Maintaining 225 on a 4-Burner Summit?

[trasmc]

Hi all, hoping to pick the collective AR mind!

I have a natural gas 4-burner Weber Summit - in addition to the 4 main burners, it has a sear station burner, a rotisserie IR burner, and a smoker box burner - the actual model number is S-460 (Natural Gas). I've replaced the smoker box with a custom grate and flavorizer bar I found on ebay, as I found the smoker box useless, so basically I increased the cooking area on top.

For anyone that has a similar grill, can you maintain close to 225? If so, how? I've tried the following (and other combinations) with no real luck:

• Two main burners on low - too hot
• One main burner on high - too cold
• One main burner on low with the smoker box burner on low - too hot
• Tried the food in the middle and at either end with the above combinations, still no luck

In all cases I'm measuring the temperature using an ambient probe in a Fireboard. For longer cooks I use a kettle, so that's not an issue, but when trying to do something at 225 on the gasser it's very frustrating.

At this point I'm basically keeping a close eye on the ambient and when it gets too cold I alter the lit burners (or light one) and when too hot I turn one off, continually zig zagging all around 225 (lows around 170, highs around 275, but never anything consistent). Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

Scott

[Mosca]

Not a Weber, but when I had a gasser I held 225 by propping the lid open a hair with a small bolt or something.

If you can hold 250, that’s okay. Nothing magical about 225 that 250 won’t do just as well.

[trasmc]

Thanks - I'll give that a try next time!

[jfmorris]

I have a 4 burner Genesis II - not the same thing as your Summit, but while I don't smoke on it, I do reverse seared steaks and similar type cooks. I just turn on 2 burners, and put the steaks at the other end of the grill and monitor the steaks until they are 120. Then I sear them over high heat at the other end of the grill. I've also done an indirect cook in the center, with the two outer burners on low.

I don't think there is anything super magical about 225, so if you can get anywhere from 225 to 275, you are fine. Don't chase it too much in other words.

[Huskee]

Agree with the above. My comment was going to be that if you can maintain 275, do it, it's still low & slow, and you might shave off an hour of cook time on long cooks!

[trasmc]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone - appreciate it!