AmazingRibs.com is supported by our Pitmaster Club. Also, when you buy with links on our site we may earn a finder’s fee.
Click to see how we test and review products.
Grill And Smoker Setup And Firing Up (1 Page, 18 Articles)
Published On: 5/6/2019 Last Modified: 6/16/2025
What’s the best way to set up your grill or smoker? The secret is to have temperature control, and for grills, that almost always means using a 2-zone setup. For smokers, the secret is to get a small hot fire that makes clean “blue” smoke rather that billowy white smoke. And yes, you can use a plain old grill, gas or charcoal, as a smoker.
How to Set Up a Charcoal Grill for Smoking or Grilling
Get the most out of your charcoal grill by setting up 2 heat zones, direct and indirect. This set up allows you to control your temperature.
Using the Vents to Control Temperature on Charcoal and Wood Burning Grills and Smokers
Read this article to learn how to use the two vents to control temperature in a charcoal or wood grill or smoker.
The Best Setups For Gas Grills, Maintenance, And Troubleshooting
You can set up a gas grill to get great smoke roasted BBQ if you know how. Here's how they work, the best setups, and how to maintain them.
How to Set Up and Modify Offset Smokers And Barrel Smokers
Find out how to setup and modify inexpensive offset smokers to get the best possible BBQ with the least possible expense.
The Thermodynamics of Cooking and How Different Cooking Methods Work
Learn about thermodynamics: the basis of all cooking! Find out how heat transference works in your grill, bbq, and smoker.
What You Need to Know About Wood, Smoke, And Combustion
Learn all about wood smoke and how it adds flavor to BBQ. Discover the truth behind the claim that different woods have different flavors.
Charcoal Science: How Charcoal Is Made And How Charcoal Works
Ever wonder how barbecue charcoal is made? Here's an inside look at the process. We also explain which kind is best and how to use it.
Spring Into Peak BBQ Season With Our Checklist
Getting ready to fire up for BBQ season? Check out our must-have BBQ season checklist of tips to kick things off right.
Cleaning And Maintaining Your Grill Or Smoker
Greasy grill grates make food taste bad and gunk on the inside can reduce heat transference. Here's how to clean and maintain your grill.
How to Fight Mold in Your Smoker or Grill
Mold in your BBQ grill is a common problem. Learn how to quickly and safely remove mold that has built up on your grill grates.
How to Calibrate Your Grill or Smoker with Dry Runs
Calibrate your cooker. Here's how to prepare your cooker with a dry run so you can control its temperature when it's showtime.
When To Put A Lid On It
Lid up or lid down? It's a question that comes up on the patio as often as it does in the bathroom. Answer: it depends.
How to Grill With Wood and Master Campfire Cooking
Once you cook with wood and enjoy the high heat and incredible smoke flavors, you will want to cook this way again and again.
Stickburning: Smoking With Wood
Here's everything you need to know about smoking meat with wood logs, including working with different styles of barbecue pits.
The Amazing Pit Barrel Cooker: Setup, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques
Take a look at the Pit Barrel Cooker, an amazing smoker and grill. We give you all the tips and tricks you need to get the best BBQ out of it
How to Build a Hog Pit from Concrete Blocks
How to build a barbecue pit for cooking a whole hog from concrete block, including illustrated plans with dimensions and various designs.
How to Grill and Smoke in Cold Weather
Learn some nifty tricks for insulating and protecting your cooker so you can beat the cold, rain, snow, and wind.Related articles
- How to Grill and Smoke Everything
- How To Use Drip Pans And Water Pans In Your Smoker Or Grill
- How To Make “Close Proximity Smoked Fish”
- Tailgating And Camping Checklist
- Parts To Repair, Modify, And Upgrade Your Grill Or Smoker
- BBQ And Kitchen Tools, Toys, And Accessories Rated And Reviewed (23 Pages)
- Ratings And Reviews Of Hundreds Of Grills, Smokers, Hog Roasters, And More (8 Pages, 19 Articles)
- 2 Zone Grilling Setup: How Best To Control Temperatures On A Grill
- How to Set Up a Charcoal Grill for Smoking or Grilling
- Using the Vents to Control Temperature on Charcoal and Wood Burning Grills and Smokers
- The Best Setups For Gas Grills, Maintenance, And Troubleshooting
- How to Set Up and Modify Offset Smokers And Barrel Smokers
- The Thermodynamics of Cooking and How Different Cooking Methods Work
- What You Need to Know About Wood, Smoke, And Combustion
- Spring Into Peak BBQ Season With Our Checklist
- Cleaning And Maintaining Your Grill Or Smoker
- How to Fight Mold in Your Smoker or Grill
- How to Calibrate Your Grill or Smoker with Dry Runs
- When To Put A Lid On It
- How to Grill With Wood and Master Campfire Cooking
- Stickburning: Smoking With Wood
- Top Tips And Accessories For The Weber Smokey Mountain
- The Amazing Pit Barrel Cooker: Setup, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques
- How to Build a Hog Pit from Concrete Blocks
- How to Grill and Smoke in Cold Weather
- BBQ & Grilling Technique, Science, And Mythbusting (12 Pages, 65 Articles)
- Charcoal Science: How Charcoal Is Made And How Charcoal Works
Related reviews
High quality websites are expensive to run. If you help us, we’ll pay you back bigtime with an ad-free experience and a lot of freebies!
Millions come to AmazingRibs.com every month for high quality tested recipes, tips on technique, science, mythbusting, product reviews, and inspiration. But it is expensive to run a website with more than 2,000 pages and we don’t have a big corporate partner to subsidize us.
Our most important source of sustenance is people who join our Pitmaster Club. But please don’t think of it as a donation. Members get MANY great benefits. We block all third-party ads, we give members free ebooks, magazines, interviews, webinars, more recipes, a monthly sweepstakes with prizes worth up to $2,000, discounts on products, and best of all a community of like-minded cooks free of flame wars. Click below to see all the benefits, take a free 30 day trial, and help keep this site alive.
Post comments and questions below
1) Please try the search box at the top of every page before you ask for help.
2) Try to post your question to the appropriate page.
3) Tell us everything we need to know to help such as the type of cooker and thermometer. Dial thermometers are often off by as much as 50°F so if you are not using a good digital thermometer we probably can’t help you with time and temp questions. Please read this article about thermometers.
4) If you are a member of the Pitmaster Club, your comments login is probably different.
5) Posts with links in them may not appear immediately.
Moderators