I cooked up 2 slabs of spares and 1 slab of baby back this past weekend. It was hotter than heck here and was rushing to get things done. Well, I rushed one thing that I won't ever do again. I did not let the WSM come up to operating temperature before adding the meat. The temp was around 170 and rising, I cut corners and put it all on and opened up 2 vents and left the third open 25%.
Darn if that WSM did not warm up to 250 like I wanted. I checked it and it was 190 at the one hour mark. 210 at two hours. I stirred the coals opened up the last vent. at 3 hours 220. 4 hours 240. 5 hours finally 250. (all temps taken at top vent in lid).
This made for longer cooking which I think dried out the ribs a bit. I foiled the baby backs to save them and they were very good. The spares and the rib tips were a bit dry though.
From now on, I'm letting it come up to temp first!! Still darn good bbq, just not my best.
AR
Darn if that WSM did not warm up to 250 like I wanted. I checked it and it was 190 at the one hour mark. 210 at two hours. I stirred the coals opened up the last vent. at 3 hours 220. 4 hours 240. 5 hours finally 250. (all temps taken at top vent in lid).
This made for longer cooking which I think dried out the ribs a bit. I foiled the baby backs to save them and they were very good. The spares and the rib tips were a bit dry though.
From now on, I'm letting it come up to temp first!! Still darn good bbq, just not my best.
AR