Hello all. Newb here. Bought my first smoker - 18.5 WSM - a couple weeks ago. Planned on smoking some ribs for our Fourth party. Started out as a small affair, but as the mercury climbed the guest list grew. You're never lonely in a heat wave when you have a pool. The attendees looked to be about 70 (about 35 adults, half ladies), so I started to get a bit concerned over whether I'd bitten off more than I could chew. I pondered scrapping the ribs and firing up the fryer and doing piles of fried chicken instead - but the words of Han Solo were ringing in my ears, "Never tell me the odds!" So I figured it was death or glory.
Over two weeks, I put much of my at-work time to much better use by scouring this site and others (BBQ Brethren was also very helpful, while Amazing Ribs was informative but, IMO, too dogmatic and inflexible). It was a crash course on smoking. My evenings were spent in front of BBQ Pitmasters watching Myron and Tuffy give advice.
I did a seasoning run with a load of coals, then wiped her down with olive oil and smoked for a while. Supplies had been gathered, thermometers had been calibrated (an EXCELLENT tip; had I not known that my digital probe was high by 12 degrees, I would have been freaked out and confused and probably tried to dial the heat down too much), counter space was cleared and beer was cold. It was time.
My plan was to cook in two batches of 8. I used a rib rack on the bottom grate and was able to fit three whole racks in it and one halved rack on the ends, taking care to make sure no ribs overhung the sides of the grate. I pinwheeled four racks on the top grate, making sure the meat didn't touch. I planned to do a modified 2-2-1. Two hours in the smoker at 225, two hours in the oven at 225 with 8 racks in a covered foil pan with 2 cups of a 50-50 bourbon and apple juice mixture and spritz, then in the fridge for the night, then warmed up in the oven and then sauce and smoke at 225 for another hour. I figured doing the bulk of it the night before would give me some leeway in case I screwed something up.
So batch one was all rubbed and ready about 5pm:
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Got the WSM going with a full load of coals, six pieces of apple and two pieces of hickory. Minion method. Up to 225 in about 45 minutes. On went the first batch at 6pm:
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Rubbed the second batch in the meantime. Two hours later, pulled the first batch off and spritzed and "foiled" them. Ready for the oven at 225 at 8:15pm:
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As soon as I got batch one in the oven, batch two went on the smoker. Here they are after two hours in the smoke around 10:30pm. It's a little blurry since the iphone kept trying to autofocus on the spiraled rib "faces":
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Let batch one rest on the counter, popped batch two in the oven after spritzing and drank some Maker's for a couple hours. Let the second batch rest on the counter for about half an hour. Then I spritzed both batches one more time and squeezed the pans into the fridge. Then it was to bed with visions of ribs dancing in my head.
The morning of the Fourth, after picking up kegs, stringing lights, cleaning the pool, etc., I got the ribs out of the fridge about 10 and let them sit for about an hour. Piled up high and tight, I wanted to give them extra time to lose the chill. Party time was at 3pm. Fired the smoker back up, and popped the ribs in the oven after a quick spritz at 190 for about an hour, still just really trying to get them warm. Then sauced the first batch and into the smoker at 225 for an hour. I didn't want to sprial the top set of ribs once they were sauced. I figured that would be a mess and I'd wind up with more sauce on my hands than the ribs. I had picked up a second 18.5 rack, so I had four racks down on the bottom grate in the rib rack, then two flat on the top grate, then two more flat on the upside-down second rack at the very top.
I had enough to do so I blended a bunch of commercial sauces. For my first batch, I went somewhat sweet with some zestiness. This used Rufus Teague's Bit of Heat, Sticky Fingers Carolina Sweet, and, when that was all gone, Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet and Spicy. Batch two was spicier - Dinosaur's Habanero and Stubb's Original for some slight vinegar tang. The Dino sauce is hot when you try a spoonful but it really mellowed.
So, after two hours of smoking the sauced ribs - batch one for an hour then into the oven to stay warm, then batch two for an hour, I hit them with a final painting of sauce and sliced:
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I'll take it for a first-time smoke ring in such a crowded smoker:
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There were some better smoke rings but I was too saucy for taking pics by them
Come and get it (actually they already had gotten hit pretty good by the time I took this - these tins were piled high):
Sweet:
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Spicy:
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The crowd went wild. Is there anything better than having people compliment your ribs all day long while you drain the kegs? And who doesn't love being asked which BBQ caterer you used? I thought they were great. I imagine they'd be even better without the night in the fridge, but these were easily as good as anything I've had in a restaurant in Philly or NYC (including Virgils, IMHO). Nice tug. Tender but not falling off the bone. I think the volume of ribs in the smoker and oven trays helped them from getting overcooked. I also think breaking up the cooking instead of simply reheating fully cooked ribs helped. In any event, for this many ribs, logistics demanded a two day cook.
If I had to cook that many again, I'd smoke them a bit longer in the beginning but I wouldn't change much.
I am looking forward to doing some normal batches!
Thanks to one and all on this board. I can't really adequately explain how much I learned. Without this board, I would have been lost. Thanks!
Over two weeks, I put much of my at-work time to much better use by scouring this site and others (BBQ Brethren was also very helpful, while Amazing Ribs was informative but, IMO, too dogmatic and inflexible). It was a crash course on smoking. My evenings were spent in front of BBQ Pitmasters watching Myron and Tuffy give advice.
I did a seasoning run with a load of coals, then wiped her down with olive oil and smoked for a while. Supplies had been gathered, thermometers had been calibrated (an EXCELLENT tip; had I not known that my digital probe was high by 12 degrees, I would have been freaked out and confused and probably tried to dial the heat down too much), counter space was cleared and beer was cold. It was time.
My plan was to cook in two batches of 8. I used a rib rack on the bottom grate and was able to fit three whole racks in it and one halved rack on the ends, taking care to make sure no ribs overhung the sides of the grate. I pinwheeled four racks on the top grate, making sure the meat didn't touch. I planned to do a modified 2-2-1. Two hours in the smoker at 225, two hours in the oven at 225 with 8 racks in a covered foil pan with 2 cups of a 50-50 bourbon and apple juice mixture and spritz, then in the fridge for the night, then warmed up in the oven and then sauce and smoke at 225 for another hour. I figured doing the bulk of it the night before would give me some leeway in case I screwed something up.
So batch one was all rubbed and ready about 5pm:
Got the WSM going with a full load of coals, six pieces of apple and two pieces of hickory. Minion method. Up to 225 in about 45 minutes. On went the first batch at 6pm:
Rubbed the second batch in the meantime. Two hours later, pulled the first batch off and spritzed and "foiled" them. Ready for the oven at 225 at 8:15pm:
As soon as I got batch one in the oven, batch two went on the smoker. Here they are after two hours in the smoke around 10:30pm. It's a little blurry since the iphone kept trying to autofocus on the spiraled rib "faces":
Let batch one rest on the counter, popped batch two in the oven after spritzing and drank some Maker's for a couple hours. Let the second batch rest on the counter for about half an hour. Then I spritzed both batches one more time and squeezed the pans into the fridge. Then it was to bed with visions of ribs dancing in my head.
The morning of the Fourth, after picking up kegs, stringing lights, cleaning the pool, etc., I got the ribs out of the fridge about 10 and let them sit for about an hour. Piled up high and tight, I wanted to give them extra time to lose the chill. Party time was at 3pm. Fired the smoker back up, and popped the ribs in the oven after a quick spritz at 190 for about an hour, still just really trying to get them warm. Then sauced the first batch and into the smoker at 225 for an hour. I didn't want to sprial the top set of ribs once they were sauced. I figured that would be a mess and I'd wind up with more sauce on my hands than the ribs. I had picked up a second 18.5 rack, so I had four racks down on the bottom grate in the rib rack, then two flat on the top grate, then two more flat on the upside-down second rack at the very top.
I had enough to do so I blended a bunch of commercial sauces. For my first batch, I went somewhat sweet with some zestiness. This used Rufus Teague's Bit of Heat, Sticky Fingers Carolina Sweet, and, when that was all gone, Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet and Spicy. Batch two was spicier - Dinosaur's Habanero and Stubb's Original for some slight vinegar tang. The Dino sauce is hot when you try a spoonful but it really mellowed.
So, after two hours of smoking the sauced ribs - batch one for an hour then into the oven to stay warm, then batch two for an hour, I hit them with a final painting of sauce and sliced:
I'll take it for a first-time smoke ring in such a crowded smoker:
There were some better smoke rings but I was too saucy for taking pics by them
Come and get it (actually they already had gotten hit pretty good by the time I took this - these tins were piled high):
Sweet:
Spicy:
The crowd went wild. Is there anything better than having people compliment your ribs all day long while you drain the kegs? And who doesn't love being asked which BBQ caterer you used? I thought they were great. I imagine they'd be even better without the night in the fridge, but these were easily as good as anything I've had in a restaurant in Philly or NYC (including Virgils, IMHO). Nice tug. Tender but not falling off the bone. I think the volume of ribs in the smoker and oven trays helped them from getting overcooked. I also think breaking up the cooking instead of simply reheating fully cooked ribs helped. In any event, for this many ribs, logistics demanded a two day cook.
If I had to cook that many again, I'd smoke them a bit longer in the beginning but I wouldn't change much.
I am looking forward to doing some normal batches!
Thanks to one and all on this board. I can't really adequately explain how much I learned. Without this board, I would have been lost. Thanks!
