Weber Summit smoke box help


 
K

Kevin_K

TVWBB Member
Let me start by saying that I bought my Summit knowing that the smoke box could not be used to make the grill function as a true smoker. Having said that, is there some trick to getting it to add any smoke flavor at all to food?

I bought a bag of Weber pecan wood chips, soaked them for 30 minutes per the instructions on the bag, then followed the instructions in the grill's manual for filling and lighting the smoke box burner. I cooked a batch of boneless skinless chicken breasts. I left the grill closed for most of the duration of the 24-minute cook. It seemed like a lot (most?) of the smoke was escaping through the hole in the side of the grill closest to the smoke box. The chicken breasts didn't have any detectable smoke flavor. Did I do something wrong or is the smoke box essentially worthless?
 
Been saying this a long time. The smoke has to come up and around the food, not be at the same level as the food. If it's released at the same level hot air convection simply pulls it out and away. It's all for show. Make a foil pack, and put your foil pack of chips on the burner tent. It's how a lot of us do it and it works just great
 
LMichaels said:
Been saying this a long time. The smoke has to come up and around the food, not be at the same level as the food. If it's released at the same level hot air convection simply pulls it out and away. It's all for show. Make a foil pack, and put your foil pack of chips on the burner tent. It's how a lot of us do it and it works just great
Click to expand...

Does the foil pouch need to be perforated, or will enough smoke escape from where the foil is folded over that additional holes aren't required?

Also when you say "on the burner tent", do you mean just lay the pouch perpendicular across the flavorizer bars?

I wonder how Weber, a company who has been making grills for a very long time, wasn't able to figure this out. The space taken up by the smoke box could have been used for a couple extra inches of grate room.
 
For more smoke, I’d do a smoke generator tube and use pellets in it. I do this to cold smoke salmon and the smoke flavor is very present.

I have a summit s670 and the smoke box, imo, doesn’t lay down much smoke.

Smoke Tube for Pellet Smoker, 12'' Smoker Tube Pellet Grill Accessories, Premium Stainless Steel Pellet Tube for all Grill or Smoker - Hot or Cold Smoking Generator for Electric Gas Charcoal Grilling https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JGVBKN3/?tag=tvwb-20
 
I simply make a foil pouch and make some little slits. Works for me. I lay them on the flavorizers FWIW
 
Brett-EDH said:
For more smoke, I’d do a smoke generator tube and use pellets in it. I do this to cold smoke salmon and the smoke flavor is very present.

I have a summit s670 and the smoke box, imo, doesn’t lay down much smoke.

Smoke Tube for Pellet Smoker, 12'' Smoker Tube Pellet Grill Accessories, Premium Stainless Steel Pellet Tube for all Grill or Smoker - Hot or Cold Smoking Generator for Electric Gas Charcoal Grilling https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JGVBKN3/?tag=tvwb-20
Click to expand...

Do pellets work a lot better than wood chips?
 
Kevin_K said:
Do pellets work a lot better than wood chips?
Click to expand...
Yes. Substantially.

When using pellets in a smoke tube you need to light a small portion of the pellets. Once lit, you need to then blow the fire out so the pellets are smoldering. This is how they make the most smoke. If you just let the pellets burn, you won’t get enough smoke.
 
Brett-EDH said:
Yes. Substantially.

When using pellets in a smoke tube you need to light a small portion of the pellets. Once lit, you need to then blow the fire out so the pellets are smoldering. This is how they make the most smoke. If you just let the pellets burn, you won’t get enough smoke.
Click to expand...

So is the overall procedure:

1. fill smoke tube with pellets
2. place tube across flavorizer bars
3. manually light a small portion of the tube (probably the end of the tube because it's easiest to reach?)
4. turn on grill, preheat, and cook
 
This topic comes up from time to time, and Meathead explains it pretty well:

amazingribs.com

What You Need to Know About Wood, Smoke, And Combustion

Learn all about wood smoke and how it adds flavor to BBQ. Find out whether you should be using wood chunks, chips, pellets, logs, or sawdust in your cooker. Discover the truth behind the claim that different woods have different flavors.
amazingribs.com
 
Kevin_K said:
So is the overall procedure:

1. fill smoke tube with pellets
2. place tube across flavorizer bars
3. manually light a small portion of the tube (probably the end of the tube because it's easiest to reach?)
4. turn on grill, preheat, and cook
Click to expand...
I light the tube vertically. Let it get going well then set it on its side
 
Fill tube 2/3 full
Light just a tip of the pellets using the side burner
Once lit, around 3-5 mins, stand tube vertical (tube will be hot, use heat proof gloves)
Let fire burn in vertical position for 2-3 mins
With your strongest lungs, blow the flame out
Blowing the flame out might take a few tries. Be strong.
Place smoking tube on the grate, away from fire and let it smoke away.

This amount of pellets will smoke for up to 2 hours.
 
I use pellets a lot in my "smokers" :D Whether foil packs or the little stainless steel water tray from a Weber Genesis smoker. I never light them. They smoke jus fine. One thing I love about using the pellets is the ones I buy have all my fav woods already in them. And they work great plus VERY economical. And hell I have about 150#s on hand right now and as I type my pellet popper is cooking one of my "little chickens"
 
Brett-EDH said:
Fill tube 2/3 full
Light just a tip of the pellets using the side burner
Once lit, around 3-5 mins, stand tube vertical (tube will be hot, use heat proof gloves)
Let fire burn in vertical position for 2-3 mins
With your strongest lungs, blow the flame out
Blowing the flame out might take a few tries. Be strong.
Place smoking tube on the grate, away from fire and let it smoke away.

This amount of pellets will smoke for up to 2 hours.
Click to expand...

Should you put the lit/smoking tube under the grates and not on top of them? That's what @DanHoo and @LMichaels said above.
 
TBH I used smoke tubes most on my pellet to get more smoke. I used tubes a couple times on my silver B and put the tube on the Flav bar. I put my griddle over it to shield it from drips. Ran front burner on low.

I haven't used a smoke tube since my kids gave me the smoke daddy magnum P. I. g

In fact I'm cold smoking tri tip right now. I'll give it an hour cold smoking then light some coal.

20230219_153749.jpg
 
DanHoo said:
I've used smoke tubes. Set it under the grate on Flav bars.
Click to expand...

If I follow your procedure above to light the pellet tube, finish my grilling, and the pellets in the tube are still smoldering but the tube is sitting underneath the grill grates (and on top of the flavorizer bars), what is the safest and easiest way to put it out? The grill grates are going to be extremely hot for a while after I turn the grill off and I don't like the idea of letting the smoke tube continue to smolder after I've gone inside (plus it wastes whatever pellets are left in the tube).
 
Why are you wanting to "put it out"? I just let it smolder and once everything has cooled I pull up my grate, remove the smoke box and cover the grill
 
The smoke tubes I have can smoke for hours if they are filled when they are lit. If you only want an hour or two of smoke, fill them part way.

If the tube is still smokin at the end of a cook and you want to save the pellets, dump the pellets in a CI skillet or SS drip pan and spread them to a single layer and they will go out.

Pellets are not very expensive. I just dump them in a metal ash bucket.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top