John Richardson
New member
So friday afternoon, having a half-day at work, I decided that I wanted some ribs, and I was out of kingsford so I decided to give lump a try in the WSM. I used to be a die-hard lump fan pre-WSM, using it for grilling and in my klose when I needed charcoal in addition to the wood. I bought some kingsford at costco to save money last summer (for grilling) and didn't mind it, so when I got the WSM, I stuck with kingsford, figuring it would be a good, consistent way to get the hang of it.
Anyway, on to the results... My plan was 3 hours at 225 and 2 at 250. I filled the ring about 2/3 full of lump (chigger creek) and lit 12 kingsford briquettes with 2 fist sized hunks of pecan and a couple of smaller hunks. Rubbed the ribs with mustard and with "hog rub" from Oklahoma Joe's, threw 'em on the top rack, and set up my maverick and filled the pan with cold water. It took a while to climb up to 200+, but I figured if lump burns hotter I'd better be cautious. I probably could use 14 or 15 briquettes next time. When it got to about 215 I choked it way down, since with the kingsford, if I close it to 0% at 215, it usually creeps up to about 230ish then holds there if I crack the vents to about 15% once it stabilizes. Well, the lump started to fall immediately when I closed the vents. I opened them back to about 50%, and over the next 20-30 minutes it climbed to about 235, so I closed them down a bit more, and it dropped like a rock. I finally found a good position, somewhere around 20%, where it held steady at 220-225. 3 hours at 225, then I opened it a bit more and let it climb to 250, and sprayed the ribs down with apple juice. After the 4th hour I threw some foiled potatoes into the coals and sprayed the ribs again, then at 4:30 I glazed them with 4 parts "kansas city cowtown" (OK Joe's) BBQ sauce, 1 part honey, and 1 part bourbon. pulled at 5:00 (well, actually 5:30, becuase it took about a half hour to hit 200 degrees, which is when I started counting). I still had a ton of unburned coals, so I probably used too much, but unlike the kingsford, I'll be able to re-use most of it.
Best ribs I've ever made. I went a little overboard with the rub, but not too bad. I've never used this rub for ribs before, I usually use it for butts. But the flavore was awesome. And the smell, when I checked on things, was very clean, reminiscent of the klose with a load of wood, not the ammonia-like smell of the kingsford.
Temp control with lump seems easy, but much much more sensitive to vent adjustments. It has almost no inertia. The kingsford seems to take about 5-10 minutes to react to a vent change, the lump takes about 45 seconds, so it took a while to find the sweet spot and I had less faith that it would stay put.
But I think I'm back to being a lump man. I'll keep some kingsford around for lighting and maybe for grilling.
Anyway, on to the results... My plan was 3 hours at 225 and 2 at 250. I filled the ring about 2/3 full of lump (chigger creek) and lit 12 kingsford briquettes with 2 fist sized hunks of pecan and a couple of smaller hunks. Rubbed the ribs with mustard and with "hog rub" from Oklahoma Joe's, threw 'em on the top rack, and set up my maverick and filled the pan with cold water. It took a while to climb up to 200+, but I figured if lump burns hotter I'd better be cautious. I probably could use 14 or 15 briquettes next time. When it got to about 215 I choked it way down, since with the kingsford, if I close it to 0% at 215, it usually creeps up to about 230ish then holds there if I crack the vents to about 15% once it stabilizes. Well, the lump started to fall immediately when I closed the vents. I opened them back to about 50%, and over the next 20-30 minutes it climbed to about 235, so I closed them down a bit more, and it dropped like a rock. I finally found a good position, somewhere around 20%, where it held steady at 220-225. 3 hours at 225, then I opened it a bit more and let it climb to 250, and sprayed the ribs down with apple juice. After the 4th hour I threw some foiled potatoes into the coals and sprayed the ribs again, then at 4:30 I glazed them with 4 parts "kansas city cowtown" (OK Joe's) BBQ sauce, 1 part honey, and 1 part bourbon. pulled at 5:00 (well, actually 5:30, becuase it took about a half hour to hit 200 degrees, which is when I started counting). I still had a ton of unburned coals, so I probably used too much, but unlike the kingsford, I'll be able to re-use most of it.
Best ribs I've ever made. I went a little overboard with the rub, but not too bad. I've never used this rub for ribs before, I usually use it for butts. But the flavore was awesome. And the smell, when I checked on things, was very clean, reminiscent of the klose with a load of wood, not the ammonia-like smell of the kingsford.
Temp control with lump seems easy, but much much more sensitive to vent adjustments. It has almost no inertia. The kingsford seems to take about 5-10 minutes to react to a vent change, the lump takes about 45 seconds, so it took a while to find the sweet spot and I had less faith that it would stay put.
But I think I'm back to being a lump man. I'll keep some kingsford around for lighting and maybe for grilling.
