Smoke amount ?


 
I think you're asking how to get smoke flavoring in a natural gas grill at low heat. A "chunk" of wood placed directly over a burner will smolder however I found that you will want your food elevated (upper rack) so that the smoke reaches your cook. Gas units are really designed to smoke, so you have to be creative. Restricting (blocking) vents will slow the smoke from disbursing from the grill. You kind of have to be creative and and figure out what works best for you. Several people have "smoke tubes" and that seems to work well too
 
Get a smoke tube and start experimenting, you will either find that you aren’t getting enough or too much, there is no formula that I am familiar with to make any kind of proper “informed” answer. It’s entirely too subjective. Experimentation is how we learn, not to be flippant but, only YOU can make the determination.
As ChuckO says remember the smoke must rise and flow so, it’s not really a question of volumetrics it’s more about flow.
 
I agree with Timothy. Get a smoke tube and some wood pellets. Start the tube burning and lay it on top of the grates. You will get a lot of smoke for a good amount of time. If you decide you want more smoke, refill it and relight it and put it back in. It is about as easy as you can do for a rookie and that doesn't mean it is not a good way to smoke in a gas grill. You don't have to worry so much about placement over burners or any of that. Once it is lit, it shouldn't even be over a burner.
 
@H. Wilson if you can give us more info on what you are cooking and what you've tried it will help get better responses to you.

I saw in this thread you have an Amazen expandable tube

What are you cooking? What chips or pellets have you tried in the tube? Where are you putting the tube in your Genesis 1100 ?

It's hard to advise without more context.
 
The real answer is none. You don't need smoke to cook. But if you're looking for some smoke flavor, some will adhere to the surface with just a little smoke, more MIGHT be better bu... Overdo it and you can get some nasty tastes. If using a smoker (not the same as a natural gas grill), it's typically recommended to have a thin, blue smoke, not volumes of black, grey or even white smoke. Keep in mind that a true smoker is needed to actually get smoked meat rather than just a little surface flavor. I've tried over and over to "smoke meat" using a gas grill. The avowed word is that you can not smoke meat on a gas grill. I've never been able to challenge that.
 
LMichaels said:
I would not go blocking off vents and such on a gas grill. Looking for trouble. Especially to an inexperienced griller
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In spades, Larry! Blocking vents can literally choke off needed air and prevent the gas from burning. When air is introduced again, the collected gas can suddenly ignite and you have a gas explosion. Ask me how I know.

I said above that I have tried for many years to get true smoking from a gas grill. With an earlier 3 burner E/W config Genesis, I installed an adjustable band across the rear main vent (opening between the hood and the base). It worked, but when the air escape was limited sufficiently, the already lit burner(s) were snuffed out when the lid was closed and when I lifted the hood to check out the problem WHOOM! It actually happened twice before I figured out what was happening. Fortunately nothing but singed eyebrows. I removed that "damper" and now will never block that main "vent". These grills were designed for a purpose and trying to modify them can be risky

Check my past posts and you will find that I still try to get the best "smoke" results I can from a gasser. All the Weber gas grills come with hoods that do not "seal" around the firebox which allows any smoke to escape from all sides. I had a cyber friend on another now-defunct forum who had family that worked for one of the meat prep companies (forget which, Armor?). He said that true smoking requires not only smoke, but pressure (look at how a WSM operates vs a grill -- especially a gas grill). Smokers are low heat, smoldering type fire. You can damp the vents to get the smoke and temp you want, but almost everyone says to keep the upper vent wide open (barrel smokers excepted). I've tried many ways to control the smoke in a gas grill including adding woodstove gasket around the hood to block smoke escape from front and sides (that is successful and has not been an issue as long as the rear "vent" is left unobstructed. (The issue above occurred when implementing both gasket and damper.) Having my upper grate available, I've laid baking sheets over the lower grates to restrict and direct heat and smoke up from front to back over the meat and out the rear, wood and even charcoal chunks resting on a plate over the flame tamers, a tube with wood pellets and set the minimum heat possible on the lower BTU sear burner. I got good smoke and decent smoke flavor on the brisket, ribs, butt or whatever I was trying to smoke, but I never accomplished a true "smoked meat" with a smoke ring. I still do it at times, but not with any expectation of truly getting smoked meat from my Genesis. It's why I ended up getting the WSM 14.5. If anyone has further suggestions, I'm open to advice.
 
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I will politely disagree......
You CAN smoke on a gasser --- but it does have limitations. The key is to set up another grate that is HIGHER than the smoke/heat outlet of the grill so that the meat can hang out in the smoke. Its pretty easy to get some good smoke flavor on b/s chicken and legs -- but I find it lacking on bone in thighs..... Pork chops, steak, meatloafs work pretty well but there is not a lot of smoke penetration. Smoke brats and sausages are awesome! I use a cookie rack on the warming rack with two cans on my Spirit 2 burner -- one burner on low, other off - and it holds a nice ~225ish on the rack. I've got a set of CI grates that I'm going to use on cans for the SilverB --- haven't done it yet - have both short 'mushroom' cans and tall 'vegetable' cans to try for the right height/distance from the burners. Its not 'ideal' but works really well for smaller/thinner meats. And its alot easier than setting up the WSM or kettle --- and a helluva lot cheaper than burning coal. It won't get you a good 'bark' but will get plenty of smoke into the right types of meat.

Coll thing is --- the heat is decoupled from the smoke - its easy to just turn the burner off once it hits ~120ish IT and just let it suck up smoke --- then finish it off to temp with higher heat for crisp/color.
 

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Yeah, I have had reasonable success doing it on my gas grills but nothing like now owning a couple of pellet grills/smokers.
 
Yeah - don't fool yourself into thinking you can do a brisket or a pork butt..... but smaller cuts turn out really well. You have to keep in mind that you are SMOKING meat - NOT grilling with smoke ---- 225-250 for 2+hours chicken and chops -- good 1.5 hours brats. My tube gets me ~3 hours on a full load -- I usually run it til the smoke is gone. Pretty simple TOTALLY hands off no brainer cooking -- fire up the tube and the grill and walk away for 2 hours.... so easy! Its great and efficient for my smaller cooks.

Someday I will get a pellet grill..... dammit..... but I'll still feel bad firing up and burning pellets for 6 or 7 chicken legs..... Running one burner on low and ~1/4-1/3# of pellets for 3 hours is about as cheap as it gets.
 
My experience (at least with my MM and Z Grills) is they run WAY cheaper than LP. I just filled up the Z (even though it was not empty of pellets) yesterday. Took a little over half a bag (maybe 18 to 20 #s) and that was the first I had put in since mid July using it multiple times per week. At $12.95 per bag of 40# that is cheaper than LP especially given same sized grill. I don't know how it would compare to NG but it runs awfully darn efficiently $$$$ wise. Not sure how or if I can factor in the very little electricity it uses but it's gotta be only pennies. I can't speak to the SmokeFire but I would have to think it's got to be nearly as efficient if not maybe a little more so
Oh and that is after multiple long cooks even an over nighter
 
Wow --- $13 for 40# is really cheap for pellets...... I only see 20# for that price. I almost hate to ask what they are at that price.....
I was lucky enuff to fill 20# tanks for $10 each this memorial day. -- down form the typical $15 (now 20)..... so thats what I was basing my cost 'efficiency' on compared to the (typically accepted average) 1#/hour for a pellet grill --- ~$0.50/hour.

I've accumulated way too many bags of pellets for a smoke tube....... all single flavors that I've worked my way thru single/double/triple mixes just to see what the different flavors are like --- pretty nice to mix and load a tube and run it dry each time. It gets difficult to decide what mix I want to use with each cook....
 
Jim Weber said:
Yeah - don't fool yourself into thinking you can do a brisket or a pork butt..... but smaller cuts turn out really well. You have to keep in mind that you are SMOKING meat - NOT grilling with smoke ---- 225-250 for 2+hours chicken and chops -- good 1.5 hours brats. My tube gets me ~3 hours on a full load -- I usually run it til the smoke is gone. Pretty simple TOTALLY hands off no brainer cooking -- fire up the tube and the grill and walk away for 2 hours.... so easy! Its great and efficient for my smaller cooks.

Someday I will get a pellet grill..... dammit..... but I'll still feel bad firing up and burning pellets for 6 or 7 chicken legs..... Running one burner on low and ~1/4-1/3# of pellets for 3 hours is about as cheap as it gets.
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Jim, I have done a couple Briskets. I felt they came out great. However, I cannot say I have done a brisket on coal burner, smoker or Pellet grill. I would love to do another one. I just don't want to shell out $50 plus for one.
 
I thought I'd share this --- I pulled my 'emergency chicken' out of the freezer to rotate in a fresh one soon - 4.5-5#er - didn't want to waste coals for just one bird, so decided to smoke it on the gasser. I was convinced that it wouldn't pick up 'that much smoke' but at least I'd be able to crisp up the skin on the gasser. I did a halfassed spatchcock on it - it was still a bit frosty (after 4 days of thawing in the fridge) - seasoned and set in the fridge for a good 24 hours - full 12" smoke tube on the grill with one burner on low.....

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Damn!!!!! I have to say that was one of the best chickens I've done! Skin was wonderfully crispy! And there was REALLY good smoke too! Nice ring on the legs and thighs (haven't gotten to the breasts yet) and so much flavor! It REALLY surprised me...... I was truly impressed. I've fought hard to get good smoke flavor into just thighs on the gasser for a while now......

I'm confused why it worked out so well when I was expecting to be disappointed..... I gave it 2 hours backside down and then flipped it for the last hour.... I'm wondering now if I've been wrong all these cooks leaving thighs skin side up ---- next set of thighs I'm going to start them skin side down to see if that makes a difference.
 
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