Experience smoking on a gas grill?


 
M

MarcusWilliams

TVWBB Member
I've used a Weber kettle and a WSM to great results over the year. My wife and I will soon downsize and move into a condo. They don't allow pellet or charcoal but gas/electric will be okay.

Has anyone tried smoking on propane Weber Spirit or Genesis? I'm looking at the 3 burner models. A possible set up is to use the two burners at the ends, and have food in the middle of the grill, with water pan directly below. I can use A Maze N tube or smoke boxes to add smoke.

I smoke 70% ribs, 25% chicken and 5% others. I don't like pork butt and very occasionally cook briskets. I usually cook 3 racks of ribs (they come in packs of 3 at Costco), probably can set the ribs on a rib rack running parallel to the burners in the middle of the grill.

Alternatively, I may get a small electric smoker (Smokin It, SmokinTex). Let me know your thoughts. If gas grills are sufficient for smoking, I may just buy a "large" grill (Genesis), but if I need to get a separate electric smoker, then I'm leaning toward a small grill (Spirit) as space is limited.
 
You can cook pretty decent ribs on a gas grill. I had an old Genesis with three side-to-side burners (instead of front-to-back) and it worked fine with just the front burner lit and the ribs across the grill near the back. A foil packet of chips on top of the front burner put a little smoke into them. They will cook in around an hour at 325°-ish. You won't get the deep smoke, but you can compensate with other flavors. The best technique for me was to build up a nice caramelization with sauce in several stages in the latter part of the cook.

Jeff
 
Marcus:
Like J. I have an 3 burner Genesis with the E-W burner config. If you want low and slow, I'd suggest adding a Thermoworks Smoke to your want list. For smoking, I run only the front burner with smokers and use tubes or foil packets. I can usually get things to hold at about 225 if it is not breezy. The higher the temps, the less smoke you get since it tends to burn off. Not sure how efficient it would be on the new Genesis or Spirit since the burners run front to back. Perhaps an older refurbed Genesis would be right for you.
 
J Hasselberger said:
You can cook pretty decent ribs on a gas grill. I had an old Genesis with three side-to-side burners (instead of front-to-back) and it worked fine with just the front burner lit and the ribs across the grill near the back. A foil packet of chips on top of the front burner put a little smoke into them. They will cook in around an hour at 325°-ish. You won't get the deep smoke, but you can compensate with other flavors. The best technique for me was to build up a nice caramelization with sauce in several stages in the latter part of the cook.

Jeff
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Dan Leighton said:
Marcus:
Like J. I have an 3 burner Genesis with the E-W burner config. If you want low and slow, I'd suggest adding a Thermoworks Smoke to your want list. For smoking, I run only the front burner with smokers and use tubes or foil packets. I can usually get things to hold at about 225 if it is not breezy. The higher the temps, the less smoke you get since it tends to burn off. Not sure how efficient it would be on the new Genesis or Spirit since the burners run front to back. Perhaps an older refurbed Genesis would be right for you.
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There are quite a few older Genesis on craigslist with that side-to-side burner configuration. I wonder how well they work for indirect cooking vs front-to-back. Can you elaborate on that?

If you have just the front burner lit, wouldn't food in the back of the grill be undercooked?

I've never used a grill with East West configuration. Is it cumbersome to cook on such grill?
 
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For indirect cooking, I normally use the front and rear burner with the center one off. That's how I do baked potatoes at about 350 which is usually with the burners about half on. Once I'm ready to grill, I move them up to the warming rack and fire up all 3 burners on full. Once over 500, I grill normally (hood down). For smoking low & slow which is still indirect, the heat from the front burner heats up the entire grill to whatever temp the grill is showing on the thermometer. Same as a kitchen oven, but you can't smoke inside or you will have all your smoke alarms going off!
 
We have a NG E320 with side to side burners (East/West) and during the summer months here we usually have fire restrictions that don't allow the use of charcoal. I can do anything on that grill that I can do with our inside oven. I can also smoke low and slow I've done ribs, pork shoulder for pulled pork, pastrami, turkey breast all of which come out excellent. Just use the front burner and a few chunks of wood on the grate above the lit burner food over the unlit back two burners and your good to go.
E/W vs. N/S is pretty much a personal choice, I prefer E/W especially for rotisserie work. All four of my gas grills are E/W.
 
MarcusWilliams said:
There are quite a few older Genesis on craigslist with that side-to-side burner configuration. I wonder how well they work for indirect cooking vs front-to-back. Can you elaborate on that?

If you have just the front burner lit, wouldn't food in the back of the grill be undercooked?

I've never used a grill with East West configuration. Is it cumbersome to cook on such grill?
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Since you mentioned that 70% of your smoking is ribs, the east-west configuration best accommodates long meats like rib racks. You likely won't be able to fit a full rack in the space between a couple of north-south burners.

Dan is correct, you can heat up the full interior of a Genesis with just the front burner. Another thing in the Genesis' favor is the the smoke exits the cooking chamber in the back, so the smoke you generate in the front, rolls over the ribs on its way to freedom. This makes the best use of your chunks or chips.

Jeff
 
I have a Weber Spirit with 3 burners that run front to back. I use one of the small rectangular smoke boxes pretty regularly. I'll soak the chips (may or may not matter, but I do it) and then load them in the box and set the box on the left burner on low. This is the only burner I have on and I'll set my chicken on the right side of the grill. I do this probably once every 3 weeks to once a month or so and it turns out pretty well. I've never tried ribs, but I'm happy with the chicken.
 
J Hasselberger said:
Since you mentioned that 70% of your smoking is ribs, the east-west configuration best accommodates long meats like rib racks. You likely won't be able to fit a full rack in the space between a couple of north-south burners.

Dan is correct, you can heat up the full interior of a Genesis with just the front burner. Another thing in the Genesis' favor is the the smoke exits the cooking chamber in the back, so the smoke you generate in the front, rolls over the ribs on its way to freedom. This makes the best use of your chunks or chips.

Jeff
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I have a rib rack to hold the ribs in a upright position, so more can be cooked at once. I used it on the kettle before getting my WSM.
 
I put a tin can with some wood chips in it on a burner.

It's the best way I've found of getting some smoke on a gas grill.
 
There are plenty of YouTube videos of people showing how to use a gas grill for smoking. It can be done, but I think you'd have limits to how much you can fit on essentially half a grill. If you have enough patio space and are willing to spend the money, a Smokin Tex, Smokin It, or Cookshack would give you a lot more capacity, they use very little wood, and are effortless to use.
 
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