Place drained wood chips in a foil pan, cover with aluminum foil, and poke holes in the foil to allow the smoke to escape. Place the pan directly on the bars over an unlit burner or two, preferably in a back corner. Put the cooking grates in place. Turn on the grill, with all the burners on high, and close the lid.
If you wish for an accessory that beats the smokenator at its game, that is the slow ‘n’ sear. It holds more water and is effortless for use during smoking. For as long as eight to ten hours, it can hold the required temperature. Besides, it can get the job done from smoking, high heat grilling, and indirect grilling. Most vintage weber grill owners consider it for shielding heat.
If these baskets are one of your Weber grill parts, they are useful for grilling and lighting coal and a great smoking asset. Put one of the baskets on one side of the grill and bank unlit coal until full. Then top up to five to six coal pieces and finally, a wood chunk for the rich taste! Keep adding the briquettes in reasonable periods.
If you can get gadgets and BBQ mods for this process, well and good. But if you wish to spend as little as possible with almost the same result, we have some feasible ideas for you.
Also known as the snake method, you may love it. On the outer part of your grill, make a long fuse of unlit charcoal all around it. Ensure to create two or three layers going up. Put small wood chunks at the top of the unlit charcoal. Add four or five lit briquettes to one of the fuse’s ends to start smoking. Install your meat at the middle of the trail of a C or U shape. However, if you intend to smoke ribs, you may not achieve that delicious taste you wish for. For butts or shoulders, they are good to go!
While the Weber grill can be quite costly, it is the ideal machine for everything barbecue-related. So, can you use the Weber grill as a smoker? The answer is yes! From grilling, baking, roasting, to smoking, that’s the go-to grill!
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Here are our go-to tips for smoking on your Weber Kettle.
First, here are some tools that will make smoking on a kettle easier:Weber BriquettesChimney starterSmoking woodsNow that you have the right tools, lets get your kettle set-up for smoking. The most useful way to set up your charcoal grill for smoking is to create a two-zone fire. That simply means you arrange the coals on one side of the charcoal grate and leave the other side empty, giving yourself two heat zones. One will have direct heat and the other will have indirect heat.
1. Before you light the charcoal, find out how much wood the recipe suggests and soak wood chips in water for at least 30 minutes so that they will smolderand smoke rather than flame up (no need to soak wood chunks). Light the charcoal, follow these tips if needed.
More often than not, you will need only a small bed of charcoal for smoking, so start with the chimney filled about halfway. The swinging handle above the chimney starter is there to help you lift and aim the chimney where you want it. Be sure to wear insulated barbecue mitts when handling the chimney starter.
2. Pour the lit charcoal on one side of the charcoal grate, either right onto the grate or into a charcoal basket. Put the empty chimney starter on a heatproof surface away from children and pets.
If the coals are not in a charcoal basket, use long-handled tongs to arrange them so that they cover one-third to one-half of the charcoal grate. It’s okay if the coals are piled one or two coals deep, but no more than that.
Remember, you will probably need medium or low indirect heat, so start with a small amount of charcoal and add more later as needed.
3. For recipes that involve more than 30 minutes of cooking time, place a water pan on the empty side of the charcoal grate.
Fill the pan about three-quarters of the way with water. The pan will catch any juices and fat from the food. Plus, the water will absorb and release heat slowly, evening out the temperatures and adding a bit of moisture to the smoking process.
Make sure to sweep away any ashes that have accumulated on the bottom of the bowl, and leave the bottom vents open all the way. Now preheat the grill.
4. Put the cooking grate in place (if the grate has hinged sides, arrange one of the hinged sides over the charcoal so that it will be easy to add more charcoal later without taking the grate off the grill). Then put the lid on the grill and open the top vent completely.
Now wait until the temperature reaches the right range for the recipe you are making.
Keep in mind that as the charcoal burns, the temperature will drop. When the temperature reaches the upper end of your desired temperature range, remove the lid and use a long-handled grill brush to scrape off any bits and pieces of food that may be sticking to the cooking grate.
5. Drain and add the required amount of wood chips evenly over the charcoal.
The chips should be damp but not so wet that they could put out the fire. The damp chips will initially drop the temperature of the fire, but the heat will recover once the chips begin to smolder.
Put the lid on the grill and wait for smoke to start pouring out of the grill. Open the lid and arrange the food on the cooking grate as the recipe suggests. Close the lid and position it so that the vent is on the side of the grill opposite the charcoal; this will draw the heat and smoke over the food and out the vent.
6. If you will be cooking for more than 30 minutes, you will probably need to add more charcoal over time.
If you are using standard charcoal briquettes, add them when they are fully lit, because the taste of food sometimes suffers when it absorbs the aromas of partially lit briquettes.
Fortunately pure hardwood charcoal and hardwood briquettes don’t produce any unwanted aromas in the early stages of their burning, so you can add those to the fire when they are unlit or lit.
The grill vents control the airflow. The more air flowing into the grill, the hotter the fire will grow and the more frequently you will have to replenish it.
To minimize that, keep the lid closed as much as possible, but the vents on the bottom of the grill should (almost always) be left open whenever you are cooking. To slow the rate of your fire’s burn, close the top vent as much as three-quarters of the way.
All kinds of charcoal, especially briquettes made with fillers, will leave some ash after all the combustible carbon has burned. If you allow the ashes to accumulate on the bottom of the grill, they will eventually cover the vents and starve the coals of air, eventually putting them out.
So, every hour or so, give the vents a gentle sweep to clear them of ashes.
Now you have the tips to smoke on your kettle. To get more inspiration check out our other blogs here. Happy smoking!
Tips adapted from Webers Smoke ©2012 Weber-Stephen Products LLC. Used with permission.
Smoking on Your Charcoal Grill | Weber Grills
FAQ
Can I use my Weber grill as a smoker?
How do I turn my Weber kettle into a smoker?
Can I turn my Weber Q into a smoker?
Are Weber eGift cards good for grilling?
Weber eGift Cards are perfect for every griller! Buy Now. Chips or Chunks? Master the art of smoking with Weber’s meat smoking tips. Find smoker and grill setups, smoking techniques, and wood chip versus chunk instructions.
Can you smoke on a gas grill without a smoker box?
Setting up a gas grill for smoking can be very easy, especially if the grill is equipped with a built-in smoker box; however, there is a way to create smoke even without a built-in smoker box. 1. First, start soaking wood chips in water (check the recipe for the amount you’ll need).
How do you smoke wood on a gas grill?
Start the grill by preheating your grill for 10-15 minutes on high and then brushing the cooking grates clean using a stainless steel grill brush. 3. Add wood chips to your smoker box. Using long-handled tongs, open the lid of the smoker box.
How do you smoke a Turkey on a Weber grill?
A: There are a few different ways to smoke a turkey on a Weber grill, but the most common method is to use indirect heat. This means that you will place the turkey on the grill away from the heat source, so that the smoke can circulate around the turkey and cook it evenly.