rossmatt06
Knows what a fatty is.
So after successfully smoking my first fattie I thought I'd try some ribs. I fired up the CG using the minion method and opened the damper all the way to get the grill up to temp. It was cold, windy and damp and the thing didn't want to get above 200*. I left the damper open and went inside to finish the rub on my ribs. A few minutes later I walked outside to throw the ribs on and the grill was at 300* :doh: I immediately closed the damper and opened the hood. 1st lesson learned, never leave the damper wide open and leave the grill... So the ribs went on the grill and the temps settled but they settled 50* different from side to side which it never did until the grill was completely full of food. 2nd lesson learned, get tuning plates and learn how to use them... Everything goes well the next few hours and the grill stays surprisingly steady regardless of the wind. Four hours into the Q and I've burned through the whole basket of coals (about 10lbs worth). I decide to add a few more coals on top of the burning coals. The new coals choke out the old ones and start to throw off a horrible smoke :tsk: I pulled the basket out of the SFB and let them burn off until they aren't smoking anymore before returning them to work. 3rd lesson, get a bigger basket and seal the CG up to reduce heat loss. The rest of the Q went fine. The temps evened out and held steady right at 230*. The ribs closest to the fire box were done in 4.5 hours. The other ones ended up getting thrown back on for another hour because they were done but not falling off of the bone done (they were on the 50* cooler side). In the end it was COMPLETELY worth it!!! The meat was so tender and juicy people couldn't stop saying how good it was! The BBQ gods were definitely on my side! On a side note, I'm thinking about turning the SFB back into a portable charcoal grill and building my own firebox. The factory one is one massive air leak and its impossible to close the damper and save the coals for later. Just a thought... :thumb:
