Let me begin by thanking everyone for sharing their experiences. This forum is a priceless resource which gave me the confidence to use my 22.5" OTG kettle as a smoker.
I attempted my very first smoke today. I was nervous and excited at the same time. I used the Minion method with fire bricks. 40 unlit Stubbs briquettes, 2 apple wood chunks, 10 lit Stubbs on top, empty foil pan as a drip pan. I wasn't sure when to add the rubbed ribs so I just added them right away and then put the lid on the grill. I set the bottom vent 50% open and the top 100% open. Light colored smoke came out of the top vent for the first 30 minutes or so.
I didn't have a probe thermometer. I used a candy thermometer in the top vent with the assumption that the lid temperature is 50 degrees F higher than the cooking grate temp. I don’t know if my assumption is correct or not.
Initially the lid temp got as high as 350F. I kept adjusting the vents until I got a fairly stable lid temp of 300F. After 2.5 hours of total cooking time, lid temp began to drop down to 275F. I opened the lid to poke the coals with a skewer to knock off a bit of the ash coating. Did a sweep with the lever on the ash catcher and opened bottom vent to 50% hoping to bring up the temp. Unfortunately the lid temp continued to drop down to 250F. In perhaps a misguided effort to bring up the temp, I added 7 unlit coals.
The lid temp continued to drop down to 225F, but then it went up a bit and stayed at 250F for the next hour. Not sure if adding those unlit coals helped. I checked for doneness at around the 4 hour mark and the ribs bent when I picked them up. Big sigh of relief!
I brushed some homemade BBQ sauce onto 1 slab and left the other without sauce. Took them off the grill 30 minutes later. The ribs were moist and had a nice smoky flavor. I think the ribs even had the pinkish smoke ring.
They were tender but not fall-off-the-bone. If I cook them longer to try for FOTB, will they dry out before they FOTB? The candy thermometer in the lid was a temporary thing. I think I will have to buy a probe thermometer to make sure I am really cooking at a "low and slow" temp which I hope will give me FOTB ribs.
I apologize for the lengthy post. I'm just super excited that my first smoke went fairly well. And it's all thanks to you guys!
I attempted my very first smoke today. I was nervous and excited at the same time. I used the Minion method with fire bricks. 40 unlit Stubbs briquettes, 2 apple wood chunks, 10 lit Stubbs on top, empty foil pan as a drip pan. I wasn't sure when to add the rubbed ribs so I just added them right away and then put the lid on the grill. I set the bottom vent 50% open and the top 100% open. Light colored smoke came out of the top vent for the first 30 minutes or so.
I didn't have a probe thermometer. I used a candy thermometer in the top vent with the assumption that the lid temperature is 50 degrees F higher than the cooking grate temp. I don’t know if my assumption is correct or not.
Initially the lid temp got as high as 350F. I kept adjusting the vents until I got a fairly stable lid temp of 300F. After 2.5 hours of total cooking time, lid temp began to drop down to 275F. I opened the lid to poke the coals with a skewer to knock off a bit of the ash coating. Did a sweep with the lever on the ash catcher and opened bottom vent to 50% hoping to bring up the temp. Unfortunately the lid temp continued to drop down to 250F. In perhaps a misguided effort to bring up the temp, I added 7 unlit coals.
The lid temp continued to drop down to 225F, but then it went up a bit and stayed at 250F for the next hour. Not sure if adding those unlit coals helped. I checked for doneness at around the 4 hour mark and the ribs bent when I picked them up. Big sigh of relief!
I brushed some homemade BBQ sauce onto 1 slab and left the other without sauce. Took them off the grill 30 minutes later. The ribs were moist and had a nice smoky flavor. I think the ribs even had the pinkish smoke ring.
They were tender but not fall-off-the-bone. If I cook them longer to try for FOTB, will they dry out before they FOTB? The candy thermometer in the lid was a temporary thing. I think I will have to buy a probe thermometer to make sure I am really cooking at a "low and slow" temp which I hope will give me FOTB ribs.
I apologize for the lengthy post. I'm just super excited that my first smoke went fairly well. And it's all thanks to you guys!
