St. Louis Ribs on the SmokeFire

[DarkStar11]

My wife asked for ribs for Sunday dinner, so I thawed out a rack of Creekstone SLCs. Since I needed to do some troubleshooting with the SmokeFire to provide more info to Weber, it got the call and I hoped for the best.

The pellet hopper was emptied, and a 5 lb. bag of Kingsford 100% Hickory pellets got dumped in. Set the temp at 250, put one of the Weber SF probes and an InkBird probe in grate holders near the PID thermometer and let it run for 1 hour to see if it would behave. While the SF was doing that, the ribs got hit with Sir Porkalot's Rib Rub on both sides, and then back in the fridge.

An hour in, so far, so good. Ribs went onto the cooker. After an hour of cooking (2 hours of runtime), both probes began showing big temp swings. The InkBird showed more drastic swings (206 - 320) than the Weber SF (215 - 300). Around 3.5 hours in, it was running low on fuel, so another 5 lb. bag went in the hopper. 4.5 hours in, the ribs were starting to probe nicely. We usually don't sauce ribs, but wife wanted to try Stubb's Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce on them. They got glazed with sauce, another 30 minutes to set, and pulled them off. Despite the temp swings, they came out great! The Stubb's Dr. Pepper sauce was good as a glaze and an accompaniment to Sir Porkalot's Rub, but adding any additional sauce was unpleasant.

https://www.okra7.com/Images/bbq/20210509-SFRibs2.jpg

[ShadowDriver]

Nice looking bones! John's rib rub is delicious (as you now know)!

I'm not big on sauce for ribs, but I do like a good glaze.

Last I tried was a Cheerwine glaze... could seriously go for that Dr Pepper glaze sometime.

[cowgirl]

They look delicious. Great color too!

[Titch]

Look good from here, that Stubbs have a good name, its floating about down here

[Shiz-Nit]

Looks great.
How do you like that Weber Smoke Fire?

[DarkStar11]

Looks great.
How do you like that Weber Smoke Fire?

Despite being a Gen 2, it's been quirky. The temp swings in this cook were less severe than in the past, but they seem to get worse the longer the cook goes. I have a ticket open with Weber on it. It's great at grilling, produces good smoke flavor, and makes good food when not being temperamental, but it's not a set-it-and-forget-it cooker. At least mine isn't - I know some folks have had better experiences with theirs.

[SweetHeatBBQnSC]

Good looking bones and way to overcome glitchy technology.

[NoOne]

Looks good!

[70monte]

Those ribs look good. One of my friends has the smaller Smokefire and he seems to love his and he has not said anything about any problems with it.

I was at his house the other night and he made ribs on his for our poker party and I thought they were very good.

[Stingerhook]

Fantabulous

[frayedend]

Hmmm, I see no pictures. I'm logged on. Strange.

[HogGrog]

Pretty ribs!

How did you like the Kingsford Hickory pellets?

[ssv3]

Nice bones and nice color on them even going through temp swings.

[DarkStar11]

Pretty ribs!

How did you like the Kingsford Hickory pellets?

They made good smoke and seemed to produce a little less ash. They still exhibited the same feeding issues from the hopper that I've had with every other pellet, including Weber's.

[Happy Hapgood]

Excellent looking bones and I have to ask about your evaluation of the Inkbird temps. Did you think they were closer to actual pit temp than the factory probe?


Bottom line you overcame it all and great looking bones!

[ronbrad62]

Glad to see they turned out nice in spite of the minor troubles. Great color!!

[DarkStar11]

...and I have to ask about your evaluation of the Inkbird temps. Did you think they were closer to actual pit temp than the factory probe?

The Weber PID grill controller never said it went over 250. It almost always read 250/250 (set/actual). A couple times the actual went lower than 250, but not as often as either the IB or Weber probes showed it to.

Towards the end I dropped a 2nd InkBird probe in. It's temps tracked within 3 degrees of the 1st IB probe. I tend to believe the IB, but am going to add a third thermometer to the mix next time in an attempt to see who is closer to the truth.

[Happy Hapgood]

The Weber PID grill controller never said it went over 250. It almost always read 250/250 (set/actual). A couple times the actual went lower than 250, but not as often as either the IB or Weber probes showed it to.

Towards the end I dropped a 2nd InkBird probe in. It's temps tracked within 3 degrees of the 1st IB probe. I tend to believe the IB, but am going to add a third thermometer to the mix next time in an attempt to see who is closer to the truth.


Thanks for the reply and That's the way to test all the probes and units! :clap2:

[SmokinAussie]

Well the picture looks fantastic.

Not so sure about the SB. 1st Generation didn't get shipped to Aussie Land. 2nd Gen I see here and there. I can't see much improvement. If you are saying you have to put 3 different probes in the unit to be sure of the temp, I'm not sure why you would not just get a Traeger or a GMG.

Those ribs though are the bomb!

[Big George's BBQ]

Very Nice

[Happy Hapgood]

Well the picture looks fantastic.

Not so sure about the SB. 1st Generation didn't get shipped to Aussie Land. 2nd Gen I see here and there. I can't see much improvement. If you are saying you have to put 3 different probes in the unit to be sure of the temp, I'm not sure why you would not just get a Traeger or a GMG.

Those ribs though are the bomb!


It is a smart thing to check your temps with multiple probes. Just helps you to trust a new rig. The factory installed stuff is not always the truth. I'm a retired temp control guy and can tell you false temp readings with refrigerated cancer drugs, ORs, Military applications, and high end restaurant kitchens (the list goes on) can make or break.



Trust but verify (Ronald Regan) will make for better BBQ. :thumb:

[NoCoPk360]

The latest firmware on the Smokefire seems to have resolved some of the temp control problems on mine but they can definitely be finicky. That being said the Smokefire is a poultry and rib cooking machine. I love my offset for brisket and other large cuts of meat, but the Smokefire is my go to for ribs since I think they turn out great everytime.

[SmokinAussie]

It is a smart thing to check your temps with multiple probes. Just helps you to trust a new rig. The factory installed stuff is not always the truth. I'm a retired temp control guy and can tell you false temp readings with refrigerated cancer drugs, ORs, Military applications, and high end restaurant kitchens (the list goes on) can make or break.



Trust but verify (Ronald Regan) will make for better BBQ. :thumb:

Agreed but thats an initial thing. Once you get to know a hot area from a cold area and a degree of temp swing, you can generally work with it.

These things seem to never settle, so you can't learn those things.

[Happy Hapgood]

Agreed but thats an initial thing. Once you get to know a hot area from a cold area and a degree of temp swing, you can generally work with it.

These things seem to never settle, so you can't learn those things.


I can make your pit within 1/10*F which is -7.22*C.

[Rib Rub]

My wife asked for ribs for Sunday dinner, so I thawed out a rack of Creekstone SLCs. Since I needed to do some troubleshooting with the SmokeFire to provide more info to Weber, it got the call and I hoped for the best.

The pellet hopper was emptied, and a 5 lb. bag of Kingsford 100% Hickory pellets got dumped in. Set the temp at 250, put one of the Weber SF probes and an InkBird probe in grate holders near the PID thermometer and let it run for 1 hour to see if it would behave. While the SF was doing that, the ribs got hit with Sir Porkalot's Rib Rub on both sides, and then back in the fridge.

An hour in, so far, so good. Ribs went onto the cooker. After an hour of cooking (2 hours of runtime), both probes began showing big temp swings. The InkBird showed more drastic swings (206 - 320) than the Weber SF (215 - 300). Around 3.5 hours in, it was running low on fuel, so another 5 lb. bag went in the hopper. 4.5 hours in, the ribs were starting to probe nicely. We usually don't sauce ribs, but wife wanted to try Stubb's Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce on them. They got glazed with sauce, another 30 minutes to set, and pulled them off. Despite the temp swings, they came out great! The Stubb's Dr. Pepper sauce was good as a glaze and an accompaniment to Sir Porkalot's Rub, but adding any additional sauce was unpleasant.

https://www.okra7.com/Images/bbq/20210509-SFRibs2.jpg
How do you like the Naturiffic Pork Rub? I bought it awhile back and have yet to use it.

[DarkStar11]

How do you like the Naturiffic Pork Rub? I bought it awhile back and have yet to use it.

Love it! It's awesome stuff. I'm pretty fond of the Q Salt and Harvest Brine, too.