Finally bought a used 18.5


 
S

Scott_P

New member
I picked up a gently used 2013 18.5 from CL for $200 today. It was advertised as the 22 but after driving an hour to get it I just paid and took the 18. I will be typically cooking for 4 so I am thinking am fine. I am kicking myself for not offering $150 but I saved over $100 vs. new given tax and all.

I have been reading for months about techniques, recipes, etc. My plan is to do 2 racks of baby backs from costco on Sunday. I know everyone has their own spin, but is there a consensus on the "newbies should do it this way" technique? I want to start easy and go from there. I am sure hopeful the Wsm is easier to control than my kettle plus smokenator!

Thanks all!
 
Congrats on joining the forum and your new purchase. I learned by following the 3-2-1 method (Google it). That said, it depends on the temps you run. Now, I play it by ear. I don't really time things, but Maybe more of a 2.5-1-0.5 at 275? The key is to check the meat and let it dictate the time. It's a learning process, so be please be patient.
 
I had success with foiling the water pan and using no water. 275 for just under 4 hours. Ribs had a nice bark and were tender.
 
Careful with the foil on baby backs. They get tender very quickly. No more than an hour in foil required. I usually do mine for about 2.5 hours unwrapped, one hour in foil, then maybe another 45 minutes with no foil and covered in sauce. Typically, I cook them at about 275 degrees (and I am a believer in using water).
 
OK - so I bought a 3 pack of Smithfield BB from Costco. I am hopeful the membrane is already removed - I always seems to have trouble getting it off and have never cooked the Smithfield before. This os
 
OK - so I bought a 3 pack of Smithfield BB from Costco. I am hopeful the membrane is already removed - I always seems to have trouble getting it off and have never cooked the Smithfield before. This is the smallest 3 pack they had at 8.44 lbs. I am thinking that I may have trouble fitting them all on the top grate. I have one Brinkmann from Home Depot so I suppose I could cut them in half and do 4 in that rack on top and two on the lower? Would I be better off just trying to get them all to fit on the top grate? Thoughts?

I have the water pan foiled and will be starting my smoke as soon as I get back from church in the morning!
 
I just did a three pack of Loin Back Ribs from Costco and they had the membrane removed. I LIKE that!:rolleyes: Plus, they are super meaty. REALLY good ribs - the best I have seen anywhere...

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
Success!

I mostly followed the Basic Baby Back Recipe from this site with a few tweaks. Setup was per the recipe. I put a full chimney of unlit in the charcoal pan and then lit about a half chimney and threw it on top when ready. Smoked with about 3 chunks worth of apple chips and a hickory chunk. It was a bit intimidating trying to fill the water pan after putting the middle section on. There was so much smoke. I filled it from above - is that the easiest way? Once everything was assembled the temp ran a bit high (320). I got things under control in about 30 minutes - had to close all of the bottom vents and left the top half open. I was impressed once things got dialed in. I ran mostly with the top open and two bottom about 1/3 open. This thing can really hold its temp! Ran between 215-230 for 6 hours or so. The cook was longer than it needed to be due to some poor planning on my part. I had to run a two hour errand in the middle... I foiled the ribs at around 3 hours and left them foiled for around 2 hours. The result was REALLY tender (almost mushy) ribs. Fortunately my family loves tender fall off the bone ribs so they were pretty happy! Next time I will probably do more of 2.5 / 1ish / 1ish but I was happy with the result!

Thanks all! I will get pics up eventually, I took a bunch.
 
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