Quote:
Originally Posted by ucla695
That's very helpful! I was thinking of buying a OTG 26" to use as a grill/smoker and you just helped push me over the edge. Thanks!   |
Welcome. Just PM me or start a thread in good eats (there are a few other people here who have similar modified webers - a few extra heads/ideas/experience rarely hurts anything) if you have any specific questions once you start setting it up and operating it.
The one downside to having a single weber that you will go back and forth with is that you're pulling the firebricks, drip pan and coal grate foil in and out every time you convert from grill to smoker. Now, if you are set up as a smoker, and you don't have a large quantity of meat to grill, you can just leave it set up as a smoker and just grill over the small area where you dump the lit coals.
Couple tips:
-only use firebricks. They are about $3 at ace hardware. I know some people use red clay bricks, but those can shatter under heat and the heat dispersing properties of the firebricks are superior anyway.
-you don't have to grind or cut the firebricks to fit perfectly or fit the curve of the kettle. I did simply because I had the tools and blades to do it (skillsaw with dry masonry diamond blade and 4-1/2" angle grinder and composite masonry discs) I would not have bought them for this. Firebrick is also very soft and easy to work with if you do choose to though.
-you do need to foil the area of the coal grate below where the food will be, even with a drip pan. This is to prevent crazy airflow and drafts inside the smoker.
-Get a permanent pen (a sharpie, not a big ol' magic marker), take the ash can off the bottom of the grill, close the vents fully, then start slowly opening the vents, the moment you just see the edge of the blade pass the opening, exposing a clear passage to the cooking chamber, stop and clearly mark this point on the shield that is around the lever (the shield that supports the ash can). Edge the vents open some more, until you get to 25-30% exposure, stop, mark this point. Open them some more until you reach 50%, mark that. then 75% and finally just when you hit 100%. This will help you quite a bit with controlling temps, since now you will have a much better idea how far your vents are open.
-Don't be afraid when cooking at low temps to simply close the bottom vents all the way if you think that's what you need to do to keep the temps down. So long as you have the top vent open, enough air leaks by on the OTs that the coals will not go out but rather just burn very slowly and at low temp.
-It's like a WSM when it comes to smoke wood - the equivalent of one or two first sized pieces is plenty. Sometimes you don't even need that much.
A couple cooks and you'll have it down.