Can I smoke ribs on a day that has a high temp of 18 degrees?


 
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I want to smoke this Wednesday, but the temp will only be a high of 18. I have never smoked with the outside temp below 45ish. I only want to do one set of ribs.
 
The answer is YES! Make sure the WSM is not directly in the wind. If you can't avoid that, try to use the vents that are not directly in the wind to regulate the temp. Make sure you use enough fuel as the colder weather will cause the fuel to burn quicker!

As an alternative...you can use the oven...set the temp at 230 or so let um ride for 3 hrs or so and then in foil for an hour or so then unwrap and eat,or, stick the ribs back in the oven for 45 minuets or so! Just a suggestion if ya wanna stay out of the cold, right??!!!
 
I don't believe the WSM includes any disclaimers about not working below certain temperatures. Plenty of people smoke successfully in cold environments.

If you are not using any kind of windscreen or insulating jacket, you'll likely use more fuel than usual and may want to start with 1 and a half chimneys of lit coal.
 
Well, I'll tell you what you can't do. I thought I'd attempt to push the limits on Sat. night. Attempted 26 lbs. of pork shoulder with the outside air temp at about 0 F. degrees with wind at about 10 - 25 mph. I loaded the ring overflowing and had it good and hot before I assembled. First reading after I assembled the cooker was 300+. Once the meat was on and things settled down, the cooker temp never got over 180.
I put together a pretty generic wind block, but I'm quite sure the winds were sucking the heat right out. After about 5 hours I aborbed the mission and fired up the oven to 200. Foiled the meat and cooked for another 5 hours. Much to my surprise, it came out very well. No bark but the consistency and taste was excellent.
 
I did an overnight brisket cook with 4 racks of ribs added in the morning. The temp was never higher than about 12 degrees. I had no issues at all.
 
Have a turkey on right now with wind chills @ sub zero. Have a wrap around it and the Guru chugging away.
 
I'm looking forward to my first below freezing cook on my WSM's on thursday. Low is supposed to be 18. I know it's not cold for you boys up north but that's mighty cold for Tennessee. Gonna do 2 butts on Thursday night and 2 turkeys on Christmas Day. I have smoked in below freezing weather though, just not with my WSM's. In fact my first time was on New Years eve 1998 in Kansas City, it was mighty cold!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Brian L.:
I'm looking forward to my first below freezing cook on my WSM's on thursday. Low is supposed to be 18. I know it's not cold for you boys up north but that's mighty cold for Tennessee. Gonna do 2 butts on Thursday night and 2 turkeys on Christmas Day. I have smoked in below freezing weather though, just not with my WSM's. In fact my first time was on New Years eve 1998 in Kansas City, it was mighty cold! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I almost feel sorry for you
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Thanks for all your help. Everything went great. I smoked for 11 hours. The temp stayed between 230 and 245 the entire time. I did put the smoker about 3 feet inside my garage to keep out of the wind. I was glad that none of my neighbors called the fire department to report a garage fire, since I am a fireman. That would have been very embarassing.
 
I've never recommended that anyone use their WSM inside their garage...but if a fireman says it's OK, then I guess it's OK.
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Regards,
Chris
 
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