Convert Gas Grill Into Smoker

Step 1 soak several cups of wood chips in water for at least 30 minutes.

Convert gas grill into smoker.

While you soak the wood chips take a moment to preheat your grill. So you will only want to use one or maybe two burners depending on the size of your grill. Similarly you could recycle a 55 gallon drum into a vertical pellet smoker. In my opinion the easiest way to add smoke to a gas grill cooking chamber is with a pellet smoker tubes.

For smoking the wood and water pan are on the direct heat side. Add new lava rocks. There s a great diagram of this in the article on 2 zone setup on amazingribs. Fire up the grill.

If you re using a charcoal grill start by filling a chimney starter about 1 3 of the way full with charcoal. The key to turning your gas grill into a smoker is to cook indirect. This may require scraping dirtiness and a sour puss while getting it done. Whether you re using a charcoal grill or gas grill the temperature should hit around 225 degrees for most barbecue recipes.

On a gas grill you ll turn burners on one side off to create an indirect zone and burners on the other side set to medium or high for direct high heat grilling. When cooking low and slow 225 250 f 107 121 c avoid directly exposing your meat to the heat source. Cover with water and let sit for at least 30 minutes. Wood pellets by nature are slow burners so a full tube will provide about 4 12 hours of smoke depending on which model you get.

Place the wood chips in a bowl or bucket. Essentially you load wood pellets for smoking into the tube then ignite one of the ends with a butane torch. Clean the inside of your grill of any fat that might flare up or cause rancid flavors while you smoke. If you have a gas grill you can light one side of the grill and place your soaked wood chips directly on top of the grate the lit side in a perforated grill basket or in the wood chip box that comes with many models then close the lid.