I did them this way and they were quite a bit better than my first attempt.
Pellet grills
- Thread starter josh4cy
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I'm getting this, have never used an offset smoke box for smoking. Seems straightforward but anyone who's used one I'd take any input you got.
I had one for years, until I got my pellet grill.I'm getting this, have never used an offset smoke box for smoking. Seems straightforward but anyone who's used one I'd take any input you got.
There were sites online for good mods for it. Ceramic coals to help regulate heat. Flexible aluminum tube to run from the smoke stack down to the grates to help keep the heat from going straight to the top. Google mods for it and a lot should come up. I had a lot of success with that model, but ultimately got tired of having to manage the heat every hour or so.
I would start with a base of charcoal, a full chimney starter’s worth, then add solid wood chunks on top of that. Usually get about 4 hours on a full chimney of coal, but would regularly have to add wood.
This is how I've done it. Have had a beloved big charcoal grill just rigged up for indirect heat and the results have been fantastic. It's 10+ years old and time to go. So I'm going with the offset box. Biggest difference will be that up to now the heat source has been under the same hood as the meat, that'll change with this so not sure what adjustments I'll need to make to regulate it at 225.
According to this article the major brand was founded by a husker, and his business is called CornHusker Kitchen. Enough reason to boycott.
In all seriousness I've never heard of it, but sounds interesting! The following article also reference it being sold and vouched for by the guys at Just Good Meats in Omaha. Now that's reason enough to try it because that place is awesome.
Unless it is a really high quality reverse flow I would avoid a barrel smoker. They get hotter on one side that the other and if the metal is thinner it is difficult to maintain a decent temperature.I'm getting this, have never used an offset smoke box for smoking. Seems straightforward but anyone who's used one I'd take any input you got.
I second this. My brother in law has this exact same grill/smoker and he has a really tough time keeping a steady heat. The metal is also really thin so it doesn't hold heat very well when it's cold out.
Up to now I've been rigging up my charcoal grill for smoking with indirect heat, it's old and kind of falling apart. Regulating the temperature is pretty much a full time job whenever I have anything going in there. So I'm used to doing that and this would probably be a step up. There are worse ways to spend an afternoon than outside with beer and hickory smoke in the air.
Sorry my previous post wasn't very detailed, I was on my phone, at my daughter's softball game.
OK, it's possible to make this a decent smoker. As I said, I used this for years with very good results. First, get some flexible metal pipe(sorry, forget the diameter I think it was just dryer vent) that fits over the smoke stack on the inside, clamp it to the stack and run it along the top of the grill down to the grates and cut it off there. This will keep the heat flowing lower, along the grates and really helps to even out the temps.
Also, buy some of the ceramic charcoal briquets they sell for gas grills. Line the large charcoal pan, in the main part with these. These will also absorb heat and help to regulate the temperature. Another thing I did was get some good quality fired brick and put a few of those in the bottom of the smoker. One really close to the firebox opening to reduce the size of it as the larger opening for this smoker let too much heat in at once. That was basically it. Yes, if it got into the 20s outside, it was a challenge to keep it warm, but any decent weather, it was really a breeze.
Get the fire stoked, I always started with a chimney fill of charcoal and got that going. Then dumped it in the fire box. On top of that, I'd put some more charcoal and then a good amount of wood I was using. Use as large of pieces as you can get as they will last much longer and burn better. Keep everything open until it gets going good, then close the lids on everything, but leave the dampers wide open. Let it get warmer than you want. I usually let it get to about 300 degrees. Then close everything down. Usually, since this wasn't a top notch offset, I was able to close the firebox damper down almost all the way and the damper on the smoke stack about half way. After sitting for another 20 minutes or so, then putting on the meat, it would usually sit right at 225 for about 4 hours this way.
After this initial set, it was a challenge to keep everything just right using just wood. So I would fire up another chimney full of charcoal and put some good chunks of wood on top of that to get going as well and put that in the firebox again. This would usually give me another 4 hours of good cooking. Now you have to check on it at least every hour or so, depending on the weather. More windy days were trickier to me than just cooler days, because the wind getting in could mess up the airflow.
I've used a few smokers over the years and in this price range, this worked as well as anything on the market. And it has a huge cooking surface. You can make a lot of food on it and I usually did, just to justify firing it up.
I will say though, I switched to a Louisiana Grills LG900 pellet cooker and I don't think I'll ever go back to a regular smoker. I give up a little in smoke flavor, but the ease and convenience of cooking is next to none. It literally is a set it and forget it. The only reason I ever come back to it is to baste or mop the meat.
As I said, google "Chargriller smoker mods" And you should find details on everything I described above. Hope this helps.
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As I've mentioned previously, I have a Traeger and WSM.
I get the hanging out and manning the smoker but there is also a benefit of being able to walk away for a while do errands/yard work/etc.
If you have a giant brisket and want it done for lunch, you can also start it during the previous night and actually sleep. Once or twice a year I still do the conventional way and get an hour to two sleep shifts when I do a brisket on the WSM.
I like a char on the outside of my burger so I don't.
But meatloaf, once you smoke it, you'll never bake it again.
We have done burgers, cooked them at 450 and I thought they turned out great. Won't get much smoke flavor at that temp and quick grilling. But tasted great.
I just bought a Traeger Texas elite 34 last weekend at costco when they were doing their roadshow. It was $800 which is about $100 less than normal plus they threw in a cover and a bag of pellets. They only had the demo left which was fine with me since it was pre-assembled. If interested, you can find the roadshow schedule here: https://www.costco.com/traeger-schedule.html .
I grill burgers over charcoal and then when they're almost done move the burgers to the warming rack way over to one side, move the charcoal way over to the other side, throw some hickory chunks down and close the lid. Only leave them in there like that for 6-7 minutes but it adds some nice smoke flavor without having to wait an hour.
I've done burgers and steaks on my DB. Since I foil my drip tray (for easy clean up of the tray) I will set the temp at around 400 poke holes in the foil as I have the two piece drip tray and they turn out really tasty. I don't get the char on them but lots of flavor. I will also reverse sear steaks and they turn out great just get the IT up to around 130-140 and then crank the temp to around 500 and sear them.
