So, with the weather finally turning a bit reasonable, I had the chance yesterday afternoon to crank up my new WSM for the first time...
I decided to go with a chicken (~5-6 lb) and a small package of country style ribs. (No, I usually don't use these, but since this was a test run, I didn't want to 'waste' a good rack of ribs, if I woulda messed up...)
I found out that the courtyard at my (new) place really is a wind tunnel, so that's going to make this whole adventure this summer more exciting. Although I was worried about it yesterday, it didn't seem to affect anything either way.
I started off with about 18 briquets in a chimney, and the remainder of a half-bag of Kingsford (new, 2015 variety) in the WSM.
After about 15 minutes in the chimney, I scattered the lit coals all around the stack of unlit charcoal; I added about 4 (pre-soaked) apple wood chunks among the coals. I had forgotten to save an empty gallon jug, so I used a beer pitcher that was sitting around -- I used 3 pitchers' full of water straight from the tap.
About 15 minutes later, I was getting smoke (white -- definitely not the "thin blue trail of smoke" I've read about, around here) and I was up to 200F, so I figured "why waste the smoke?", and I loaded the meat. Butterflied chicken on the bottom grate, and six ribs scattered on the top grate. The WSM seemed to look up at me and snicker, "what? that's all you got? you think I'm a 14-incher or something?". (I can't wait to see what I can fit in there, when I'm really trying...!)
In about 20 minutes, I was two tickmarks shy of 250F. At that point, for the next two hours, I just kept fiddling with the vents. I kept the top vent on full open the whole time. The bottom vents I treated as if they were a single series (if that makes sense) -- instead of fiddling with all of them, I only worked them one at a time, as I felt the need to. One stayed open the whole time; I eventually closed another; and the third I only touched once the second one was closed and I felt I needed to close off a little more. Using them that way, I kept the needle between under the 250F mark the whole time -- between two tickmarks shy of 250 and six tickmarks shy of 250.
Almost two hours into it, I noticed that the temp had gone down to 200. So, I fully opened the 2nd lower vent, and reopened the one I'd closed since the beginning. I was just about done, though, so I wasn't sweating it.
As far as smoke goes, it was thick and white the whole time. Almost an hour and half into the cook, there was no more smoke visible (although there was still a nice wood-burning smell in the air).
I pulled the meat after it had been on for 2 1/2 hours. The ribs turned out well -- nice smoke ring, and good flavor. They weren't terribly overcooked, but I don't have a lot of tolerance for dried out pork. The chicken looked beautiful. But, the skin was of the rubbery-smoked-skin variety (I've gotta work on that). The breasts were done perfectly, but the thighs could've stood to continue cooking for a little while longer. It was done all the way through, and was very moist, but still... I could've kept it on for another 20-30 minutes, I think.
When I looked at the bottom third of the WSM, I saw that the wood chunks hadn't been completely consumed -- that was a surprise! And, it looked like I still had some charcoal in there. When I go to clean it out tonight, I'll get a better look.
So, here are my takeaways from this cook:
It was a good experience. Time to plan for next weekend!
I decided to go with a chicken (~5-6 lb) and a small package of country style ribs. (No, I usually don't use these, but since this was a test run, I didn't want to 'waste' a good rack of ribs, if I woulda messed up...)
I found out that the courtyard at my (new) place really is a wind tunnel, so that's going to make this whole adventure this summer more exciting. Although I was worried about it yesterday, it didn't seem to affect anything either way.
I started off with about 18 briquets in a chimney, and the remainder of a half-bag of Kingsford (new, 2015 variety) in the WSM.
After about 15 minutes in the chimney, I scattered the lit coals all around the stack of unlit charcoal; I added about 4 (pre-soaked) apple wood chunks among the coals. I had forgotten to save an empty gallon jug, so I used a beer pitcher that was sitting around -- I used 3 pitchers' full of water straight from the tap.
About 15 minutes later, I was getting smoke (white -- definitely not the "thin blue trail of smoke" I've read about, around here) and I was up to 200F, so I figured "why waste the smoke?", and I loaded the meat. Butterflied chicken on the bottom grate, and six ribs scattered on the top grate. The WSM seemed to look up at me and snicker, "what? that's all you got? you think I'm a 14-incher or something?". (I can't wait to see what I can fit in there, when I'm really trying...!)
In about 20 minutes, I was two tickmarks shy of 250F. At that point, for the next two hours, I just kept fiddling with the vents. I kept the top vent on full open the whole time. The bottom vents I treated as if they were a single series (if that makes sense) -- instead of fiddling with all of them, I only worked them one at a time, as I felt the need to. One stayed open the whole time; I eventually closed another; and the third I only touched once the second one was closed and I felt I needed to close off a little more. Using them that way, I kept the needle between under the 250F mark the whole time -- between two tickmarks shy of 250 and six tickmarks shy of 250.
Almost two hours into it, I noticed that the temp had gone down to 200. So, I fully opened the 2nd lower vent, and reopened the one I'd closed since the beginning. I was just about done, though, so I wasn't sweating it.
As far as smoke goes, it was thick and white the whole time. Almost an hour and half into the cook, there was no more smoke visible (although there was still a nice wood-burning smell in the air).
I pulled the meat after it had been on for 2 1/2 hours. The ribs turned out well -- nice smoke ring, and good flavor. They weren't terribly overcooked, but I don't have a lot of tolerance for dried out pork. The chicken looked beautiful. But, the skin was of the rubbery-smoked-skin variety (I've gotta work on that). The breasts were done perfectly, but the thighs could've stood to continue cooking for a little while longer. It was done all the way through, and was very moist, but still... I could've kept it on for another 20-30 minutes, I think.
When I looked at the bottom third of the WSM, I saw that the wood chunks hadn't been completely consumed -- that was a surprise! And, it looked like I still had some charcoal in there. When I go to clean it out tonight, I'll get a better look.
So, here are my takeaways from this cook:
- I had an off-brand bullet smoker about 20 years ago, and it's probably what got me interested in BBQ. Yesterday's experience brought back memories of fiddling, fiddling, fiddling with the smoker! (Although, to be honest, I didn't know what I was doing back then, and besides, it seems like back then, I was always opening the door -- more water, more wood, more charcoal. And, the other smoker's vent was insufficient to control temp well.) I was pretty impressed at how easy it was to keep the temperature within a desired range with the WSM's three vents!
- I didn't manage to get the temp up in the 260-275 range. I'll have to work on that, especially as I turn toward racks of ribs.
- I went through more charcoal than I'd expected to use. At the very least, that half-bag seemed to be starting to peter out at 90-100 minutes into the cook. When it comes to doing ribs, I'm guessing that I'll have to start with more unlit briquets from the beginning.
- I've really gotta work on making good chicken skin. When BBQing on my Performer, I've always ended up with the same rubbery skin, but didn't really try to improve on it. I was reading some of the hints from the one competition BBQer here -- maybe I'll try that, in order to soften up the chicken skin. (That's what it's all about, right? Finding BBQ challenges and overcoming them?!?!)
- I'm wondering whether I'll get better results if I have more food on the grill. Does the amount of food change the performance of the grill -- other than taking longer to come up to temp?
- I need to work on wood chunk placement. Do ya'll put them in the ring, or between the ring and the side wall of the WSM?
- I read, on the Weber site, that chunks don't need to be soaked. Over the past 10 years, I'd pretty much used chips exclusively. Now that I want to put wood in and leave everything alone, though, I was thinking that I want to use chunks. Does soaking help? Does it hurt?
It was a good experience. Time to plan for next weekend!
