Making a charcoal smoker and grill combo is in fact an easy task that anyone can do. Grilling uses direct heat at high temperatures. This is the secret in smoking foods and the key thing to remember. Smoking requires food to be cooked with indirect heat at low and controlled temperatures. A smoker and grill combination can be built out of an old charcoal grill. This will only require you a minimum materials to be used. Materials such as old drum and trash can be used as materials for your combo grill. For first timers, the easiest to use is the old charcoal grill because the grill parts and body are already there. With this, you can grill and smoke at the same time.
Step #1: Prepare
Prepare all the necessary things that you’ll need such as charcoal grill, charcoal, lighter fluid, matches, flavored wood chips, small metal pan, cooking grate, and grill lid. Put ½ lb of charcoal into the grill and place the charcoal to one side. This is needed for smoking because smoking is done with indirect heat. Saturate the charcoal by pouring a lighter fluid over the charcoal. Allow the lighter fluid to soak into the charcoal for at least 5 minutes before igniting it with a match. Let the charcoals burn without cover for 20 minutes, or until red and hot.
Step #2: Soak
While waiting for the coals to be ready, soak a handful of flavored wood chips for at least 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, put the soaked wood chips on top of the hot coals to create a smoke. Soaking wood chips will provide smoke instead of simple burning as dry wood will do. Don’t forget to fill the small pan with water, and place the pan into the grill next to the hot coals.
Step #3: Arrange
Place in the cooking grate into the grill and place the food you want to smoke on top of the grate above the pan filled with water. The purpose of the water pan is to keep the environment inside the grill moist while the food is being cooked. If you want to grill foods and at the same time smoke the food in the grill, you can place the food directly on top of the hot coals. This will grill the foods using a direct heat. The food that you will put on top of the water pan will be receiving indirect heat.
Step #4: Cook
When the food is already arranged inside the grill, cover the grill with its lid. Whether you grill or smoke, ensure that the food is thoroughly cooked and tender. This will take around 3 to 5 hours of cooking. To make sure that you are maintaining the right temperature, insert a temperature gauge into one of the vents on the lid. You need to keep the temperature under 275 degrees F for smoking. If the temperature will go higher than 275, open the lid to cool it down a bit until it will go back to the proper temperature.
It’s amazing to make a charcoal smoker and grill combo. All you need are a few steps and voila! You’re ready to cook food inside your own barbecue grill.
