I have a few grills/smokers...WSCG, BGE, WSM, etc... I recently bought a Wildfire gas grill purely for convenience. But, it's a gas grill if you know what I mean. So, I was wondering...does anyone make a charcoal basket for gas grills? For example, let the burner start the charcoal (quickly). Once the cook is done, remove the basket, dump the coals, and you're ready for the next cook. I know this has compromises, and I agree it's a bit silly, but I'm often pressed for time and this might enable more cooks. I saw a YouTube video where the guy was using a charcoal basket in a gas grill but he didn't mention who made the basket.
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Type in "charcoal tray" on Amazon. It turns up lots of options. B -
Wouldn’t a plain old chimney work?Comment
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I looked that up; that’s a nice grill.
I’m trying to see how you’d use charcoal with it, though. Will the charcoal light faster there than in a Performer with gas start, or the WSCG, or BGE? When I had the BGE/Weber/gasser combo, I just used the gasser for burgers and dogs; the 15 minutes of charcoal starting is going to be the same no matter what. You’d still have to wait for full combustion, for the white smoke to die down, might as well just dump it in the cooker that is designed for it. If I needed a smaller area, I either used the S&S or the $25 Smoky Joe.
Anyhow, I don’t get it, but that’s on me. I’m sure you have a plan that will work!Comment
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Kettle baskets should work. I'm sure if you don't have them, you could purchase.Comment
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Weber did this with the Weber Performer Deluxe Charcoal Grill, 22-Inch, Touch-N-Go Gas Ignition System. I would think it should work for you, just a little messier with the ash.
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marrtw I think burning charcoal in a nice gas grill is likely a way to ruin the nice gas grill, since it wasn't really designed for that. Think about it - any basket is going to let ashes fall, and there is no mechanism to handle ashes in a gas grill. So it piles up on burners, flavorizer bars / tents over the burners, and in the bottom, and just generally messes up the works. And you probably have to pull everything out of the grill to vacuum out the ashes in the bottom with a shop vac.
I think you need to embrace your nice gas grill for what it is. It is a quick, convenient cooker that will give great results, just not quite the same as your charcoal grills. I've got 2 gas cookers (Weber Genesis gas grill and a Camp Chef griddle) and 3 charcoal/wood cookers (Weber Performer Deluxe, SNS Kamado, offset). They each have their own strengths. While I like and prefer charcoal cooking, I have learned that it's *OK* to use the gas grill for those week nights cooks when you don't have the extra half hour to cook with charcoal.
And that brings up the other point. You bought the gas grill for quicker and more convenient cooking. If you have to wait on charcoal to be ready to cook anyway, why not be using your charcoal grill for those cooks, which is designed to handle the charcoal and the ashes and such?
If the goal is more wood smoke flavor when cooking on gas, try a smoke tube with pellets, or even a foil pouch of wood chips tossed over one of the burners, and skip the charcoal in the gas cooker.Comment
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I agree with all the points, and I'll readily admit the idea is a bit crazy. But I like thinking outside the box.
My WSCG has a gas lighter, and it's a bit small and too far away from the chimney to work better than other alternatives, even though I went to the trouble of hooking up a permanent gas line for it. However, it's my experience with this grill that made me wonder if I could fabricate or buy something that would work better with a larger burner, like those found on a gas grill.
I also have the proper size SNS for the WSCG (I had to order old stock from England to get it). It will work, but like Jim mentioned, I'm afraid it will let too many ashes through. I can imagine a design that would address that issue, but I'd have to fabricate it myself, and I've never welded SS and don't have the right shielding gas to try. I also tried a smoke tube but wasn't impressed on my first experience. I have a Napoleon smoke box that I need to try.
Frankly, the SNS has spoiled me. I can imagine a scenario where I first bring my meat up to 120°F or so on the gasser, then finish with a sear over charcoal. With an appropriate charcoal box, I could do the whole cook on the gasser (primarily with charcoal and using the gas to warm the grill and ignite the charcoal for the cook). Again, Jim's points are valid though; I would still have to wait through the white smoke (although perhaps the wait is shortened a bit) and still have to worry about damaging the grill. It does have cast SS burners, so they'd probably be OK, and the pull-out grease tray is easy to clean.
Again, it's a crazy idea and probably wouldn't save that much time and effort. I'm just having a hard time with the gas grill flavor, or lack thereof. I guess I could bring my meat up to temp on the gasser, and while that's going, light up some coal on the WSCG, which would be ready by the time the meat is ready for searing. But now I'm using two grills for one cook. Everything is a compromise.
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I have an Alfresco gas grill with what they call a "Solid Fuel Insert". You just take out two of the grates and ceramic trays and drop this in. Add in some wood chunks and some lump charcoal and light the burners underneath. After about 10 minutes, turn off the gas and sear over the flames. Works great and after it cools, just vacuum out the ash. So yes, it is possible, it is faster than a chimney and a kettle, but it is just for searing. No way to control temps.Comment
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My big Weber Summit 600 series gasser has a smoke box. It's worthless except as a lesson to show where all the smoke goes--in a gasser, because of its intended design, there are a zillion places for smoke to escape before it can have any effect on the meat.
In the past, I've tried a smoking tube and a Moe's Pouch in the gasser, with little luck. Occasionally I'll put a chunk of wood on the flavorizer bar, which works pretty well, especially for something I want lightly smoked like salmon.
I'm with Jim, you have so many other smoking options available that pushing a gasser to do what it is not designed for seems futile at best and damaging at worst. That said, if you come up with something that really works and does no harm, let us know. The creative inventor spirit in all of us should not be quashed.
Kathryn
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I really don't see the caché of searing over charcoal if you've brought the meat up to the desired pre-sear temp in a gasser. It's not like charcoal imparts all that much flavor during a 2 to 3 minute sear, at least to my taste buds.Originally posted by marrtw View Post
I much prefer to bring meat up to pre-sear temp in my WSCGC (to get a little smokiness) and sear it off in the gasser, if the SnS insert is too small to sear all the meat at one time. I've done this with as many as 7-9 steaks with the WSCGC/gasser with Grill Grates combo working in sequence.
You also could try using a Grill Grate section or two for your gasser, flipped to the flat side, and sear away when your meat (coming up to temp on the indirect side) is ready. You could even try placing a chunk of wood on the flavorizer bar on the hot side for the warmup phase if you'd like to get some smokiness.
If you have a side burner for your gasser, you could put a charcoal-filled chimney on it and make a searing station there with a small grate positioned on top of the chimney. That setup would be a little precarious for me, but it could work I guess.
A gasser is a great searing station--easy to manage the sear temp, and with Grill Grates, no flareup.
KathrynLast edited by fzxdoc; April 30, 2024, 07:18 AM.Comment
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