How to Shut Down a Smoker: Charcoal, Pellet, Gas and Electric

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Once the meat comes off the smoker, it’s easy to get busy slicing, serving and making sure there’s something left for the cook, but the smoker still needs a little attention before you call it a day. Turning off the heat, putting out the remaining fuel and letting everything cool are part of finishing the cook.

The procedure depends on what you’re cooking with, since a pellet grill needs a different shutdown routine than a charcoal smoker, and turning off a controller doesn’t always mean the fire is out. Here’s how to handle the common smoker types, what to do with the ashes and when it’s okay to clean up and put the cover on.

Start With Your Smoker’s Shutdown Instructions

Use the shutdown procedure in your owner’s manual whenever it differs from general advice. Controllers, cooling fans, charcoal hoppers and gas valves vary between models, and a step that makes sense on one smoker may interfere with the way another one shuts down.

This guide covers a normal shutdown after cooking. A grease fire, hopper fire, gas leak or other malfunction calls for the manufacturer’s emergency instructions rather than the routine below. If a fire is spreading or you cannot safely control it, move away and call the fire department. Never pour water on burning grease.

How to Shut Down a Charcoal Smoker

On a conventional charcoal smoker that is designed to extinguish its fuel by restricting airflow, close the lid or cooking chamber door, close the firebox or access door and shut the intake and exhaust vents as directed in the manual. With the oxygen supply restricted, the remaining charcoal gradually goes out.

This is different from managing the fire while food is cooking, when you still need enough airflow for a useful, clean-burning fire. Once the cook is finished and the food has been removed, you’re deliberately stopping combustion rather than trying to maintain your cooking temperature.

Leave the cooker in its safe outdoor cooking location while it cools, with people and pets kept away. A closed vent is the beginning of the shutdown process, rather than proof that the charcoal has already gone out, and a leaky door or poorly fitting vent can allow it to keep burning.

The same basic approach applies to many kettles, bullet smokers, kamados and drum smokers, although the actual vents and controls will differ. The individual guides for a kettle grill, kamado or drum smoker explain their cooking setups in more detail.

How to Shut Down an Offset Smoker

Stop adding wood or charcoal once you no longer need cooking heat, then follow the shutdown procedure for your offset. For models that specify closing the dampers to extinguish the fire, close the firebox door, cooking chamber lid and dampers, then allow the fuel and cooker to cool completely.

Don’t leave the firebox door propped open in an attempt to cool things down faster, since that can feed the remaining fuel with more oxygen. An offset with a substantial bed of coals or partly burned splits still needs attention after the meat is finished, even when the cooking chamber temperature is falling.

Wait until the fire is completely out and the ashes are cold before removing them. If you’re learning to manage a wood fire during the cook, see my guide on using an offset smoker.

How to Shut Down a Gravity-Fed Charcoal Smoker

A gravity-fed charcoal smoker has an actual charcoal fire, even though you set its temperature on a digital controller. Switching the controller off stops the electronic controls, but the remaining charcoal can continue burning if air can still reach it.

Complete the manufacturer’s shutdown sequence, including closing or inserting any designated heat and air intake slides. Some models use removable slides, while others have built-in controls, so use the arrangement provided for your cooker rather than assuming that all gravity-fed smokers shut down the same way.

Keep the hopper and ash doors properly closed and latched during this process, and don’t open a hot hopper to check the fuel. Let the smoker cool fully before handling ashes or doing maintenance. My gravity-fed charcoal smoker guide covers how this fuel system works.

How to Shut Down a Pellet Grill

Use the grill’s shutdown function and allow the complete cycle to finish before switching off its main power or unplugging it. The fan may continue running after you select shutdown, and that is part of the process on many pellet grills.

Follow your model’s instructions for lid position and any temperature reduction before shutdown. There isn’t one cooldown time or button sequence that applies to every controller, so use the completion signal specified for your grill rather than deciding that it has run long enough.

Once shutdown is complete, handle the main power switch and electrical connection as your manual directs. A finished shutdown cycle doesn’t necessarily mean the grates, drip tray, fire pot and other parts are cool enough to touch or clean.

If the grill loses power during a cook, treat that as an interrupted cook rather than a completed shutdown. Follow its power-loss and restart instructions before lighting it again, since unburned pellets may remain in the fire pot. See the pellet grill beginner’s guide for more on normal operation.

How to Shut Down a Propane Smoker or Gas Grill

Turn the burner controls fully off and close the propane cylinder valve, following the order specified by the manufacturer. For a natural gas grill, follow its instructions for shutting off the burners and gas supply. Don’t leave a burner on low and consider the cooker shut down.

Any wood chips in a smoker box or tray, or pellets in a separate smoking tube, may still be smoldering after the gas flame is off. Leave those accessories in a safe position to cool according to their instructions, rather than carrying a hot box or tube through the house to empty it.

Wait until the cooker and its contents are cool before handling the water pan, grease tray or smoking accessories. The propane smoker guide and gas grill guide cover the differences between these cooking setups.

How to Shut Down an Electric Smoker

On a typical electric cabinet smoker, turn the controller or temperature dial off, then unplug the smoker as instructed in the manual. If your particular model has a required cooldown cycle, allow that to finish before disconnecting power.

The heating element can remain hot after it switches off, and the chip tray can still contain smoldering wood. Leave the smoker outdoors while it cools, then remove the cold ashes and clean the removable parts. Allow the water bowl and grease to cool before lifting or emptying their pans.

An electric smoker still burns wood for smoke, so it needs a safe outdoor cooldown even though electricity supplies the cooking heat.

How Long Does a Smoker Take to Cool?

There isn’t a reliable single number for this, since the amount of remaining fuel, cooker construction, cooking temperature and weather all affect cooling. A ceramic kamado holds heat differently than a thin steel cabinet, and a deep charcoal bed can hide hot embers beneath a layer of ash.

Don’t use a low reading on the lid thermometer as proof that the fuel and ashes are cold. That thermometer measures conditions at its own location, rather than the temperature in the middle of the coal bed. Give the smoker enough time for the fuel, ashes, grates and body to cool completely, and don’t use a fixed overnight wait as a guarantee.

Keep the cooker outdoors throughout this process. Smoldering charcoal or wood can produce carbon monoxide, so moving a recently used smoker into a garage or shed to finish cooling is not an option.

Can You Pour Water on the Coals?

For a normal shutdown in a backyard smoker, use the manufacturer’s procedure rather than pouring water into the hot cooker. Water can produce scalding steam, scatter ash and damage hot cooker components, and it should never be poured into a pellet grill’s fire pot or electrical parts.

Putting out coals at a campsite or designated public disposal station is a separate situation, where local rules may require thoroughly drowning and stirring the coals. Plan for those requirements before lighting the fire rather than improvising a way to move a hot cooker or its fuel when it is time to leave.

What to Do With Ashes and Leftover Charcoal

Wait until the fuel and ashes are completely extinguished and cold before removing them, then follow your cooker’s ash disposal instructions. Use a metal container with a metal lid, kept outdoors on a noncombustible surface away from buildings and anything that can burn. Don’t put potentially hot ash in a plastic bucket, trash bag or household garbage can.

If your smoker allows charcoal to be saved for another cook, keep the solid, dry pieces once everything is cold and separate them from loose ash. You don’t need to throw away usable charcoal simply because it has been lit before, although crumbling pieces and excessive ash won’t do much for the next fire. The comparison of lump charcoal and briquettes explains how the two fuels differ.

Remove cold ash before it has a chance to sit around collecting moisture in the cooker. Once everything is cool, clean up grease and food residue, empty and wash the water pan if you used one, and let the parts dry before reassembly. My guide on cleaning your smoker covers that part of the job.

When Can You Put the Cover On?

Wait until the smoker is completely cool and dry before covering it, with no burning or smoldering fuel remaining inside. The cover protects the cooker between uses, but it isn’t a way to extinguish a fire or hurry the cooling process.

Once you get familiar with your smoker, shutting it down becomes a straightforward part of the routine: finish the required shutdown procedure, allow a complete cooldown and deal with the cold ashes and grease before the next cook. That leaves you with less cleanup when you’re ready to fire it up again.

For model-specific examples, see Traeger’s pellet grill shutdown instructions, Weber’s charcoal shutdown guidance and Masterbuilt’s Gravity Series FAQ. Your own model’s manual takes priority.

For preparing a new cooker before its first meal, see the seasoning guide. The Ultimate Guide to Smokers brings together those instructions, the operating guides and the maintenance articles.