First cook on WSM 18!


 
C

Colleen C

New member
Hi folks, thanks for the warm welcome last month. My smoker finally got here (just a little late for Mother’s Day but better late than never!) and today I’m test flying with a couple racks of ribs.

I’m not a super organized person and my usual process is to just read and watch a bunch of stuff on a topic and then fly by the seat of my pants. Then I can adjust for whatever goes wrong on the next try. I don’t have a chimney yet so I just used the directions in the manual to start up, with fire starter cubes. Couple chunks of hickory. It took about an hour for the smoke to settle down enough for me to feel comfy putting the meat on and now I’m sitting here watching the smoker.

My understanding from my reading is that it’s a good thing for the smoke to be so light as to be barely visible? So long as the heat in the chamber is in my happy window? I’m sitting here and with the the sun’s hitting it I can’t see any smoke at all sometimes.

I’m doing two racks of back ribs. I used a mustard-based sauce for binder then a rib rub I got from a ribber who had a stall at a market I went to last month. Going to do rough 3-2-1 but also just “going on vibes” to get a feel for the whole thing.

I’ll have some pictures later!
 
I usually budget 2 hrs for smoke to settle down. If the smoke smells good- I put food on. If it smells strong & not like something I want my food bathing in- I wait longer. Usually 1-2 hrs. There are many others that put food on soon after lighting and do not have adverse effects.
 
Colleen C said:
My understanding from my reading is that it’s a good thing for the smoke to be so light as to be barely visible? So long as the heat in the chamber is in my happy window? I’m sitting here and with the the sun’s hitting it I can’t see any smoke at all sometimes.
Click to expand...
That's called TBS or thin blue smoke and it's what you want.
I'm a non waiter, load up the meat and minion start. I split my chunks into thirds or fourths and takes about an hour for temps to stabilize and TBS.
 
The ribs turned out pretty good for a first try! I followed the modified 3-2-1 from the website. There was a point where I couldn’t see any smoke coming out and second-guessed myself; I threw another wood chunk on the coals and regretted it right away and pulled it back out.

Wrapped at 3 hours with brown sugar, butter, and apple juice and then let it go until it felt tender when probing. The bigger rack was firmer than the smaller one but they were both within my window of satisfaction: not falling off the bone but easy to bite cleanly off. I took them both off at the same time to help give me a better sense of how the probing translates to tenderness.

Overall I’m pleased as punch, I thought it would be a lot harder than it was and I credit everything I learned reading this site and forums for how smoothly it went. Going to make more this weekend and maybe use both layers.
 

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Nice work Colleen!
The best thing about using a WSM is its ability to allow the user to nap, have a cocktail, read and relax! Don’t stress, I use a little different method, combining Harry Soo’s “Put the smoke wood under the coal” style and, Enrico Brandizzi “sidewinder ignition” method. I’ve made that my “Standard Operating Procedure” and it allows me to set it up with ignition at maybe 10 PM and do a 18 pound brisket for a 4 PM slicing time with ample resting time after taking the thing off!
No water, no spritzing, leave it alone and be patient. “Good barbecue will be done when IT says it’s done, don’t rush it!”
 
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