excaluber
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2011
- Location
- ambler, pa
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone here, for providing so much info as I went into my first smoke. I posted some of this in another forum which helped me out a fair bit as well, so if anyone reads both I apologize in advance.
This is the story of my very first smoke... Its a story filled with hope, anger, food, smoke, and hopefully a sequel filled with redemption.
The days leading up:
I bought a 22" WSM...
-Used Wicked Good Weekend Warrior Lump charcoal
-Bought 6" Mini splits from Fruitawood... got a variety pack... Apple, Peach, cherry, pecan, and hickory.
The Night before:
Used Meatheads memphis dust to dry rub the ribs, then wrapped in plastic and put in the fridge.
Made my own St. Louis Thin bbq sauce, put it in the fridge to set.
The day of the smoke:
-It was about 65 degrees outside, with a slight breeze
-I used a variation of the minion method to start (full chimeny, poured on top of unlit coals).
-Had two apple mini splits inbetween layers of unlit coals.
-There was definitely smoke leaking out the side of the lid and the top front access door.
-Used a Maverick et732 to track temps.
-I did make a mistake and not get everything completely ready to close at the start, because i forgot to fill my jugs of water up to dump in the water bowl. So the lid was probably off for a total of 10+ minutes while i got everything setup
Kept a cooking log.
1:15pm - dump the chimney on the unlit coals.
1:30pm - 311 Degrees (full pan, 2 closed vents, 1/8" open), 2 mini splits of apple, no meat on yet.
1:45pm - I'm a little concerned that the temp shot up so high that quickly.
2:00pm - 352 degrees (full pan, all 3 vents closed), no meat yet.
2:30 - Panic is setting in that I can't get this temp down...
3:00pm - 330 degrees (added 3/4 gallon water, all 3 vents closed), Decided screw it, I'm gonna have to go with a High Temp cook and added 3lbs of baby back ribs
3:30pm - 309 degrees (full pan, all 3 vents closed), meat is 115 degrees. Added 1 apple mini split.
4:45pm - 303 degrees (full pan, all 3 vents closed), meat is 183 degrees. Added a small peice of Hickory
6:00pm - 303 degrees (full pan, all 3 vents closed), meat is 200 degrees. Foiled and moved to oven to keep warm due to the wife not being home from work yet. Crap this isn't going according to plan at all!
6:30pm - Ribs taken from oven, glazed with homemade sauce, and carmalized on grill for for 10 mins each side.
7:00pm - Cut and served.
7:10pm - Licking bare bones wishing there was more.
Here's my afterthoughts and lessons learned.
After thoughts and comments...
-The ribs were much more tender then any of the ones I cooked on the grill so I masacred the cut... it wasn't a nice clean cut as you can tell by the photo above.
-The ribs were the best ribs i've made so far, they tasted awesome.
-Bark was great!
-LOVED the smell of hickory while smoking...was a huge fan, both smelled great, but the hickory was amazing.
-I couldn't really taste the smoke in the ribs. I only really used 1.5 mini splits on the meat itself though (The hickory was like 1/2 the size of a normal mini split). I'm pretty sure the first two I put on were burnt up by the time i put the meat on.
Plus i was constantly checking out the smoker (not peaking, just looking through the top vent)...so I reaked of smoke. And I've read you often don't taste the potency of the smoke if you've been IN the smoke all day . But the wife tasted it and said it was very good.
-I learned that the WSM pretty much wants to stay at Temp, its difficult to get it down or up once its locked in.
-I learned start with less then a full chimney of lit Lump ... You can always add more lit if your low.
-I learned start with cold water.
-I learned, if you're going to use lump, get a 2nd charcoal grate to prevent it from falling through (I got one yeasterday, $10 at lowes).
-Lastly I learned don't try doing other things while carmalizing your sauce! I ALMOST...almost burned the sauce. It was real close, another minute or two and it woulda been toast. It turned out dark, but it was still sweet and a little bit chewy...perfect for me that's how i like it. So the color was a little off, but the taste was still perfect.
This is the story of my very first smoke... Its a story filled with hope, anger, food, smoke, and hopefully a sequel filled with redemption.
The days leading up:
I bought a 22" WSM...
-Used Wicked Good Weekend Warrior Lump charcoal
-Bought 6" Mini splits from Fruitawood... got a variety pack... Apple, Peach, cherry, pecan, and hickory.
The Night before:
Used Meatheads memphis dust to dry rub the ribs, then wrapped in plastic and put in the fridge.
Made my own St. Louis Thin bbq sauce, put it in the fridge to set.
The day of the smoke:
-It was about 65 degrees outside, with a slight breeze
-I used a variation of the minion method to start (full chimeny, poured on top of unlit coals).
-Had two apple mini splits inbetween layers of unlit coals.
-There was definitely smoke leaking out the side of the lid and the top front access door.
-Used a Maverick et732 to track temps.
-I did make a mistake and not get everything completely ready to close at the start, because i forgot to fill my jugs of water up to dump in the water bowl. So the lid was probably off for a total of 10+ minutes while i got everything setup
Kept a cooking log.
1:15pm - dump the chimney on the unlit coals.
1:30pm - 311 Degrees (full pan, 2 closed vents, 1/8" open), 2 mini splits of apple, no meat on yet.
1:45pm - I'm a little concerned that the temp shot up so high that quickly.
2:00pm - 352 degrees (full pan, all 3 vents closed), no meat yet.
2:30 - Panic is setting in that I can't get this temp down...
3:00pm - 330 degrees (added 3/4 gallon water, all 3 vents closed), Decided screw it, I'm gonna have to go with a High Temp cook and added 3lbs of baby back ribs
3:30pm - 309 degrees (full pan, all 3 vents closed), meat is 115 degrees. Added 1 apple mini split.
4:45pm - 303 degrees (full pan, all 3 vents closed), meat is 183 degrees. Added a small peice of Hickory
6:00pm - 303 degrees (full pan, all 3 vents closed), meat is 200 degrees. Foiled and moved to oven to keep warm due to the wife not being home from work yet. Crap this isn't going according to plan at all!
6:30pm - Ribs taken from oven, glazed with homemade sauce, and carmalized on grill for for 10 mins each side.
7:00pm - Cut and served.
7:10pm - Licking bare bones wishing there was more.
Here's my afterthoughts and lessons learned.
After thoughts and comments...
-The ribs were much more tender then any of the ones I cooked on the grill so I masacred the cut... it wasn't a nice clean cut as you can tell by the photo above.
-The ribs were the best ribs i've made so far, they tasted awesome.
-Bark was great!
-LOVED the smell of hickory while smoking...was a huge fan, both smelled great, but the hickory was amazing.
-I couldn't really taste the smoke in the ribs. I only really used 1.5 mini splits on the meat itself though (The hickory was like 1/2 the size of a normal mini split). I'm pretty sure the first two I put on were burnt up by the time i put the meat on.
Plus i was constantly checking out the smoker (not peaking, just looking through the top vent)...so I reaked of smoke. And I've read you often don't taste the potency of the smoke if you've been IN the smoke all day . But the wife tasted it and said it was very good.
-I learned that the WSM pretty much wants to stay at Temp, its difficult to get it down or up once its locked in.
-I learned start with less then a full chimney of lit Lump ... You can always add more lit if your low.
-I learned start with cold water.
-I learned, if you're going to use lump, get a 2nd charcoal grate to prevent it from falling through (I got one yeasterday, $10 at lowes).
-Lastly I learned don't try doing other things while carmalizing your sauce! I ALMOST...almost burned the sauce. It was real close, another minute or two and it woulda been toast. It turned out dark, but it was still sweet and a little bit chewy...perfect for me that's how i like it. So the color was a little off, but the taste was still perfect.
