Where there's smoke...

[Maylar]

So, I was hoping to try smoking with my old gasser this year. Something new and beyond burgers & dogs. I picked up a stainless smoke box from Lowes, put in some Maple from my wood scraps bin, and set out to see if I could make some smoke.

One burner off, one on low. I put the smoke box on the rock grate above the low burner. After 30 min the sucker just burst into flames..

I guess smoking isn't in the cards for this old grill.

 

[Max1]

You don't have to have that right on to of the flame, as soon as it heats up POOF your wood is gonna be gone. Smoking is at the lower end of the spectrum too, it looks like your thermometer is at about 450°, this should be around 225°-300° at the most. Turn your heat down..... I do not normally say this but if you are having trouble with your temp being too high, try soaking your wood chips. Personally I do not use chips any more, only used them for about a month. Try getting yourself some chunks. Another something is, try cast iron instead of that stainless steel little boxey thing you got going there. Home Depot sells them for around $10, Well that is what I got mine for anyway.

Here you can check it our. I use mine with my Weber Kettle all the time.

Brinkmann Cast Iron Smoker Box-812-7222-S at The Home Depot

Some more pictures would be nice so we can help you out.

 

[bigwheel]

Maybe soak the chunks next time.

 

[Bob In Fla.]

Too much air causes the chunks to flame. You want them to just glow kinda like charcoal.

 

[bigwheel]

Hey wrap the chunks in foil and poke a few holes in the foil..then put them in the box.That should work. Should slow them from burning up so fast anyway.

 

[Bob In Fla.]

Hey wrap the chunks in foil and poke a few holes in the foil..then put them in the box.That should work. Should slow them from burning up so fast anyway.

Yeah, that should work. I forget about the foil pouches since I just throw a couple of fist sized chunks in the ash pan to get me more and flavored smoke.

 

[Max1]

You will need to make multiple foil packs for through out your cook, but yes foil works. Depending upon how big the foil packs are, about 2 to 3 oz. of soaked wood chips should last atleast 30 minutes.

 

[Bob In Fla.]

Them soaked wood chips and/or chunks only make it take longer to flare up. No smoke can come from these things 'til all of the water is gone. No, that's STEAM you see, not smoke. Use that water to help ya keep cool, it don't do much good at all in your smoker.

 

[Maylar]

Them soaked wood chips and/or chunks only make it take longer to flare up. No smoke can come from these things 'til all of the water is gone. No, that's STEAM you see, not smoke. Use that water to help ya keep cool, it don't do much good at all in your smoker.

There's a good discussion about soaking vs not on amazingribs dot com - worth a read:

Don't Soak Your Wood. This Myth Is Busted.

The indirect side of my grill can get down to 250 especially if I use a pan, so I think I'm OK with that. I'll try again with the wood in foil and in a different location, maybe on top of the lava rocks. I looked for the cast iron box at Lowes but they only had the stainless one at the time.

 

[bigwheel]

I could save you some grief on that. It dont work very well and will break a person trying to buy all the propane. Quit being a pinche caverone and go to WW an buy yourself and Electrified Brinkmann Gourmet and a bag o chunks. You will thank me in the morning.

 

[Maylar]

Well.. that wasn't very nice.

 

[bigwheel]

Sorry about that. I dont like to get folks incensed. I have tried every strategy in the book trying to make a typical gasser into a smoker. Its sorta like arguing with wimmen..lot of strategies out there but none of them work very well. lol. Go get the Brinkmann and a 55 gallon barrel so it can have a home to live in when not in use..then the barrel is the insulator in the nasty Noo England winters. I know an Aggie who has used the same ECB for 30 years following that format. Now if you use the barrel it needs to be colder than a well diggers coola..cause it do make the little dude get muy calinte hot hot. Not needed in temperate Texas type weather.

 

[Max1]

I did a little research on this for you, and you owe me some propane. You are putting the stainless steel box directly on top of the flame right. If so you you do not want to do this. This is why. The overall temperature in you smoker/ grill may be 250°, but right on top of the flame will be more around 500-600°. No matter what I did to the box, if it is directly on top of the flame with nothing to break it, the wood will be gone with in minutes. If you have something to break up the flame, and spread it, this will do a better job. Try placing the lava rocks back into place, and putting the box on top of them. This should place just enough space between the flame and the bottom of the tray.

If this does not work, I would recommend changing all the propane stuff out, get rid of the lava rocks and switch to charcoal. This would be cheaper than buying a whole new rig. And really all you would have to do is fire it up a couple of times to see how to adjust air flow, and you would be set. But if you do the first, I think you should be fine. Lets just do one thing at a time. By the way, Lowe's sucks, go to Home Depot!

 

[Maylar]

Thanks, guys. I did check out the ECB electric smoker at HD and at $79 it looks like a bargain. There are websites that talk about how to modify them to make 'em work better. For as often as I expect to smoke food, that may be my solution.

But I will move the box further from the flame first and see if I can get smoke without flames.

Or... there's always liquid smoke to add to the sauce instead..

 

[Bob In Fla.]

Or... there's always liquid smoke to add to the sauce instead..

Yeah. That's the spirit. Forget about fire and smoke. Just buy that stuff and cook inside the house in the crock pot. Don't forget to add the whole bottle for each batch.

Don't forget to boil all of the flavor out of your ribs too.

:vom::vom::vom::vom::vom::vom::vom::vom::vom::vom::vom::vom::vom::vom: