[Kathy's Smokin']

I've never set it up that way. I usually have so much to smoke that it takes all available space -- anything that needs to be seared or grilled goes on the gasser. In my experience with this smoker a grill triple wrapped in aluminum foil wouldn't give the meat enough protection during smoking. I use a cookie sheet over the smoking stone where the two short ends have next to no direct exposure to heat coming up around the stone -- the two long sides are more in line with the stone so they allow the heat to come through fully on those long sides. Even with added protection from the cookie sheet I still get overcooking on those long sides while away from them the cooking is good. I think a pizza pan cut in half would be better than foil but I feel more protection is necessary to smoke low and slow without the stone. What about using both halves of the pizza pan and sandwiching a slimmer piece of brick or maybe a few ceramic tiles to create insulation/more protection? You'd have to check into the food safety of what you sandwich in between. Allign it all so it looks like a half moon smoking plate. The smoking will likely go on longer than the searing/grilling, why not put the stone back when you've finished grilling -- or keep the stone in until you start grilling?