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Turning Your Gas Grill into a Smoker Is Way Easier than You Think

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    Turning Your Gas Grill into a Smoker Is Way Easier than You Think

    "Turning Your Gas Grill into a Smoker Is Way Easier than You Think" is the clickbait title of an article over on The Kitchn (source: https://www.thekitchn.com/turning-ga...-hack-23400472)

    Let's take a quick look.

    First, we take umbrage with the SEO URL including the word "hack". This ain't a "hack". Nor is it a "secret" or something "nobody knows about".

    It's like when people use the word "virtual" incorrectly. It's not a "virtual meeting", it's an ACTUAL meeting that just happens to be taking place online. It may be taking place in a virtual conference room, but the meeting itself isn't virtual. Grrrr.

    "All you need are wood chips"

    Well, not exactly. You could use pellets or wood chunks. But at least you got "wood" correct in the article. Let's move on.

    "aluminum foil, and a metal pan (disposable is allowed)"

    Okay... sure. We can work with this. No mention of cast iron, or that maybe you don't actually NEED foil or a pan, depending on wood chunk size and grill construction. But we're on board with the concept.

    Thinks seem to go a bit off the rails here, we think:

    "Start with a cold grill"
    "soak the chips in a large bowl for an hour"
    "wait until you see heave, blue smoke"


    And that's where we slowly shook our head, closed the browser tab, and went back to casually reading amazingribs.com and The Pit. These three items all seem contradictory to everything we know and share here.

    What are YOUR thoughts? Were we too quickly judgmental of someone who was merely trying to help others on Instagram?

    #2
    There is nothing new under the sun, or so it has been said.

    smoke tube for BBQ - Search (bing.com)

    Comment


    • WillTravelForFood
      WillTravelForFood commented
      Editing a comment
      yes, cast iron and smoke tube are our jam.

      certainly encouraged that someone is saying "here's something you can try". But seems like the basic facts are just a little bit off.

    #3
    I sometimes think these types of articles are written by bots.

    Comment


      #4
      I did my first smoking on a gas grill. I started with one of those metal boxes that you place wood chips in and set directly on the only burner that was on. Later I added an A-maz-n tube on the opposite side of the grill. Not a strong smoke flavor, but pleasant. I've since graduated to a kettle and now a Bronco.
      Last edited by Murdy; July 5, 2022, 11:10 AM.

      Comment


      • WillTravelForFood
        WillTravelForFood commented
        Editing a comment
        Ditto. as we tell others, it's not "smoking", but adding a bit of smoke flavor to a cook that traditionally doesn't have one.

      #5
      Another article written by someone who knows nothing about bbq for those that also know nothing about bbq.

      Comment


        #6
        I tried using one of the pellet stuffed tubes and did not like it at all.

        Comment


          #7
          I have used wood chips in foil to get a smoke profile from a gas grill before. It isn’t much but does add a little.

          Comment


            #8
            I smoked with my gasser for several years before AR became what it is today. Far right burner on low, other burners off.

            I had one of those cast iron boxes, but wrapping wood chips in foil is easier and just as effective. Back then the standard wisdom was to soak the chips. Truth told, though, that didn’t make no never mind, because the steam just added to the moisture. The biggest problem was keeping the temp down on my Sam’s Club Members Mark gasser; I had to prop the lid up a little bit. I probably wrapped them in foil at some point, but that was like 15 years ago or more. I don’t remember the details. It was probably 3-2-1 though.

            The ribs came out great, if maybe not all that smoky. But really, there’s nothing to go wrong. It’s pork ribs cooked low and slow, and they do what they do when you do that to them.

            Comment


            • jerrybell
              jerrybell commented
              Editing a comment
              Yep. I started out in basically the same way. I wanted ribs more often than I could afford to go to a restaurant, so I read what I could and made do with what I had to start making them at home.

            #9
            Originally posted by THE Humble Texan View Post
            I tried using one of the pellet stuffed tubes and did not like it at all.
            It works for us, to the extent that we are expecting.

            Originally posted by JustKyle View Post
            I have used wood chips in foil to get a smoke profile from a gas grill before. It isn’t much but does add a little.
            As have we.

            What we've found is that due to a gas grill's construction, there's going to be plenty of smoke leakage. To paraphrase what others have said here: "on a gasser, there's almost no such thing as too much smoke due to airflow"

            we've used wood chips in cast iron (*not* soaked in water), wood chips in foil, pellets in foil, wood chunks placed under the grate near a burner, and a pellet tube. Each/all have their place in our cooking arsenal. Kinda like the pellet tube, since it can be placed closer to the meat on two-zone cooking.

            All of these have worked well enough for what we were looking to get

            Comment


              #10
              You can make the wheel bigger, you can make the wheel smaller, but you can't make the wheel rounder.

              Comment


                #11
                I usually "heave" something else besides smoke.... "wait until you ... heave,..."

                Comment


                • texastweeter
                  texastweeter commented
                  Editing a comment
                  If you don't cough...

                • WillTravelForFood
                  WillTravelForFood commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Whoopsie, just figured out you caught a typo. Lol. But more seriously... we don't ever want to see heavy blue smoke when cooking, do we?

                #12
                The problem with all of this is that I TRIED all that and more, with 2 different gassers (one was even a psuedo smoker) and just could not get great results. Mainly because there's so many weird airflow things going on as well as heat zones it was almost impossible to produce a well smoked meat.

                I suspect some of the newer temp controlled gassers coming on the market might make it easier, but most gassers still have a lot of airflow that is counterproductive to getting smoke on your meat.

                The Big Easy Smoker Roaster Grill was pretty decent at smoking poultry, but it was iffy without modifications doing other things like a pork butt.

                Comment


                • WillTravelForFood
                  WillTravelForFood commented
                  Editing a comment
                  it's a furniture polish
                  it's a dessert topping!









                  (it's a grill, it's a smoker!)

                #13
                Interestingly, there’s a review over here —> showing a propane smoker. 🤣🤣

                Comment


                • ItsAllGoneToTheDogs
                  ItsAllGoneToTheDogs commented
                  Editing a comment
                  propane smokers are still purpose built smokers, your propane grill is generally not

                • WayneT
                  WayneT commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Point well taken. Gassers ‘can’ be used for smoking for are not designed for such.

                #14
                Meh, everyone's at a different place in their pitmaster journey. Some might find the information useful. I'm judgmental of many of the same types of articles on different topics and should remind myself more often to just let it go.

                Comment


                • ItsAllGoneToTheDogs
                  ItsAllGoneToTheDogs commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Trying to get smoker results on my gassers led me here

                • WillTravelForFood
                  WillTravelForFood commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Where's the fun in that?

                #15
                I started smoking with my Summit gas grill with built in smoke box. I just wasn't getting the results that i wanted. I sealed the lid about 75% of the way with wood stove door gasket material. Results were better, but not satisfactory. That's when i started doing my research about a real smoker and grew from there. AR was tons of help too. You just have to do things right, very few short cuts.

                Comment


                • Murdy
                  Murdy commented
                  Editing a comment
                  The main problem with sealing up a gasser is that someday, maybe, the gas gets left on and without the ventilation, it builds up, and when one hits the ignite button, one is standing next to a bomb.

                • captainlee
                  captainlee commented
                  Editing a comment
                  The seal was only temporary while smoking, a total pia. That's when i realized i needed to do it correctly.

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