St. Louis Ribs on the SmokeFire

[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.

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.