Gas Grill to Smoker Conversion

[Khrakk]

Has anyone either done or thought about converting one of their old gas grills to a smoker? I have one of the Masterbuilt Slow Smoker attachments that I dont use (because I use tube in my MES30), and an old gas grill that has been retired. Anyways, was thinking about hooking up the slow smoker attachment to the gas grill in a similar fashion that people do the mailbox mod for thier MES.

Is this a worthwhile endeavor, or a waste of time? My burners have to be fixed if I'm going to do this.

Thanks!

 

[pops6927]

Todd Johnson has already thought of it! Go to www.amazenproducts.com to see how to smoke in your gas grill! If you already have a tube, just use that inside it, light one side and cook on the other (indirect heat) and make it happen!

 

[bill1]

Great idea! If you don't do a large amount of meat at once (where rows upon rows of grates/racks are desirable) or if you're one who likes to open the cooker to spritz with juice/vinegar or mop on sauce, the one-grill/lid-up arrangement of a traditional gas grill has a lot of advantages for smoking. I'd bring the smoke in low at one end and exhaust up high on the other end so the smoke moves diagonally across both the top and bottom of the meat. Depending on your desired cooking temperature, the external smoke source (the Masterbuilt attachment sounds like a great choice) may not give enough heat but you can always add more heat by running one of the gas burners occasionally. You implied they may need work so an alternative to supplemental gas heat could be coals at the bottom or an added electric filament such as one of those U-shaped charcoal starters or even a replacement element from a commercial electric smoker.

A lot of folks fret about smoke leaks around lids, etc (and you may have plenty in an old gas grill) but I think the concern is overrated. But make sure you use one or two internal meat thermometers...temperature variability in this rig may be a bit high (which doesn't concern me either) but your "time to temperature" may vary a lot so knowing how the meat is progressing is of utmost importance.

Keep us appraised of your progress!

 

[dr k]

If you have a top warming rack to place meat, then tiles on the grate from the right side to almost the left side (or vice versa) lets you cook above the tiles on the right side like a reverse smoker. Your food is high where the heat is so less gas to burn for the same heat and flames eat smoke so you may want to introduce smoke from below on the left. You'll just have to make the airflow work like a reverse smoker if you have rotisserie cut outs in the lid to plug one side so heat/air flow under the tile to turn the corner and rise and come back to past your meat on the way out. The tube would be great on the left side grate when the heat/air turns the corner to go up to go past the meat on the top warming rack. The cold smoker cranks out a lot of smoke for regular smokers so you may want to start it and then unplug it or manually add chips during this learning curve. The back of the lid may have a big louvered opening that I placed an alum yard stick from the inside of the grill to control heat escaping on my big charcoal grill. Put a water pan on the tiles below the food to catch drips or you may need water in it since it's not an insulated cooker.

 

[Khrakk]

I decided I would use my tube with my new gas grill, so I scrapped the old grill.

Unfortunately, the tube didn't work so well with the new gas grill. When I opened the grill, all the pellets burst into flame (and I couldn't blow the out) and burned up in a matter of minutes. Since the pellets were actively burning, they didnt generate any smoke. I'll try the tube again in another spot and will turn off some of the burners.

 

[bill1]

I've had trouble with a lot of smoke tube & box gizmos in conventional gas grills too. What I've found works as good as anything is buying round stainless mesh strainers meant for kitchen sinks. $1 at walmart, about 3" round at the bottom, about 6" dia at top. Fill will pellets (not chips) and start by placing direct on the gas burner for a couple minutes. Once you have a flame, pick up with meat tongs, blow out, and place them on a grill under your meat. (sometimes you have to repeat the ignition phase.) 3 or 4 of these in a medium gas grill gives you pretty good smoke. For longer cooks, you can top off with fresh pellets once they've burned half way. Once in a while, one will flame up when I open the lid, but I keep an aluminum pie plate handy to then cover them up. Remove it when closing the lid and everything stays under control.

If your smoke tube only flames up when opening the lid, having an old bread pan or some sort of metal shroud ready to toss over it may take care of the issue. You don't have to choke off all air, just break up that big upward draft.

I had as many problems with tubes burning out as flaming up so I pursued other approaches. It's for this reason that so many with electric smokers end up putting their smoke-makers in their own separate box (e.g. search on "mailbox mod") so the air flow to/through them stays more constant.

 

[Khrakk]

Wow, I hadn't thought about that... thanks! I appreciate the feedback. I'm going to definitely try the bread pan to control the air to my tube.

Thanks!

 

[bill1]

...I'm going to definitely try the bread pan to control the air to my tube...

Just to be clear, I just meant to drop it over the tube first thing when you open the grill lid, and remove it last thing before you close the lid. (If you always leave it on, the tube will probably go out resulting in no smoke.)

 

[Khrakk]

That is what I understood. If my grill "breathes" to much air even with the lid closed, I can partially close the bread pan to control air for the tube. Otherwise, I'll just put a cover over it when I open the grill.