Smoking on the Weber kettle

msuman · Mar 3, 2012

I plan on throwing a butt on the kettle in a little while. It will be my second smoke with it. Kinda have a dumb question though. Ill be using chunks this time. Would it be OK to put the chunks on the grate above the fire or do I need to put them in the fire?

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bama bbq · Mar 3, 2012

I recommend putting them on the fire. I also recommend using a roasting pan with water under the meat. I foil 2/3 to 3/4 of the charcoal grate so only the fuel gets air from below.

msuman · Mar 3, 2012

Might have to try foiling the grate like that. I was planning on using a water pan.
Thanks.

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jrod62 · Mar 3, 2012

msuman said:
I plan on throwing a butt on the kettle in a little while. It will be my second smoke with it. Kinda have a dumb question though. Ill be using chunks this time. Would it be OK to put the chunks on the grate above the fire or do I need to put them in the fire?

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I put my butts in a pan with the fat cap down. put the wood chunks at the edge of the charcoal.

SmokinAl · Mar 3, 2012

I mix the chunks in with the charcoal, then throw about 10-12 lit briquettes on top in the middle.

africanmeat · Mar 3, 2012

the guys got you covered

msuman · Mar 3, 2012

SmokinAl said:
I mix the chunks in with the charcoal, then throw about 10-12 lit briquettes on top in the middle.

How do you like that cooking grate? I found them on the net and want to get one.

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msuman · Mar 3, 2012

This is the way I did it this time. I poured a whole charcoal chimney in the middle. I put my water pan on the other side of the bricks.

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m1garand · Mar 17, 2012

msuman,

I followed your setup and it worked perfectly Thumbs Up, Im starting to think I know what I'm doing :sausage:

msuman · Mar 21, 2012

Glad it worked out for you. I'm still tweeking it a little.

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cabin fever · Mar 21, 2012

I love reading through these threads about smoking on a kettle and I have a quick question. Which way do you find the easiest to get thin blue smoke? I pile my coals to one side of the charcoal grate and use 2 bricks to organize them. I then dump about 10 lit briquettes on the unlit and place a wood chunk or two on top. My kettle seems to get plenty of air with the bottom vents 100% closed so I leave them that way and set the top vent to 25% closed. This will usually give me around 5-7 hours at 250-275 on six pounds of Kingsford blue. My problem is that it takes a good hour or more for the thick white smoke to pass and become thin and blue. What could I be doing wrong? Any tips you guys could share?

cliffcarter · Mar 22, 2012

I would open both vents 100% at the start, you need airflow to adequately start the fire. Once you get up to temp leave the top vent open and regulate temps by opening or closing the bottom vent.

msuman · Mar 22, 2012

Mine produces smoke just fine with the chunks mixed in with the coals. It sounds to me like your fire isn't burning good. I would do like recommended above and start from there cranking down the intake to reach desired temp.

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cabin fever · Mar 25, 2012

Thanks for the tips fellas. I'll give them a try next time out.

thenovaman · May 9, 2012

msuman said:
This is the way I did it this time. I poured a whole charcoal chimney in the middle. I put my water pan on the other side of the bricks.
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If I poured a whole chimney of lit coals in the middle, I'd be way over 225-250 even with the bottom vents 100% closed. I did a half chimney of lit on top of a half chimney of unlit yesterday evening and smoked some thick-cut pork chops at 350. Top vent open, bottom vents roughly 80% closed.

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