Apartment Limits - Smoking W/Q200

So I live in an apartment complex with strict no wood/charcoal rule. Electric or Propane are the only acceptable "grilling" approaches. So, fine I'll "grill" with propane while inadvertently smoking some ribs. Heh heh! Made up a few pouches of hickory/apple chips, got the old Weber Q200 (CraigsList score) going. Set on high then dialed down to medium low. I had bought a griddle for the Q200 and am using it as heat shield for the ribs so they are not exposed to direct flame.

The pouch(es) sit on the grill, a few inches above the flame, smoking away, similar to smoking on a Weber Kettle with chips. It is a cool windy day, so the smoke gets moved out fairly quick, good for stealth smoking. Even if I have to move the ribs into the kitchen oven to finish, at least they will have some real hickory tickling them along the way!

Next time I will mix a few pieces of charcoal in the foil packet to at least give the meat a hint of the charcoal flavor my wife loves.

Weber Q200 stealth smoker



We have a bit of smoke ... 2nd pouch on after 45 minutes.

Second go at ribs on the Propane Weber Q200. A bit of Philippine joy at the table too. Pork ribs, homemade rub, Smoking Okey's BBQ sauce, even a bit of banana ketchup in there too. And the infamous San Miq to wash it down. Hoorah! Life is good!

Thanks guys!

Appreciate your kind comments and thumbs up, SmittyJonz, Big_George's_BBQ, and everyone else as well!

KB_BBQ: Yes, we have plans for our own place as soon as we can. Probably a year or so away. A covered deck with a BBQ area is definitely part of the dream!

Rockinar: I can understand that. Up here in the Northwest, we get a lot of liquid sunshine, so our "out in the open" grill time can be limited, at least until summer arrives in it's full glory.

D&D_BBQ: I'm pretty sure the Pellet Poopers are not allowed, since they are wood based. Yes, I know, the smoke from the pouches would technically violate the spirit of their restrictions, but like I said, I'm pretty stealth oriented at the moment.

I'm not much into the Pellet Path, to be honest. I brought a couple of bags of pellets over to the Philippines when I was living there. They never gave me the smoke flavor that chips and chunks did. So while I think they are great as a heat source and for secondary "wood combustion" flavor, they are not on my as a primary player.

The wife wants a Weber charcoal setup, probably a Summit, since she wants something with hinged lids. (Yes I know about the aftermarket hinges for the Weber Kettles and are the next choice if budget is tight.) But she's pretty happy with the flavor we are turning out on the little Q200. And she loves the convenience of propane. So a larger propane smoker will be investigated as well when the day comes we have our own roof over our heads.

Wow, thanks for the encouragement and advice, guys!

EricD: Yes, a very good idea. I am looking for one (actually two) that will fit the Q200 with griddle in place. The packets I make now last for about 30 minutes each, which is nice. Two or three make for a good smoking session on the ribs.

DBBQ: Liberty Call! Were you in Olongapo/Subic or Clark? I spent 10 years up in Baguio City after I retired from the my job. I missed visiting PI in the service and only got as far as Guam. I love the islands and miss them dearly.

WilliamKY: Wow, that is drastic, not even propane or electric allowed? They are not that drastic on us, but they are "grilling" oriented, not smoking. And zero wood, so I'm kinda stealthy with the pouches. Luckily, the wife loves to baste stuff she cooks, which smokes a lot also and gives me some cover for why we have the thin grey cloud coming out of our "griller".

ShadowDriver: Thank you very much. I'll tip my next one to you.

WetSmoke: I have run across one of his videos and adopted his foil pouch for my use. Before mine were much more "wrinkly" when finished. Heh! Heh!

One of the challenges is that you need some higher heat to get the wood chips going, but then you want to lower the temps the ribs cook at which is hard to control with the Q200. No two zone cooking with it since the burner is one piece so it's either on or off, though there is a volume control.

I've found that using the griddle as a heat shield works, but I have to get the meat up and off the griddle with a cooling rack. Ideally I should look at getting a thin stainless steel plate (smoking plate) cut to fit the grill grates and a wire rack that fits the smoking plate so the meat can sit above the heat.

Next month I will add a probe thermometer to the set up so I can actually see what is going on temp wise. Right now we are cooking ribs in 2 1/2 hours. Basically 1 1/2 hours smoking, 45 minutes wrapped with some juice or water, and then 15 minutes to firm up the bark before pulling them off.

I will look for the Fire Escape Griller and see what he has been doing for any ideas I can adopt. Thanks much!