Hi all,
Didn't pick the perfect weather to try my first smoke but I couldn't wait any longer. It's 36 outside with a light wind. The only wind break I have available is my Genesis gasser that is covered. During the first 2 hours, my lid temp has never exceeded 200 degress but my et-73 at the grate has stayed steady at 230 except now when I opened the lid to spray the ribs. I'm not worried about the temp now as I've adjusted the bottom grates and they should start coming down soon. I'm just wondering about the temp difference since this is a new WSM and all I've read is the lid temp will be higher? Some more info for the seasoned pros is I'm guessing the wind is going over the Genesis and cooling the lid possibly? I'm doing 3 racks of baby backs and had already assembled the probe before realizing all 3 racks wouldn't fit on the top grate without seriously crowding the grate probe. Will the proximity of the meat to the probe keep it from reading correctly? I did start with a full charcoal chamber and 1/2 Weber chiminey so there should be plenty of heat unless I've missed something. One other thing, in my excitement I forgot to add water to the pan which I know is okay, just not something I was planning on in my first cook. Plus, I didn't want to waste fuel waiting on water to boil to add to the pan. Hopefully I won't need it in the future as my new smoker is the 18.5 with the larger water pan and was a real pain to foil.
I'm going to try to use the 3-2-1 method until I get more practice and better weather so I can enjoy some Que.
Any thoughts or advice at this point would be greatly appreciated.
Rob
Didn't pick the perfect weather to try my first smoke but I couldn't wait any longer. It's 36 outside with a light wind. The only wind break I have available is my Genesis gasser that is covered. During the first 2 hours, my lid temp has never exceeded 200 degress but my et-73 at the grate has stayed steady at 230 except now when I opened the lid to spray the ribs. I'm not worried about the temp now as I've adjusted the bottom grates and they should start coming down soon. I'm just wondering about the temp difference since this is a new WSM and all I've read is the lid temp will be higher? Some more info for the seasoned pros is I'm guessing the wind is going over the Genesis and cooling the lid possibly? I'm doing 3 racks of baby backs and had already assembled the probe before realizing all 3 racks wouldn't fit on the top grate without seriously crowding the grate probe. Will the proximity of the meat to the probe keep it from reading correctly? I did start with a full charcoal chamber and 1/2 Weber chiminey so there should be plenty of heat unless I've missed something. One other thing, in my excitement I forgot to add water to the pan which I know is okay, just not something I was planning on in my first cook. Plus, I didn't want to waste fuel waiting on water to boil to add to the pan. Hopefully I won't need it in the future as my new smoker is the 18.5 with the larger water pan and was a real pain to foil.
I'm going to try to use the 3-2-1 method until I get more practice and better weather so I can enjoy some Que.
Any thoughts or advice at this point would be greatly appreciated.
Rob