1000 – Transform Your 22" Weber Kettle

Smokenator 1000 is awesome! Won't write review on product itself since there are plenty of those out there. Instead will offer some tips and advise on how to use it that helped me out a lot. I saw somewhere on a review on another site to try a couple different things. Get rid of the water pan that it comes with and use a larger one. Then you can add more briquettes in the space where pan goes. It makes big difference.Here is how I use smokenator. When I start it I fill the smokenator up with charcoal and poke and prod at it until i can fill as full as I can. Then remove 12 briquettes and light them in the chimney starter. Then obviously place coals back in Smokenator. Add some wood chips to coals. Bottom vent is open all the way and so is the top. Place drip pan below meat, place grill on, then place bigger water pan filled with water next to coals on grill not on top of coals. Then put meat on grill. Put lid on so vent is opposite coals and over the meat.In about 30-45 min bbq temp will be about 250-275 on dome. (I use a candy thermometer in top vent pointed right above where meat is). Then I close top vent to just past half and leave bottom vent open all the way still. About 1.5-2 hours the heat kicks up another notch to about 300 on dome as more of the coals get lit. That's when I close bottom vent 3/4 and top 3/4. This for my grill keeps things steady at 250-260 for hours. With bigger water pan you don't have to add water every 20-30 min like you do with the one the Smokenator comes with. I may have to add water once an hour or hour and a half. With larger water pan and using standard Kingsford coals, I consistently get 6-7 hours cook time. Using original Smokenator method that the directions came with I would only get 4 hours maybe before adding coals.This is the way to go for a Weber. I have the 2 baskets for indirect grilling and tried those. Tried the snake method also and it worked ok. Also tried Minion method before we got Smokenator. Again it worked ok. Nothing works as good as Smokenator for Weber kettle. The beauty of it is when most of the coals are lit and is about 3/4 full. It can go for hours without adding coals. I don't add coals until after 5 hours or so. Did I mention Smokenator is awesome?Again one of the best tips I found with Smokenator and use every time is get larger water pan and fill Smokenator with more coals. Longer cook time with coals and less fuss with water pan. We just did a Chuck roast and made pulled beef and had French Dip. Turned out great. Try the Smokenator. It is one of those things you wish you had years ago. You wont be sorry.Only gave 4 stars because size of water pan is small. If it was bigger than would have been 5 stars for sure. Still the smokenator is awesome and use it all the time. Definitely a must have if you have a Weber kettle.Use 24 unlit coals. Light 24 coals = 48 total coals. Leave bottom vent open and top vent open until heat reaches 400. Turn top vent half open leave bottom vent wide open. Spatchcock a chicken and cook breast side up for 1 hour or until done.Update: 5/14/16 Works just as good two years later as the day I bought it. Not only good for slow and low but can also use higher heat indirect cooking.

First off, the Smokenator is fun to use! Even though low and slow takes more time and effort than simply grilling, I found myself cooking outdoors more simply because it's fun and relaxing.Secondly, this thing is really easy to use. Really if you just follow the instructions you'll be smoking meat like a pro on your first night! The only thing that makes smoking meat easier is installing a PartyQ or IQue 110 along side, which I eventually did. Another recommendation I would add is to invest in good thermometers. I'm using a Marverick ET732 and a Thermapen in addition to the PartyQ. You can never have enough good thermometers when smoking if you ask me.Other notes I'd like to share is be sure to clean out the water pan after every use and be sure to make sure that there is water in that pan. If you don't the char will get crusted on and it's a pain getting it off. Also, I may have missed it in the instruction manual but per the Smokenator video on YouTube, I found it's best to put the unlit coals and wood off to the sides in the Smokenator and to put the freshly lit coals under the water pan. When I sit the coals after a few hours I usually shift the newer coals closer to the middle under the water pan. This way it is also easier to refill the Smokenator with new unlit coals if you need to do longer smokes.Lastly, if you get pretty good at it make sure you let people taste your work. I've gotten several of my friends hooked and they often will buy a rack of ribs, whole chickens, or rib roasts for me to cook for them. Other than having the fun of cooking the meats, all I ask in return is a portion of the meat for me to eat later on.Sorry, one last thing I did want to mention is that my brother, who owns an electric smoker used to be the king of BBQ in our family. With my Webber One Touch Gold and Smokenator I can honestly say that you will get better results with this simple but ingenious tool.Just to be fair, if I did have one gripe with this product it's only that I didn't buy a 26" Webber and the Smokenator 2600. Trust me you'll definitely wish you had the extra space once you start getting into it.