I'm charcoal "challenged", so I converted my Weber Smokey Mountain 18.5 to propane


 
Not knocking it if it works for you but IMO you can taste the difference between something cooked on gas, charcoal, or a stick burner. I would love to get a stick burner but to get a decent one is too expensive for me. I understand the issues/desire to not deal with fire management but why not buy a party q or something similar? IMO propane adds no flavor.
 
Very nicely done conversion. Good choice on the burner style since they are very quite, the turkey fryer style burners sound like a jet engine. I use those style of burners for my beer making setup, however I converted my burner to run off of natural gas (don't have to worry about a tank running empty).

I'm not a fan of cooking on propane (all of my grills are charcoal) but it's better than electric IMO.
 
I wanted to be able to do a simple smoke but retain the ability to use charcoal at times. At first I tried a single 1100W hotplate inside my 18.5" WSM, mechanically it worked and was cheap ($15) and easy, but the highest temperature I could get was 205F. That meant finishing everything my oven. Workable but not what I wanted.

So I switched to propane since my grill is next to my smoker. My first try used a King Kooker burner and a Gas One regulator hose. I could not get a reliable temperature below 275F. The burner was too large and the regulator hose could not maintain a low enough flow. I needed a smaller burner.

Try number three was the ticket. I used a Redcamp portable backpacking stove with a propane adaptor ($30) and a Gas One Propane Adapter hose ($7). It works perfectly, holding the temp at 225, but allowing up to 260 with just a slight adjustment. I put the stove on an old grill rack in the bottom oof the smoker, ran the line out the corner of the door, and put my chips in a foil pack in the basin (which I keep dry for this; filling it with water cools the smoker to much for the small burner).

So for less than $40 my WSM is propane whenever I want.
 
RonT said:
Try number three was the ticket. I used a Redcamp portable backpacking stove with a propane adaptor ($30) and a Gas One Propane Adapter hose ($7). It works perfectly, holding the temp at 225, but allowing up to 260 with just a slight adjustment. I put the stove on an old grill rack in the bottom oof the smoker, ran the line out the corner of the door, and put my chips in a foil pack in the basin (which I keep dry for this; filling it with water cools the smoker to much for the small burner).

So for less than $40 my WSM is propane whenever I want.
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Interesting technique. Thanks for sharing it. I’m a long time gas guy who only started doing charcoal recently. I do have to say that my WSM holds temp pretty consistently. Have you had trouble regulating your temp with charcoal?
 
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