How To Set Up A Charcoal Grill For Smoking

Smoke Meat with your Weber Kettle - EASY SETUP!

WHAT MALCOM USED IN THIS RECIPE:

You don’t have to have a big, expensive smoker in order to produce some good smoked meat and barbecue. All you need is a weber kettle – or any good charcoal grill – and a little know-how.

To convert your charcoal grill into a smoker you don’t need much. I use a ½ size aluminum pan, a chimney of hot coals and a few, small pieces of wood.

To start, you first place a ½ size aluminum pan on one side of your grill. This will be your cool zone – and it’s where you will place the meat you want to smoke. Then you can fill the other side with your hot coals and wood to create your hot zone.
Now you’ve got everything set-up to smoke on your charcoal grill. I’m using a weber kettle and it’s one of my favorite grills I own – it’s very versatile.

Once you get your coals and wood in your grill and you’re ready to smoke some barbecue or BBQ, you need to set both your top and bottom vents to be open about 25%. You want a little airflow, but you don’t want too much or your fire will burn hotter and you won’t be smoking your meat at a low n’ slow temp.

Now that your charcoal grill is set for smoking, all you have to do it put your meat on and monitor the internal temp.

With this set up you can smoke just about anything on the Weber as long as it fits on the rack above the drip pan.

Connect With Malcom Reed:

[hopeturner]

Thank you for this. My husband usually smokes the meat on the Weber, but he has to work all weekend. I’m going to surprise him with a brisket. Wish me luck!

[Oheeeoh]

One of the things I really like about your channel is your not a snob when it comes to equipment or methods.    Thanks for the great info!

[tybo]

This is the method my dad taught me back when I was a kid in the 80's.
...those hinged grates are nice. Back in the day, I had to lift the grate off with welding gloves while my dad threw in more charcoal or wood.

The Weber Kettle might be the most versatile cook system mankind has ever created.

[Daddyoftam]

Malcolm doesn't note this, but notice he puts the lid vent over the cool side of the rack. This will help the smoking method as the smoke will need to cross over the meat to exit the lid.

[hellfacebstrd]

Just wanted to say that this video is STILL helping people. I learned to smoke chicken from you exactly like this and it's amazing.

[de.velop]

I found this video 8 years ago when I bought my first Kettle. I’ve cooked on it hundreds of times and I still come back to videos like this.

[namco]

He sold me when I saw him wearing Crocs

[perezdr]

Short, sweet, and to the point. Great video...thanks.

[ArkansasBadBoy]

I did this for so many years and it really brings back memories. I still have my 18 inch Weber Kettle to this day and it is solely for my wood-fired cooking with post oak, mainly searing steaks and cooking pizza on my cast iron pizza pan. Good stuff :)

[Coolarj]

Awesome video, this was exactly what we needed to convert our Weber grill into a smoker! Worked great for ribs on Father’s Day!! I’m also so glad I caught your video on controlling temperature, because our internal temp was flying from 300 to 400F but thanks to you we managed to figure out how to maintain it closer to 300F for a majority of the 3 hours, and we needed to re-add coals once.

[carlosclark]

This was a great video! I love the smell of charcoal and wood. I normally let the wood I smoke soak before I throw it on the grill.

[hypotheticalsinglewoody]

3 minute video, straight to the point. Amazing. Thanks

[SamYung]

I have learned more from your video in 45 seconds than I have in other people's 7-min. videos.

[chuckroast]

Malcom, I love your videos and since I don't have a smoker, I searched "how to smoke on weber" and here you are. Your recipes I'm trying are getting great compliments. Thank you for posting and keep up the great work. God bless you, brother

[TheMikeG]

I just got a charcoal Weber style grill like that. This is the 3rd or 4th video I’ve seen about doing ribs and I gotta tell you sir, it is by far the most informative and to the point. Can’t wait to try it. Cheers

[ktorbs]

Thanks so much for the very helpful video! Didn't want to spend money on a smoker if I didn't need to, but tired of making my pork for BBQ in a slow cooker with liquid smoke. I appreciate it!

[sirargolic]

I just started learning how to smoke meats and proper grilling techniques. I don't want to watch anyone else but this big haas, he makes things easy and he damn well knows what he is talking about, thank you for filming these.

[ATDistinction]

Dude... Thank you! I know this vid is many years old, but it will forever be relevant!

[chesneyfleming]

Heard about five seconds of your accent, and I knew I'd be in until the end! Love it.

[John-rwzf]

I'm a first time viewer and I like this guys style already. I just bought my first smoker and I can use some simple common sense guidelines like this. I truly don't expect to ever become a fancy cook. I don't like to over complicate things. The KISS phrase often works for me. KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID. That advice is strictly for myself. The quicker and easier I can get my dinner the better. That's not saying I want to settle for bad cooking. I just want to keep the entire process refined and uncomplicated. Thanks for the great video.