Out of practice

I haven't been smoking for awhile. So, when I saw some ribs on sale, I bought them and figured on smoking them today in the little Weber. All good until I actually got the fire going. Right after I got the ribs on it started to rain. Okay, I can handle that, got a piece of plywood and put it over the smoker and no big deal. Ended up fighting temps. Couldn't get below 300° so I eventually closed the top vent about 75%. That helped but didn't quite do it. Again, no big deal. No need to be anal about temps. Then it started raining again. Put the plywood over the smoker again and waited the rain out.

At the end of the rain, I'm at a bit over three hours and because the temps were high I figure I'm close. I lift the lid and all looks good but as I look down, I see the vent in the back is wide open No wonder temps wouldn't go down. I was sure I had all vents closed when I dropped the lit charcoal in, knowing I'd only need one vent to regulate temps (the front one). Still, the ribs look good and are almost done so me and DW will be eating soon. Not looking for anything mind blowing, but hoping they'll be pretty good. They look good, smell good, so that's a good start.

Anyway, being out of practice and dealing with the rain made this a little challenging, but overall, good to be cooking again.

But at least you survived and now are getting back in practice

Look good, smell good - gotta be great. You're back in the saddle. Summer rain always makes a cook interesting and we get a lot of afternoon rain down here.

Well, just got done eating and the ribs were pretty good. Not my best but better than restaurant ribs. Probably suffered a bit from the higher temps. They weren’t evenly cooked.

Then I thought I shut it down (closed all vents) but I went out after dinner and one of the vents was open. What the heck! Vent gremlins. I guess vent management class is needed. Oh well, a good cook and a good day all the same.