Can I even use a gas grill for smoking?

[tatts4life]

So my dad for some reason wanted to get a gas grill and bought a Nexgrill Deluxe from Home Depot. He wants me to make pulled pork and ribs for Monday on there grill. I went over with my igrill thermometer to test it out and I'm not sure if I'm doing things right. He bought a 6 burner grill so I turned on the 2 burners on the right and stuck the temp probe about half way thinking it would get more than hot enough while the meat would sit right around there. After about 15 minutes the temp had just reached 200 on my igrill while the thermometer on the grill that sits up higher was reading close to 400. How do I go about smoking on a gas grill? Should I place the meat one burner over? Do I just say forget it it won't work? also I love how the back of the grill where the lid is hinged is basically open and lets out a ton of heat and basically doesn't hold any really in the grill.

 

[smokerjim]

how were you going to generate smoke, wood chips in tinfoil with some holes might work, can you wrap some tinfoil around the hinged area to try and keep some heat in, if you can smoke on it until hit hits about 150 internal you could probably move it into the oven to finish. just a thought.

 

[chopsaw]

I've done some good pork cooks on a Weber Genesis 310 . I view it as an oven , and use it that way . . I always pre heat the grill to a high temp with all burners . Then shut down the middle and that's where the meat goes ( or bread , pizza , what ever ) . I cook at 350 or so , and don't worry about smoke . I've done ribs , and pork loin . They can cook pretty fast . If he wants PP , do like Jim said , get some color , char on the outside then into the oven . Finish the ribs on the grill .

 

[rwilli]

Ummm, 1. Liquid smoke. On my Weber Gas Grill, one burner is usually hot enough to get to 225-250, Then sit your on the part of the grill where the burner is not. If you have or can get an amazin tube and a small bag of pellets, that should also do the job----As Jim said, wood chunks or pellets in tin foil have also worked for me. Good luck, let us know your solution and how it worked.

Bob

 

[PoukieBear]

I used to use my gas grill to smoke all the time. I have a 6 burner grill, so I used the two left burners on low to keep temps around 250.

For smoke, I used tinfoil trays full of soaked chips wrapped in tinfoil and holes poked on top. I placed the smoke package on top of the flames. (I removed the grill grates). I found that I had to replace the smoke package every hour, depending on how smokey you want your food.

 

[smokerjim]

I think the only problem with soaking chips is they probably won't smoke until the water is out of them, so why soak them?

 

[PoukieBear]

I think the only problem with soaking chips is they probably won't smoke until the water is out of them, so why soak them?

Mine started to smoke after about 5 minutes. I guess the best thing to do is to try it out both ways and find out which works best for you.

 

[Bearcarver]

So my dad for some reason wanted to get a gas grill and bought a Nexgrill Deluxe from Home Depot. He wants me to make pulled pork and ribs for Monday on there grill. I went over with my igrill thermometer to test it out and I'm not sure if I'm doing things right. He bought a 6 burner grill so I turned on the 2 burners on the right and stuck the temp probe about half way thinking it would get more than hot enough while the meat would sit right around there. After about 15 minutes the temp had just reached 200 on my igrill while the thermometer on the grill that sits up higher was reading close to 400. How do I go about smoking on a gas grill? Should I place the meat one burner over? Do I just say forget it it won't work? also I love how the back of the grill where the lid is hinged is basically open and lets out a ton of heat and basically doesn't hold any really in the grill.

If you don't already have one for your "CHAR-BROIL TRU-INFRARED BIG EASY", you should get a Tube Smoker from Amazing Smokers. Then you can use it at home & away. You would need the tube, because Gas Grills have plenty of leakage, and the Tube puts out enough smoke to take care of that problem. The Tube puts out a lot more smoke than the Tray.

Bear

 

[tatts4life]

I bought an A-maze-n pellet tray to generate smoke. I bought that instead of the tube because I wanted to be able to have the long smoke times for pulled pork and when I finally try brisket. I was tired of having to refill the chip tray on my electric char-broiler I've had. I didn't realize that the tube would generate a lot more smoke. I guess I could always buy that if I don't like the tray. My dad also found some kind of V shaped container for wood chips that he plans to use to give his steaks and burgers the smokey flavor. It fits right between two of the dampers so it should work great. The reason he decided to get a gas grill is because they built a new patio and he didn't want to mess with charcoal anymore. So as far as smoke I think I'm covered. I guess I could always try foil along the back to see if that holds in more of the heat.
Also I saw somewhere that maybe turning on the burners on each end and placing the meat in the middle over the 4 unlit burners might help with evening out and bringing up the temperature fast enough. Has anyone ever done it that way or is it better to place the meat to one side and turn on the burner on the other side?

 

[tatts4life]

I used to use my gas grill to smoke all the time. I have a 6 burner grill, so I used the two left burners on low to keep temps around 250.

How long did it take for your grill to get up to 250? Where did you place the meat all the way on the other side or about in the middle?

 

[chopsaw]

How long did it take for your grill to get up to 250? Where did you place the meat all the way on the other side or about in the middle?

I always pre heat the grill to a high temp with all burners . Then shut down the middle and that's where the meat goes

 

[noboundaries]

The closest I got to a smoked taste on my gas grill was chips in foil packs on the flames, a pan of water on the grates, and two racks of baby backs on the warming shelf near the long exhaust opening. Never got decent smoke flavor doing anything on the grates with the smoke packs on the flames.

All that said, the flavor can't compare to a WSM or offset.

 

[Bearcarver]

I bought an A-maze-n pellet tray to generate smoke. I bought that instead of the tube because I wanted to be able to have the long smoke times for pulled pork and when I finally try brisket. I was tired of having to refill the chip tray on my electric char-broiler I've had. I didn't realize that the tube would generate a lot more smoke. I guess I could always buy that if I don't like the tray. My dad also found some kind of V shaped container for wood chips that he plans to use to give his steaks and burgers the smokey flavor. It fits right between two of the dampers so it should work great. The reason he decided to get a gas grill is because they built a new patio and he didn't want to mess with charcoal anymore. So as far as smoke I think I'm covered. I guess I could always try foil along the back to see if that holds in more of the heat.
Also I saw somewhere that maybe turning on the burners on each end and placing the meat in the middle over the 4 unlit burners might help with evening out and bringing up the temperature fast enough. Has anyone ever done it that way or is it better to place the meat to one side and turn on the burner on the other side?

OK---Here's more.
The Amazing Tray puts out perfect smoke for smaller smokers, like my MES 40.
The Tube puts out too much smoke for small smokers, unless they are at high altitudes (above 2000').

So you did right, in getting the Tray, however if you're going to use your tray in your Dad's Gas Grill, just light both ends.
I don't normally recommend lighting both ends, but if his Gas Grill leaks air (smoke) all over the place like a normal gas grill, the extra smoke from lighting both ends should help.

Bear

 

[tatts4life]

Thank

OK---Here's more.
The Amazing Tray puts out perfect smoke for smaller smokers, like my MES 40.
The Tube puts out too much smoke for small smokers, unless they are at high altitudes (above 2000').

So you did right, in getting the Tray, however if you're going to use your tray in your Dad's Gas Grill, just light both ends.
I don't normally recommend lighting both ends, but if his Gas Grill leaks air (smoke) all over the place like a normal gas grill, the extra smoke from lighting both ends should help.

Bear

Thanks I'll try that out. I'm discovering that gas grill aren't built as air tight as I thought they would be. There is also holes on either end at burner level that are about the size of a quarter or larger. My guess is so that they can let in fresh air for the flame. The only bad part is while using my igrill to test out how to get the grill to temp I noticed temperatures where starting to go down. Turns out one of the burners on the end had gone out and I had to relight it. Screw it this grill is getting used for traditional grill foods and I'll just bring over my Char-Broil Tru-Infrared Big Easy electric barrel smoker for pork butts and either stick to the webber charcoal grill for ribs or one day buy a good offset smoker for smoking.

I didn't realize that gas grills would be so much more work and watching over than a charcoal grill.

 

[Winterrider]

Did turkeys all the time in the gasser. Indirect method. Foil pan of water under bird. Couple burners set to maintain approx. 300°. Thermometer at grate level by bird ( don't go by cover thermometer ) Foiled damp wood chips on burner side or smoke tube. Always made sure I had the wind coming from the side burners were going on. Butts I presume would be the same

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

Smoking on a gasser can be done with mixed results.
Since this is a 6 burner, you would want to use the end burners for heat control while cooking indirectly in the middle of the grill.
For smoke generation, you could use either cast iron smoke boxes or the V shaped smoker boxes on the lit burners.
I used to smoke all the time on my old Weber Genesis Silver B which had the horizontal burner tubes front to back.
And yes, gassers are designed to have a lot of airflow for safety reasons.