First WSM smoke Saturday


 
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Rob B.

Rob B.

TVWBB Pro
I drove 112 miles round trip this evening to pick up my WSM. Assembly was a breeze, and my 3 year old loves the box.

I'm planning on cooking ribs for 10 (BRITU), and everything looks to be a "go". The day will be sunny and mild (73*) here in central FL. Just have to locate some appropriate wood in the morning, and rig a candy thermometer. I had planned on drilling a hole in the lid to mount the other type, but the porcelain is just too purty. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Anyway, I thought it'd be real helpful if some of you posted 1 or 2 tricks or secrets to smoking with your WSM that you've learned over the years. Kind of to help speed up my learning curve. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

TIA for any tips you want to share!

Rob
 
Rob,

The first cook I did on my WSM were the BRITU ribs. My best advice to you is follow the BRITU version in Lets Cook on this site. They will come out great. Relax and have a good time.
Remember...they're done when they're done. Don't be in a big hurry to pull them off the heat.
Good Luck, let us know how they turn out.
 
Hey Rob, Your first post and first WSM, welcome. Even tho your son(?) thinks he got the best toy, you win! Your gonna have more fun for a longer time -enjoy. I drilled holes in my bullets and installed therms but I now regret it. One of them eventually broke off in transit from a competition and I haven't replaced it. With a candy probe thru the top you can easily monitor the temp, if you want add a polder pushed thru the meat to read the grill temp you can't go wrong. The biggest mistake is peaking. If your candy probe says your dome temp is around 230*, the top grate will be a little lower and the bottom grate will be a little lower in temp than the top. Don't sweat it. You know your cooking in the low 200's and ribs are gonna take around six hours. Check 'em after three hours. You'll likely be using both grates, so move quick and spray 'em with apple juice and rotate your meat, as it were, and check it again in 1 1/2 hours. Follow Chris' lead and you will have great ribs -have a beer and just don't go golfing!
Dave
Wanna hear how its going -keep us posted.
 
Thanks for telling Robbq not to go golfing as I was going to provide him this warning myself (as the main rule breaker on this one) until I read your reply post telling Robbq not to Golf. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
Rob,

Welcome to the forum. Like Dave, my advice would be to follow Chris' BRITU recipe and BE PATIENT. Also, I do not particularly care for KC style barbeque sauces (too sweet), so I have changed to an old standby, "Open Pit" sauce as a finishing glaze. If you are a native Floridian, you probably will not like the sweetness of the KC Masterpiece sauce either. If you're cooking ribs for 10, maybe try three or four different sauces. Anyway, welcome aboard, give us an update on how it goes, and good luck!!!
 
Well, the day is done...

I had a late start due to the Shuttle tragedy...very sad. Anyway, here's some random thoughts:
*DO NOT try to dry out your brown sugar for the rub in your toaster oven! This may be common sense to you guys, but not to yours truly. As I said, I was running late, so I was trying to speed up things where I could. After the toaster oven was done, I pulled out the tray and saw that the top of the sugar had darkened. NOT THINKING, I grabbed a 3-finger-and-thumb-pinch of the stuff to check it's consistency between my fingers. Apparently, brown sugar will begin to melt in a toaster oven /infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif who'da thunk it? Well, that stuff *stuck* to my fingers and burned like a SOB, until I could get to the sink and run them under water. I am now the proud owner of 4 nice sized blisters, one each on the pads of my fingers. Lol!
* I could only find cherry wood, so that was all I used. Is there a difference between "white oak", and the oak that's in my yard?
*The water pan never did need refilling. Is this normal?
*The ribs never did get the look that the ones pictured on this site show, after coming to room temp with the rub on. Does that matter?
*The temp is very easy to control with these WSMs! And also holds incredibly well. Mine stayed ~230-240* the whole time. At the end, I did open all the vents to try to raise the temp to kick the meat temp up from 140* to 160*. The ribs were right on schedule, but everyone was hungry and getting fidgety. I hated to do it, but... Anyway, I ran them at 275* for about 20 minutes, then said the hell with it, we're eating! Never did recheck the internal temp, but they were done. Looked great, moist, tasted real good (not the BRITU, but considering my negative mods, I can't complain). All-in-all, a success!

Thanks for all I've learned so far...still a long wat to go! /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
 
Hay Rob.That molten brown sugar thing can be a bummer /infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif I switched to raw Turbano sugar instead it works just fine. Sounds like you did a mighty fine job on those bones. Just keep in mind that if you and yours like the results thats what matters most.
 
You're right Pat. I am a native, and it was too sweet for my tastes. I'd prefer something thinner, with more vinegar in it. Any ideas?

Dave, I am the sole male in my family. /infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif Yikes!

Mike, thanks for the tip.

BTW, I'm soaking some fish now to smoke in the morning to make some spread with. I love this thing! /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
Say Rob, why do you not start a new thread about the fish prep and smoke? I am also a Floridian (Stuart, FL) and want to do some fish. I was going to do some bluefish earlier but had to postpone and put them in the freezer. Getting ready to crank it up again and try to smoke some fish and would be interested in your results. Good job on the first bbq...obviously you did not play golf (as I did on my first)..but then, it might have been kinda hard to hold the club in your case /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif . Had to get that one in.
 
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