Simple, cheap way to turn your kettle grill into a smoker

Smoked meat. Just thinking of those two words makes my mouth start to water.

I can actually smell hickory or apple wood filling my nostrils. Living in Kansas City, smoking meat is just part of our culture.

Most people believe that they have to invest a lot of money and buy a smoker if they want to experiment with smoking meat. But that’s just not true. If you have a standard charcoal kettle grill (or need a reason to get a charcoal grill), you can smoke just like the pros. And I’m going to tell you how.

The secret is called the “snake (or fuse) method.” It’s an easy and foolproof way to turn your kettle grill into a smoker.

Now, I didn’t invent the snake method. In fact, it’s been around for a while, but only a few people seem to know about it. Once you try it, you’ll appreciate the sheer practicality of this approach.

Simply put, the snake method involves neatly stacking charcoal briquettes in a semi-circle, lighting one end and letting the charcoal burn like a slow-motion fuse. This provides a consistent source of heat and fuel so that you don’t have to continually feed the grill/smoker every hour or so. In the past, that was the downside of using your grill as a smoker; you had to add at least eight briquettes every hour or your fire would fizzle out.

Let’s get started, shall we?

First, determine how much time you need and what temperature you want to hit. If you’re going for a shorter cook, say two or three hours, you won’t need to stack as much charcoal as a six-hour cook.

Here’s a setup that can get you at least a four-hour cook. Start by placing 20 unlit briquettes against the curved inner wall of the grill, end to end, ensuring that they are in full contact with each other. This should take up about one third of the grill’s inside perimeter. Then, lay down another row of briquettes right next to the first row (toward the center of the kettle), ensuring you have full contact with the previously placed row of briquettes. Next, stack rows directly on top of the original two rows that were laid down. You’ll end up with a semi-circle of neatly stacked briquettes, two briquettes wide and two briquettes high.

On top of the briquettes, place chunks of smoking wood (dry, not soaked) starting from the side that you plan to light. Usually about three to four fist-sized chunks will work fine. You don’t want to over smoke your food.

Place an empty aluminum drip pan directly opposite of the briquettes. For most cooking sessions, you’ll add boiling water to this pan later to help moderate the temperature in the grill. Boiling water is used so that you don’t waste heat and fuel trying to get the water up to temperature. We’re trying to be as efficient as possible here.

Now that your kettle preps are done, it’s time to get things lit.

Place five to eight briquettes in a chimney starter. These are going to be the fire seeds for the cook. To light the chimney, take two paper towels and evenly pour two teaspoons of vegetable oil (used is OK) over them. Scrunch the paper towels together in a loose ball, place under the chimney and light one of the paper towel edges.

After all of the briquettes are fully lit and lightly ashed over, get some tongs and place the briquettes in contact with one end of the snake. I usually start on the right side. As I mentioned before, make sure the smoking wood starts on the same end that you’re igniting.

Place the lid on the grill, ensuring that the vents are over the “non-fire” side of the grill. After about 10 minutes, you’ll see the temperature start to stabilize. At this time, clean the grill grates, and put some boiling water in the drip pan, filling it about half full. Place your food on the grill, away from the briquettes. Close the lid (vents over the food) and there you have it. Your first snake method cook is underway. Wasn’t that easy?

For the first 20 minutes, monitor the heat. When the grill is about 30 to 50 degrees below your target temperature, start closing the bottom vents, but keep the top vents fully open. Most of the time, I’ll have the bottom vents one-half to one-quarter open.

This is just one example of how to use the snake method. Play around with it. Change up the width, the height and the length of the briquettes, depending on the amount of time and the temperature that you’ll need. Try three wide, by three high. Try extending the snake longer for a brisket or pork butt cook. Try fully opening the bottom vents for a higher heat cook.

The point is to experiment with the versatility of your kettle grill, and have fun cooking without having to spend all of your time babysitting the fire.

So I hope you’ll go get a couple of slabs of ribs, a brisket or a pork butt and give this method a try. As I always say, cooking outside tastes better and it’s a heck of a lot more fun.

Craig Jones is a live-fire cooking expert, the Grill Mayor for Food Network (2012), and owner of Savory Addictions Gourmet Nuts. He’s also a certified KCBS BBQ judge, a student of pizza crafting and an enthusiastic supporter of the greater Kansas City food scene.

This story was originally published September 23, 2015 at 2:13 PM with the headline "Simple, cheap way to turn your kettle grill into a smoker."