BBQ Brethren "Mini" Throwdown

^^^^^ I could see it fine. I think Guerry's focus issue was more to do with White Russians!

Ack, here it is again :tsk:

Those little grills are pretty neat I keep a couple on the boat so I can cook hotdogs or hamburgers while out on the water with family and friends plus cleanup is so easy let it coo,l bag it up, and toss it out.

bigabyte said:

I was having a hell of a time with focus tonight. Not sure why. The damn thing kept wanting to focus on something else. Oh well. I'm sure I had some setting off that I don't normally adjust.:doh:

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Did you set your camera on the macro setting? It seems to have been fond of your table as your NUDS was so small it struggled to focus on it.

Impressive work on the NUDS! How long were you able to cook before needing to reload on lump? :-D

The drippings on the coals, er coal, are the best part :thumb:

bigabyte said:

I was having a hell of a time with focus tonight. Not sure why. The damn thing kept wanting to focus on something else. Oh well. I'm sure I had some setting off that I don't normally adjust.:doh:

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Probably had something to do with a 1/2 bottle of bourbon...:thumb:

That's usually my problem...:becky:

With school starting and summer coming to a close this will be one of our last weekends at the cabin for 2011. As the boys have gotten older they have really enjoyed setting up the campfire and sitting around it till all hours of the morning. This always seems to turn into some kind of late night grilling. Last weekend was chili dogs and pizza. This weekend we decided on beer brats.

Since all my grilling equipment for the cabin is about 3 feet away from our fire pit I have had my poor little Weber packed away in storage for a few years. So thanks for this throwdown. It gave me a great chance to wake him up.

Sorry about the picture quality. It was around 1:00 am and all I had was my Droid.

YUM! Brat, kraut and beer... Now that's my idea of a midnight snack... :becky:

Al Czervik said:

YUM! Brat, kraut and beer... Now that's my idea of a midnight snack... :becky:

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There is a reason I'm avoiding the scale. :icon_blush:

Not feeling like building another UBS, and I'm wondering if I can use the Oval and just shrink the pics down to thumbnails.

bigabyte said:

You mean you're just going to let me get away with that copycat NUDS thing?:shock:

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Get away? First of all, that copycat is far superior to anything I've ever put together. If I ever did manage to top that NUDS (and I do have a few ideas for improvement :becky, I'd probably end up getting DQ'ed anyway. :tsk:

bigabyte said:

Well, twinsfan is throwing down the gauntlet...he said he is going to build something even smaller. I can't wait to DQ him!:becky: (just kidding of course).

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"Did someone call our name?"

Just to let you know, bigabyte, I'm currently experimenting with a snapple cap and a three golf ball box. I got ventalation but can't get the darned thing above 140 F.. hmm. Probably won't get it done this weekend, alas..

Mini WSM Spare Ribs

I humbly submit my first try at spare ribs for the throwdown...I say humbly as my "mini wsm" seems rather large compared to the micro entries....:becky:

Bought two racks of spares and did my best to cut them down St Louis style. Also bought a rack of "boneless ribs" from my butcher that they said were cut off the loin where the rib meat would be.

Dusted them with Simply Marvelous Cherry and put them in the fridge overnight.

Loaded up the Mini on Saturday afternoon with Kingsford and Applewood.



Lit some coals to start the fire...



Put the ribs on at 1:00pm with the Mini at 250 degrees.



Smoked them until 3:00pm and then wrapped them. I placed them on the second rack of the mini and put a cast iron skillet of beans on the top rack. Forgot to take a pic of that but it was great being able to use both racks. Left them on until 4:00pm and put a quick glaze on them. I used Sweet Baby Rays, Coke, Cider Vinegar, Rub, and cherry juice. Took them out to rest at 4:20 and rewrapped them in foil.

Cut them up around 5:00pm. They cut great. Tender, nice bark. Good bite to the bone. In general, a great rib. The boneless ribs were a big hit with the kids. The beans came out great too. The mini definitely made for a quick cook. A bit faster than I expected but as you know, they are done when they are done!

I will let Bigabyte choose between these two pics...





Thanks for looking and your voting consideration!

Those would be great sprinkled over nachos. Problem is that other than me, there are a bunch of rib-haters on this site. :tsk: