Offset/Horizontal Smoker Modifications

Do you have a grill like the one above? These are commonly called Horizontal or Offset Smokers. These types of grills have some advantages over the vertical smokers in that they can be used as a large standard grill by just using the large cooking chamber to grill food over coals. So if you want a smoker that will allow you to also grill burgers and brats for 20 an Offset is the way to go. Vertical smokers have an advantage in that they hold the temp much more constant and thus make them easier to use when smoking for long periods of time.

Would you like the best of both worlds? Would you like an offset that will keep the temp more constant and even rival the consistency of the vertical smokers as well as have that large cooking area if needed? Would you like the temp on one side not be as much as 100 degrees different than the temp on the other side? Would you like the thermometer in the middle of the grill be at least somewhat accurate which is impossible when the thing is assembled out of the box due to the temperature fluctuations from left to right.

With less than $30 in materials you can do all of that. Click below to see how I did it.


The first mod I did to my grill was for the rotisserie attachment that is available for the Chargriller Smoker pro that I have and is in the picture at the top of this post. While the website does not say that the rotisserie really isn't designed for a grill with a fireside box, a couple of quick modifications solved this problem. One thing, you will need a Dremel or some other device that will grind metal. Dremels are not all that expensive and are extremely handy around the house so go get one.

The main problem with the rotisserie and the firebox is that the bracket that holds the rotisserie motor is supposed to go on the side with the firebox. With the firebox attachment there the bracket must go over to the side with the shelf. But the shelf does not leave enough room for the bracket. The shelf has three slats. Removing the slat closest to the grill makes room for the bracket. Makes the shelf a little smaller but you will survive. Here is a shot of my two slat shelf and the bracket in place:

The next problem is that the bracket props the lid up quite a bit. Doesn't allow the lid to close all the way. The handy dandy Dremel made quick work of this problem by grinding the bracket down a bit to make room for the lid to sit down completely. Make sure to wear eye gear and take all necessary precautions when grinding metal. Sparks will fly:

Here is the lid now sitting flush:

OK now on to the first modification to get the temp stabilized and evenly distribute the smoke. The problem with the firebox design is all the heat is concentrated right next to the firebox. Temp gauge on the grill might read 200, but it could be close to 250 next to the box and close to 150 on the other side. That heat cooks the meat on the right much faster than that on the left. Constant jostling of meat location will help offset that but that requires opening the lid numerous times and thus allows that great smoke to escape as well as the heat. Frequently opening the lid on the cook chamber will make cause the meat to take much longer to cook.

Time to install a baffle between the firebox and the main chamber. The baffle performs two tasks. First it shields the meat closest to the firebox from the direct heat from the fire. Aluminum is not a great conductor of heat and thus it acts as a heat sink between the fire and the meat. To do this I bought a disposable aluminum high sided pan that can be found at any grocery store. The sides are about 4 inches tall. I cut the pan essentially in half at a 45 degree angle. The angle of the cut goes along the bottom of the grill. The sides of the pan cover the hole between the firebox and the main chamber. This does not look pretty, but the inside of a BBQ rarely does if it has been used at all:

Here is a shot of the baffle from inside the firebox. You can see the small gap along the bottom which forces the fire down to the bottom of the chamber which is the second task the baffle performs:

Why is it a good idea to push the smoke down along the bottom of the chamber? Simple. Without the baffle the smoke rises out of the firebox, heads straight up and then travels the length of the chamber along the roof and exits the chimney. Everything right next to the firebox cooks faster and gets more smoke but requires constant jostling of the meat to get everything done at the same time. Two disposable aluminum cookie sheets, along with the baffle resolve this problem.

Take the two sheets and poke holes in them with a sharp. pointy knife. Here is the underside of one of my cookie sheets. As you can see the smoker gets a lot of work since the cookie sheet has a smoke ring!?!?!

Place the two cookie sheets sideways across the bottom of the chamber side by side with the edge of one being over part of the baffle:

The smoke is forced down by the baffle and under the cookie sheets. The smoke escapes from under the cookie sheets evenly throughout the chamber rather than just on the side with the firebox and along the roof. This is a pic of my first smoke after I made this mod and I was blown away by the results:

The smoke/heat baffle made the temp much more consistent throughout the chamber as well as the smoke distribution but it came with one downside. While the built in thermometer is much more accurate now that I made this modification, the temp is much lower. I was forced to start using lump charcoal to get the temp in the cooking chamber hot enough to smoke ribs for say 6 hours. And I was going through a ton of charcoal.

The firebox on this grill does not do a good job of keeping the main chamber hot. See the charcoal essentially sits in it's own ash and chokes the fire out the longer the session. I tried a couple of things that did not work or were dangerous. Finally I bought this at Lowe's:

How does one use a veggie grill basket in an offset smoker to increase the temp in the main chamber? Well this mod requires some mods to the basket before it will modify the grill. See, even without the handle (which detaches easily) the basket is too big for the firebox:

On the right it is being held up by the metal lip over the ash drawer:

And on the left side the other end of the basket is being propped up inside the cooking chamber:

So out comes the Dremel again:

In a matter of a couple of minutes, the wire metal arc is no longer attached to the basket:

And a few more minutes later the metal wire arc on the other side is gone too:

Now I have a metal basket but I need to elevate it off the bottom of the chamber to eliminate the problem with ash build up squelching the heat of the fire. Four 1.25 inch screws, some hex nuts and some washers solves that problem:

Place the screws, washers and nuts at the four corners of the basket near the bottom and now the grill basket is suspended over the ash drawer:

Here is a shot of from where the ash drawer would normally be showing how much space I now have between the bottom of the basket and the firebox. The coals will now be safely elevated above the ash:

If the ash does build up and gets close to the bottom of the basket with this grill I can simply slide out the ash drawer, dump the ashes, and reinsert the ash drawer.

Now one final mod. In order to keep the smoke from escaping out of the chimney too quickly I have extended the bottom of the chimney down to close to the top of the grill grates/cooking surface. This way the smoke cannot simply rise up and evacuate the chamber. The smoke needs to come back down to find the exit through the chimney and consequently pass over the meat a second time. With this model all I needed was a three inch diameter flexible aluminum duct that cost all of about $8:

Since the bottom of the chimney is nearly exactly 3 inches I broke out the Dremel yet again (See how handy this thing is) and cut a slit straight down at the top of the duct in order to get the duct around the chimney base:

Then I attached the end with the slit around the base of the chimney at the roof of my cooking chamber:


I stretched and bent the piece of duct around the raised shelf in the back of the cooking chamber on this model and cut off the the rest of the duct leaving the bottom just about an inch above the top of the grill grates:

Here is the grill lid being propped open by the Dremel to get a shot of how close the chimney comes to the top of the grill grates when the lid closed:


Next up: Covering the holes created for the rotiserrie with some sort of flange to seal them when not using the rotisserie:


Also, I may look at going reverse flow and actually moving the chimney to the side closest to the firebox and forcing the smoke to travel the length of the chamber along the bottom and then up and back across the meat. But that is an entirely different animal as it requires a cutting torch and some welding skills two things I do not have. That is for another post if my $30 mods are not enough.


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The Fool's Pappy's Inaugural Post - Rotisserized Pork Roast

**Editors note - This is the first contribution by the Fool's Pappy, now a fellow GrillinFool, to GrillinFools.com. I have to say he did a phenomenal job. The grilling is the easy part. Taking pictures of the process with a crappy digital camera so that they look as good as the shot above is the hard part. If you want to read more about how he prepared and grilled what is in the money shot above please click the link below...


The roast was caught on sale at a local grocer and as you can see is ‘netted’. Occasionally this is offered in half at sale pricing and you could purchase and tie together with butcher twine yourself and save a bit of cash.

Ingredients: Pork Roast, Garlic Cloves (sliced thin), sliced Red Onion, and KC Sweet and Smoky Rub (courtesy Master Raichlen).

Prep: Once the garlic and onion were sliced and the rod inserted I then placed the garlic and onion in between the pieces of roast **Editors note - as you can see below he left the garlic and onion slices sticking out in order to show where he was able to insert them between the two roasts. After the shot was taken he stuffed them all the way into the space between the two roasts.**

And then sprinkled rub liberally all over the roast:

Grill: Stainless Steel Barrel fabricated circa 1970 by G-fool’s Grandpa Russ. Russ is no longer with us but his memory lives on each time we utilize the grill he made and passed on to G-fool’s Pappy ( to be inherited by G-fool when Pappy moves on ). Many slabs of ribs were enjoyed over the years grilled at his lakeside home. We know he would be proud to see the grill still in use and treasured by us:


Coals were prepared and a simple drip pan created from aluminum foil was placed under the roast. I guess this achieves sort of a semi-indirect method:


Smoking Wood: For this one I discovered I was out of apple chips which I normally use (good prep eh?) but decided to use a blend of soaked wood chips I had consisting of sassafras, hickory, wild cherry, and apple. The flavor was quite tasty but I still prefer apple or cherry alone. Here is the loin on the rotisserie in the grill:

Soaked wood chips were added and the lid went down. I checked it about every 30 mins. to add additional charcoal and wood chips. This left significant time to enjoy a glass or two of a nice everyday white wine I’d recently found—Wine 4 Chillin’—at World Market. Believe it or not it was a box wine and wasn’t’ bad at all. They also offer a red blend—Wine 4 Grillin’—which is really nice (we had this one super Bowl Sunday). I’ve often been a fan of 'premium’ box wines and I’ve had many disagreements with G-fool about them but he drank his share Super Bowl Sunday. **Editor's note - thanks for pointing that out dad. I'm so embarrassed**

If you’re looking for a decent wine for an outdoor event with a group and looking to keep costs down they are a great alternative. These wines will be my everyday wines at the beach on vacation this year. The portability (4 bottle equivalent per box) is an important factor. I used to haul 3-4 cases of bottles each trip for the 8-10 of us that go and that really filled up the vehicle. Some others I’ve tried that are recommended are Black Box, Hardy’s, and Trove but just remember all box wines are not created equal. Expect to pay $15-22 per box—less than that usually indicates inferior quality in my estimation (just my opinion explore for yourself).

Cooking time: An hour and 15 to and hour and a half regardless of roast size as thickness is usually about the same. I don’t use a fancy-schmancy thermometer because I know it’s what works after many efforts over the years. The roast will arrive at the plate juicy and flavorful, not dried out and tough. Hint: spray rotisserie rod with cooking spray before using to aid in cleaning later. An electrical outlet is required or proper extension cord to reach your outdoor grill. ** Editors note - many modern rotisseries are battery operated**

30 minutes in:

60 minutes in:


Ready to pull from the grill:


Roast was allowed to rest ( foil-covered to keep warmth in ) for about 15 minutes prior to carving. Cut to desired thickness for dinner serving. I usually leave remaining portion intact and slice it thin for sandwiches later or chunks for pork hash. We ultimately produced 4 meals from this roast ( depending on number of diners ). Two adults and two kids initially were fed and the remainder provided 2 batches of pork hash ( a simple recipe to follow ) and enough to slice thin for a couple of hot pork sandwiches.

And here we have the money shot:


I was going to wrap the roast in bacon but after a near heart attack from the Bacon Explosion I decided to forego that idea and stay traditional.

Pork Hash Recipe: This would be a carryover from my youth when my folks were trying to stretch their food budget. It’s very simple. Boil a few potatoes (peeled and sliced into chunks) for 10-12 minutes till fork tender. Drain water and place in a warm skillet with a few dabs of heated bacon grease (pork fat does still rule) **Editor's note - this from the guy who decided against wrapping the roast in bacon but uses bacon grease to warm the pork up** and grate fresh pepper over them. Fry the potatoes til they gain that special crispness on the outside then add pork (cut into chunks or cubes) and a cup or so of diced onion. Fry together till all is browned and serve (salt to taste). If the bacon grease is not an option for you olive oil can be substituted. This simple creation remains one of my all-time favorites.

Pork Sandwiches: This is REALLY simple. Slice remaining pork into thin slices, drop into skillet with a bit of butter or margarine, and heat till edges begin to brown. Serve on bread with your favorite condiment ( I like a little salt, pepper, and mayo on mine ).

There you have it. G-fool’s Pappy’s first solo effort. **Editor's note - and a fine effort it was**


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