Hi all! Noob needing help with first smoke tomorrow morning!

[Guest]

Hi everyone. I have been reading EVERYTHING on this forum and it's nice to have a place to go for help! I just put my assembled my smoker and ALL of my family and some friends are coming over tomorrow night for baby-back ribs and all the fixins. I plan on smoking 10-15 pounds of ribs with applewood and will use the "BRITU" recipie. Is there ANYTHING I need to know before doing this? I don't want to screw this up my first time. I'm pretty nervous!! THANKS!!

 

[Barry]

As a recent purchaser of the WSM, the one thing I have learned is to give yourself PLENTY OF TIME to smoke them correctly. The worst is having hungry people sitting around waiting for the meat to reach it's heavenly state.

 

[Guest]

I'll second that. My first smoke, I was alone all day and gave them all the time in the world. They were great! The second time, I had relatives coming over and they P*ssed and Moaned about being hungry and I cut the cooking time, and though they liked them, they didn't come off the bone as easily and just weren't as much fun. You cannot rush perfection!

 

[Tony Weisse]

I have done 3 cooks on the WSM and have yet to even come close on an expected finish time. I'm planning to cook a 9-lb pork butt this weekend. Suggestions are 1 1/2 to 2 hours/pound. That translates into 13 - 18 hours - a pretty darn big time difference. However, experience is showing that planning on the high side is the route to go, so I'm starting my cook at 9:00 pm Friday and hope to be done for Saturday supper at 5:00 pm.

 

[Jim Clay]

Tom, if you don't have a good probe thermometer then you should get one. If you just keep the dome temp on your WSM between 230 and 250 you'll be fine. Then you need to put the probe in between two of the meater ribs (don't hit a bone) and wait til it gets to 185 - 195. You'll have great ribs.

 

[Guest]

THANKS for the replies!! Just got back from getting the ribs. They look AWSOME! Picking up the pony keg in a few hours. I sure hope this goes ok.

 

[John Mason]

I agree with the "give yourself plenty of time" advice. Dunno why, but people don't seem to mind eatin' a little early, but make 'em wait a while and they get all grumpy.

Tony, I did a 7.5 and an 8 lb. butt for my first cook in the WSM. Temps ran a bit high (275-290)for the first 4-5 hours and it still took me 17 hours to reach 195F internal. You can always wrap it in foil and put it in a cooler stuffed with towels/blankets/crumpled newspaper if it's early. It'll go up to 6 hours and still be hot.

 

[Randy Parr]

Tom,

Ribs are a great first cook and BRITU is the best way to cook em (IMHO). Be sure to check if your ribs have enhancers added and if so, adjust the BRITU rub accordingly. My experience with baby backs is 5 hours at temps between 200 and 250 turns out just right. Longer and they fall of the bone, shorter and they aren't as tender. If the ribs get done early, you can always keep them warm, so tell the folks dinner will be at..say 6pm and plan the ribs to be done at 5, that way no one will be cranky.
And don't forget the beer!
Enjoy! Tell us how it went.

 

[Tony Weisse]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Tom:
[qb]Picking up the pony keg in a few hours. I sure hope this goes ok. [/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Sounds like an unbeatable combination to me!