This build is a fair bit more complicated, but if you have the skills and equipment, it’s certainly a budget way to get yourself an offset smoker. I know some people do this, but I can’t bring myself to recommend it — to me, the risk of damaging your grill or starting a fire is too high. Zucchini strips: At 350 degrees Fahrenheit, we spread strips of zucchini across each grill to look for char marks to make sure grills were cooking evenly. Place your food directly on the cooking grate over an unlit burner on your gas grill and close the lid.

The Ironwood series also comes with Traeger's Downdraft exhaust, a convection feature that helps circulate smoke rather than channel it upward and out a chimney. While Traeger only offers basic "smoke" and "super smoke" (the latter is only available when cooking at temps lower than 225), the fan helps up the smoke level at higher temperatures far more than we've seen in any other smoker. Consider the positioning of the vents, smoke dispersion, and oxygen supply to ensure proper ventilation and air follow. Some smoker box pans have holes in the bottom. While holes or vents are important on the sides or top of the box to let the smoke out, holes in the bottom can let ash escape and cause the wood chips or pellets to catch fire, which can greatly lessen your smoking time. Lid You can control the temperature of the grill using WiFi and a connected device, which makes for truly hands-off cooking. Though, we did have some trouble connecting when the grill was placed relatively far from the router.

Wrap your wood pellets in foil until you have a pellet burrito. You then cut an air hole in the side of the lower pan and the top of the upper one.

Grill style: While smoking over hardwood is probably the most fun experience, not everyone wants to spend the better part of a day hunched over a fire. If you're a smoke enthusiast, opt for an offset or charcoal-powered smoker but be prepared for a learning curve. Otherwise, a pellet grill will get you good flavor (albeit not quite as smoky) and is almost entirely hands-off. If you want a do-it-all outdoor smoker that lets you grill, braise, bake, boil, and more, this is our favorite modular option. Over-grate smoker box — Most commonly rectangular in shape, in the form of a tube, tray, pouch, and more. Usually made of stainless steel. Cave Tools have been making high quality, specialist grilling equipment for years, so it stands to reason that this beauty sits at the top of my list. Between the double-walled stainless steel sides and the downdraft fan, you're going to get the most precise heat and smoke retention possible, which will also translate to better fuel efficiency. Where we saw upwards of 15-degree-Fahrenheit temperature fluctuations with other grills (Traeger's Pro model included), this one barely veered 5 degrees in either direction, and it stayed burning the longest without running out of pellets or reading an error message.

Sahara Barbecue Smoker Box

Disposable smoker box — Used only once. It’s made of aluminum foil. You can even make it yourself with foil pans and aluminum foil lids with holes. These boxes use wood chips and should be placed straight over the burners.

These handy grill tools feature a set of ventilation holes along their surface, and sit over your grill burners to allow smoke to bellow through your grill and infuse your food with incredible smoky flavor. Shape & Size: Some smokers are flat in shape, while some are v-shaped. With flat boxes, not all grills can accommodate them well, while v-shaped boxes tend to be able to slot between your burner covers quite well.

Features

You can cook poultry at a temp of up to 160 to 175 degrees Fahrenheit and red meats way up to 190 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Your box should be big enough to fit a good amount of wood chips, or you’ll have to refill often, especially when smoking bigger foods.

Wearing heatproof gloves and using tongs, retrieve the smoker box and set it down on a fire-proof surface. (The grate works if there’s room.) Open the lid and refill with chips. Close the lid and, again with the tongs, return the box to its position over the coals or burner. Once you’ve sourced your parts and tools, you can have your DIY ugly drum smoker built in an afternoon, and, best of all, you won’t need to weld anything. Pallet wood and aluminum screen door material are used to make the shelves that the food sits on and the bottom is a firebox made of aluminum flashing. When cooking, be sure to keep the lid of your grill closed. This will keep the smoke condensed in your grill’s barrel, and help make your food rich in smoky, BBQ goodness. Know what to expect if you use an under-grate smoker box. Because it sits closer to the flames, wood pellets or chips will burn faster, requiring you to fill the box more often to keep the smoke flowing.Why is this still controversial in 2023? No, for the love of Pete, don’t soak your chips. All that happens is you need to boil off all that water before the chips can start smoldering. There’s no benefit to soaking. The only other option for smoke on a gas grill is to put wood directly on the flavorizer bars or heat deflectors. (Those are the tent-like features that stop drippings from hitting the burners.) Keep grilling gloves and tongs on hand. Any barbecue smoker box that you use is going to become extremely hot. Keep grilling gloves or tongs on hand in case you need to move or refill the box mid-smoke.