smokin' in your kettle


 

Jim Lampe

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
with recommedations, from another forum member, a successful set-up to smoke using your kettle grill, foil the charcoal grate under the food and up to the charcoal (like this), 1/3rd grate space for coal, drape foil from food grate down to charcoal grate (i used bricks)... Worked Great! butt i didn't care to use MORE foil (as i use way too much already), sew,
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I decided to do this.
It's 28gauge stainless steel cut to cover 2/3rds of the coal grate with a 4 and one-half inch rise to the food grate.
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Started with paper-cardboard to make a rough pattern. Transferred that to this, 28 gauge stainless... easy enough to cut with tin snips. Which is exactly what i did. Then bent to a 90' degree at the slotted line.
Fits inside the 22.5" kettle fine...
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Place a coupla bricks on it and it is good to go.
I'll be using it this weekend, an' i'm certain it'll work just fine.
No more foiling the coal grate, and being stainless, well... who cares, right?!
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Jim, You beat me to it. I got my metal shop building me the same!
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Thought it through early this week for your same reasons (use too much foil like it is)

Mine will be ready next week!

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Idea Sir.
 
Okay, I gotta make one of these.
Looks like a 3 beer job to me, 4 if I rub my chin and go Hmmmm! ever so often.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bob Correll:
Okay, I gotta make one of these.
Looks like a 3 beer job to me, 4 if I rub my chin and go Hmmmm! ever so often. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>that's EXACTLY how long it took me.
i think
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Looks like a 3 beer job to me </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
If it only takes 10 minutes, why not?
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Looks great, Jim!
 
10 minutes??
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Thanks Don, gonna try it tomorrow with a full large rack of spares...
yeah, alittle scared
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Jim, That is really great. I love it, because it is just one piece to easily take in and out of the kettle. Very simple. I think you will be amazed at how well it works. Great Job.

10 MIN!!! Nice, Don!

Where did you get the 28g stainless?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ernie D: Where did you get the 28g stainless? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>I work in a manufacturing plant with a fabrication department. With 25 years comes a few perks, not many, butt a few.
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Jim, I've seen this topic - foiling a portion of the charcoal grate to gain better control over maintaining low temps - more than a few times on the forum, but have yet to try it out on my OTG; so, I'd like to pose a couple of questions: # 1, for those of us with a Smokenator (wish I'd opted for a couple of fire bricks instead, to tell the truth) does anyone know if the use of foil/a stainless steel sheet as you've fashioned improves one's ability to maintain low temps in a kettle; and # 2, given the fact that the top is [almost] always on, if this setup does in fact allow for better control, can anyone explain how the foil/SS accomplishes this?

I've had marginal success with my Smokenator, and am looking to improve upon having to constantly fiddle with the vents in order to maintain low temps on smaller cooks that don't require the size of my WSM 22.5.

Regards,

Rooster
 
i'll just say that as far as i'm concerned it prevents fresh cooler air to go straight up and mix with the heated air and mix around and mess with the temps. with it covered the air has to go through the coals and get heated, thus the temps are a bit more stable. i could be all wrong but its what works for me. just take a look at the vents and figure out where the fresh air will go.
 
R.L,

I have a Smokenator and have used it exactly 1 time (it was a gift). I'd always had better results with the fire brick method (without foil). After reading about foiling the "cold side" of the grill with the fire brick method, I decided to try it. I have to say, I was amazed. It works great! Much easier to control temps. It's now how I always do long, low and slow cooks on my kettle.

To answer your questions...and these are just my opinions.

1) As George says, the air feeding the coals goes only to the coals, so minor adjustments to the bottom vents produce minor fluctuations in temp...meaning it's much easier to dial in and control temps...kind of like a WSM.

2) Once temps are dialed in they stay that way because the air is only going to the coals...again, like a WSM.

Hope this makes sense (I've had a few today) and hope this helps!

Can't wait to see Jim's results.
 
George seems to be the man on this, but to expand his point... The top vent is going to exit hot air, creating a suction from all three intakes on the bottom. The air will be sucked straight up to the top, some through the fire, some just straight through the food toward the top vent. This is over-simplified, but foiling definitely lets you have complete control of all the air coming in, through the fire, and out the top.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Don Cash:
R.L,

I have a Smokenator and have used it exactly 1 time (it was a gift). I'd always had better results with the fire brick method (without foil). After reading about foiling the "cold side" of the grill with the fire brick method, I decided to try it. I have to say, I was amazed. It works great! Much easier to control temps. It's now how I always do long, low and slow cooks on my kettle.

To answer your questions...and these are just my opinions.

1) As George says, the air feeding the coals goes only to the coals, so minor adjustments to the bottom vents produce minor fluctuations in temp...meaning it's much easier to dial in and control temps...kind of like a WSM.

2) Once temps are dialed in they stay that way because the air is only going to the coals...again, like a WSM.

Hope this makes sense (I've had a few today) and hope this helps!

Can't wait to see Jim's results. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Great explanation, Don. I've actually always been happy with just my firebricks so I never tried the foil thinking it was mostly for easy clean up.

I'm going to try it now. Thanks.
 
Thanx for all the replies - I may try to find a couple of fire bricks for my OTG and try the foil method myself come May 29....

Regards,

Rooster
 
I did fire bricks yesterday without covering the charcoal grate for some beef ribs. I had the temps stay solid at the lid at about 275 for well over 8 hours. Even though the ribs were done in 5 hours, I decided to keep the fire going to see how long it would go. When I went to sleep temps were still at 250 after over 8 hours. I'm guessing it could have went another 4 hours or so as I checked the fuel left before I went to bed and it was still about 1/4 left that wasn't burned.

Anybody want to buy a 18.5 inch WSM? I hardly use it anymore.
 
I haven't had any problems with my cooks using the Smokenator, but it makes sense that this method may make it even easier to use. I'm going to try foiling the part of the grill not covered by the Smokenator this weekend and see how that works for me.
 

 

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