Newbie

Hey Group

I am a newbie from Long Island who recently received a charbroil offset smoker as a gift. I have been smoking pork butts for a few years using an electric smoker but have never used a real fire. I practiced a few times using charcol to try to maintain a fairly steady temperature. I was hoping to try to smoke some ribs for fathers day but need some advice. First off should I use wood chunks, wood chips or logs for my smoke. Secondly I tried to access the recipe to get rib rub recipe but the site told me to send a private message to one of the moderators before I can get access. I am not sure where this should be done or exactly how. I have been lurking in the background for about a week after I joined but now I am ready to start smoking.

Porkpuller

A couple of towns away. My wife gets her hair done in Amityville at the Gazebo. Your wife should know where the Gazebo is located if she lived there for any length of time. Thanks for the welcome

Thanks everyone that replied.
I had my first attempt at ribs yesterday and it wasn't pretty. I had lots of trouble maintaining the temperature level for the first 2 1/2 hours but then was able to hold a 240 temp. I realized that I had to add to the charcols a little more frequently than I original thought. I used 2 racks of ribs that I smoked for a little over 7 hours. The ribs looked beautiful and they had a nice taste but the ribs were very tough and the meat stuck to the bone. The ribs on the thick end had a large fat deposit in the middle of the meat. What did I do wrong???? I also tried some chicken thighs which weren't too bad but I had to finish them off using direct heat. The recipe I used said to smoke the thighs for 2 hours but they definitely needed more time.

Barry