I've been smoking on my Weber Kettle every weekend, and usually at least twice during the work week for the last few months while I'm waiting for a buddy to come through with a load of drums for a mass UDS build.
I got plenty of information from a good friend that does this regularly, plenty of good information from reading threads here, and some just from trial and error.
If anything isn't described clearly enough, PM your email address, the # that is clear as dirt, and I'll send a few pictures to help explain.
Disclaimer: Just about everything I do has some level of 'over-kill' built into it. I've heard of the term KISS, but it's just too complicated for me to grasp :roll::crazy:. Caseydog's methods are probably going to get you exactly what I'm describing below, but like I said... His way sounded too easy. I'd be bored if I didn't try to make it more complicated.
1 - Cover 3/4 of the charcoal grill with foil. This will be the area 'away' from the fire'. This will force any air coming up through the vents to the fire and wood chips, and then back across the meat since the exhaust will be opposite of the fire.
2a - Flying or driving? If driving, head to your local 'brickyard' and pick up two fireplace bricks. About $2.25 a piece, and they'll be worth it. You'll leave them, or throw them out when you're done (I'd leave them hoping the next vacationer is a BBQ'er as well). You'll stagger the bricks across the 'fire' side of the kettle to form a wall under the cooking grill.
2b - If flying, once onsite, buy the biggest roaster disposable aluminum pan (DAP) you can find + a 2nd DAP to catch the drippings and/or fill with water as a heatsink/retention. This is the part that will be somewhat hard to describe... Take the big DAP roaster, flip it upside down, and place it on the charcoal grate. Take the 'fire side' of the DAP roaster and bend it up so that you're creating a wall/pocket for the coal to rest inbetween the roaster and the sidewall of the kettle. The 2nd DAP will sit on top of the first that is keeping the coal in place.
3 - Make a smoke bomb... I use a plastic cup to measure (about 16 oz.) full of wood chips and wrap in 3 layers of HD foil. Mash it down flat so that it'll fit on the charcoal grate nearly right in the center of the 'coal pocket'. Should be a bit bigger than your wallet if you've got the standard bi or tri-fold thing most guys carry.
3 - Take your coal pocket, and fill it 90% full of briquettes and another 8-12 oz. wood chips. Leave a space on the one edge of the coal pocket (think of a crescent moon, and you're starting via mini-minion @ the bottom of the moon), and put 6-8 lit coals there and pile as many more as you can across the coal pocket without messing up the stability of your cooking grate. Your smoke bomb should be completely covered, and not visible at all b/c it's beneath all that coal.
4 - Important... On the vents below, you'll barely at all move the vent to put the tiniest crack for air to enter via the bottom vents. 1/8" is nearly too big. I'm talking the absolute bare minimum so you can barely start to see sunlight through the vents if you were looking from the bottom of the kettle.
5 - Exhaust vents: close them 3/4 of the way. You're cutting back on the exhaust to leave just a sliver there as well with about 25% of the exhaust ports still open.
6 - Once you get those lit coals on, put that lid on. Acclimate yourself to always putting the exhaust opposite of the fire. Don't pull the lid at all except to put the meat on, or if you're going to mop, or tend the meat in some way...
Again, 6-8 lit briquettes (not more) and in about 20-30 minutes you should be right around 220°.
If I ignore the temptation to lift the lid and peak, I can hold 225-240° for 6+ hours. If I start too many briquettes, or if I have the bottom vents open too much, or if I lift the lid too much, the temps will race and my fuel will burn out MUCH quicker.
You can also add a 2nd smoke bomb @ the end of the fuel path (opposite end of the charcoal pocket from where you start with the 'mini-minion' method). Personally, I like the 1 big smoke bomb in the middle of the fire path, with two good handfuls of chips spread throughout the coal.
If you do have a Weber to work with, you should be good to go with these temp-mods. Other kettles might work just as well, so even if you get there and it doesn't say Weber, you're probably not out of luck. Just give it a shot.
Also... I went to my local "Target" store and found an el-cheapo ($17.00) wireless thermometer that I tie-wrap to a bamboo skewer, and then tie-wrap to the kettle handle. This lets the temp probe hang down into the kettle and give me updates on the kettle status while I float in the pool.
Tried to re-read all that, and it's perfectly clear to me! :shock:
Seriously... Anything you want clarified, just ask... :thumb:
