Hello all,
I'm Chris, and I'm new to the world of barbecuing, as I've had the 18" WSM less than a week now. This site has been invaluable so far to a novice like me, and I'd like to get some feedback on what went wrong with a couple hiccups I experienced during my first baby back rib smoke on New Year's Day. This was the second smoke I've done, as I started with the Basic Barbecued Chicken recipe (which went fine), and I followed the Basic Baby Back Ribs recipe to a tee (minus my own rub and sauce).
I'm in Cincinnati, and it was a very cold day (single digits) with approximately a nine MPH wind. Shortly after lunch, I hooked my Thermopro TP-08 probe thermometer to the smoker (only the smoker probe) and dumped a full Weber chimney of unlit Kingsford Blue into the charcoal bowl topped with half a chimney of lit coals. I used three chunks of apple and one chunk of hickory wood. Through approximately two hours, everything appeared fine; the temperatures ranged between ~230 and 250. About two hours in, however, the grate temperature started a continuous drop; once it got below 200 degrees, I went out and gave each leg a light kick in case the charcoal had ashed over and opened the vents to approximately half way (up from a third open as the recipe suggests). I had filled the water pan about 2/3rds full to start (thinking that would be enough), but I saw that it wasn't, as the pan seemed to be completely empty, so I refilled it. That combination of things seemed to help, as after about 30 minutes, I got back into the 225-230 range.
After another 45 minutes to an hour, the temperature started rapidly dropping again, and when I went to check on the charcoal, I saw that it was nearly empty which surprised me. This was around approximately four hours in to the cook. I was able to successfully get through it by refilling it with half a chimney of lit coals, and the ribs tasted great. Overall, it took approximately six hours to smoke a rack and a half. Based on this information, any feedback you have would be appreciated - particularly why the fuel ran out before it was done, as I had expected a chimney and a half to be more than enough. Was it the conditions or something else that could have contributed to this?
Anyway, thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have, and I look forward to interacting with everyone now that I'm on board with my new WSM.
I'm Chris, and I'm new to the world of barbecuing, as I've had the 18" WSM less than a week now. This site has been invaluable so far to a novice like me, and I'd like to get some feedback on what went wrong with a couple hiccups I experienced during my first baby back rib smoke on New Year's Day. This was the second smoke I've done, as I started with the Basic Barbecued Chicken recipe (which went fine), and I followed the Basic Baby Back Ribs recipe to a tee (minus my own rub and sauce).
I'm in Cincinnati, and it was a very cold day (single digits) with approximately a nine MPH wind. Shortly after lunch, I hooked my Thermopro TP-08 probe thermometer to the smoker (only the smoker probe) and dumped a full Weber chimney of unlit Kingsford Blue into the charcoal bowl topped with half a chimney of lit coals. I used three chunks of apple and one chunk of hickory wood. Through approximately two hours, everything appeared fine; the temperatures ranged between ~230 and 250. About two hours in, however, the grate temperature started a continuous drop; once it got below 200 degrees, I went out and gave each leg a light kick in case the charcoal had ashed over and opened the vents to approximately half way (up from a third open as the recipe suggests). I had filled the water pan about 2/3rds full to start (thinking that would be enough), but I saw that it wasn't, as the pan seemed to be completely empty, so I refilled it. That combination of things seemed to help, as after about 30 minutes, I got back into the 225-230 range.
After another 45 minutes to an hour, the temperature started rapidly dropping again, and when I went to check on the charcoal, I saw that it was nearly empty which surprised me. This was around approximately four hours in to the cook. I was able to successfully get through it by refilling it with half a chimney of lit coals, and the ribs tasted great. Overall, it took approximately six hours to smoke a rack and a half. Based on this information, any feedback you have would be appreciated - particularly why the fuel ran out before it was done, as I had expected a chimney and a half to be more than enough. Was it the conditions or something else that could have contributed to this?
Anyway, thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have, and I look forward to interacting with everyone now that I'm on board with my new WSM.