to the coals, then the air transfers the smoke over the ribs, and out through the chimney on the right hand side.
Not familiar with that grill/smoker but it definitely looks like you can smoke on it. I’d recommend smoking pork butts to get familiar with the grill and learn how to control and maintain low temperatures for smoking. Pork butts are relatively cheap and forgiving so you have more room for error while you learn. Best of luck!
Hi. I had this exact grill and turned it into a reverse flow offset with some creative changes.
Bought a side fire box and cut a hole in the right hand side of the main body. Then I bought a flanged smoke stack and put it on the right hand side of the lid. To finish sh it off, I bought some stainless steel baking pans to act as grease traps/smoke deflectors. I also formed a thin piece of sheet steel to make a heat baffle where the fire box opening was located.
Send me a DM and I can send some pictures.
For temp. don’t use the lid thermometer. Use a remote probe that gets attached to the grates adjacent to the meat. That’ll be the most accurate.
Look into the slow n sear or the snake method with the coals. A perimeter of coals that slowly progresses around the outside.
Looks like you had the right idea to smoke in your grill bit that looks like a lot of coals. Practice maintaining temps before putting meat in there. That way you don’t ruin and meats. Snake method works in my grill when smoking in that. Tell your wife to get you a pit barrel cooker. Great for beginners.
This is like the set up that I first learned how to smoke meat and using indirect heat with charcoal. Keep the temp like you were doing by adding charcoal and wood when it dips too low. Try to control your vents see what works for your set up keep the meat indirect and just play around with it and you’ll start learning how your grill works and what works best! I used to make bomb ass ribs on mine and then when it started to fall apart I finally bought a smoker.
I used to have something similar tears ago. I would use charcoal and let it burn down and then I would add a couple of logs
I got that same one and I only used it for grilling it’s perfect for its size, I had to break down and get the master built electric smoker which works great, tried everything and couldn’t get the same results as the smoker
Get some lava liners and firebricks. I had this smoker for about a year until the lid fell off but made some great brisket and ribs. It doesn’t hold heat well, so you have to baby the temperature
I got my first grill ever this year. There is definitely a learning curve with charcoal. First, I put what I thought was a decent amount of hot coals, didn’t even raise the temp to 250. Then, I put a full chimney in and it got too hot at 400, ribs burned on bottom and dried out. My first pork shoulder was good, but it just takes too long to let it sit there for 6 hours. My charcoal only lasted two hours. Smoke was great but had to finish it off in the oven. You definitely have to close those vents if it gets too hot and you really have to watch it.
Buy a smoker
Buy a masterbuilt gravity smoker. Hooks up to your phone. Great smoker for beginners. I have a 560 it rules