The 'Groker' - another gadget for turning a kettle into a smoker

[W Tyler]

So, it's just a square pan attached to the underside of the cooking grate - but not bad for what it is. Less than 20 bucks and you're done. The immediate thing that comes to mind after seeing the video is "Why not just go down to my local Walmart and buy the pan and a couple of stainless screws and do it myself?" (or just grab an old one from my current home stock)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Groker-Insert-Instantly-turns-your-charcoal-grill-into-a-BBQ-water-smoker-/200949875327?pt=Barbecues_Grills_Smokers&var=&hash=item2ec98bc27f

 

[~Mark~]

Yea, I'm not that impressed.
He's basically just adding cake pan to the bottom of the grill grate.
I know, my WSM was a few cents more, but it runs almost all day at 250 with very limited input from me. How often would you have to open the grill up during a 8 pound PB smoke with only 14 pieces of charcoal in the smoker?
Good idea, just not practical.

 

[W Tyler]

Mark,

He'll probably do fairly OK early on, because his "hook" is twofold: -cheap- and -easy-. He really should fab up a coal ring (or square basket) to sit under the pan if he wants to maximize the potential of his setup. Of course people like us who have WSMs, kettles with our own one-off smoking solutions, BGEs, Primos, etc., we'll never buy a contraption like this when we can do better. But to the greater market, the 90+% of Weber Kettle users who use their kettle only to grill, this could be an appealing add-on for reason stated earlier (-cheap- and -easy-).

 

[OGlenn]

Here is how to make a simple heat deflector and use most of your grate surface for low 'n slow: Get a 18"-20" pizza pan, drill 4 evenly spaced holes around the edge, string a solid piece of aluminum or copper wire through the holes and add a loop on the end to attach it under your grill grate. Hook it on the grate and get to cooking. Minion or snake method for the charcoal will work fine and your entire grate is now indirect.