OK, first things first. Thank you, EVERYONE, for your encouraging words and support. I kept hesitating, trying to get it right right out of the chute. It doesn’t work that way in real life; so, why should it work that way in the realm of low ‘n slow?
First up – baby back ribs, approximately three pounds. I did not trim the ribs; but, I did remove the membrane. I used Myron Mixon’s rub. I applied the rub approximately two teaspoons of the rub to each side just about ½ hour or so prior to placing the ribs in the smoker. I did them for two hours, followed by wrapped for an hour, followed by one more hour. I couldn’t cut the ribs apart, for they kept falling apart…juicy, tasty, and the rub didn’t overpower the meat. The Boss declared this outing a true success, and she’s never wrong.
I had problems controlling the temp. It took about an hour or so for the smoker to reach temp, whereupon I placed the ribs in the smoker, and the temp steadily but slowly climbed up to around 295. I tinkered with the dampers at the bottom, to no avail. It seemed that as each chunk of wood came into contact with the lit coals, the temp spiked, at times up to over 300 degrees. I should have discarded the smaller pieces, and stuck mainly with the fist-sized chunks. I used three fist-sized chunks, and perhaps two or three wussy-sized pieces, placed among the unlit coals.
All in all, except as noted the smoker held temp in the 280-290 range. At one point I closed two dampers completely and had one opened about 1/3, with the top vent opened ½. I finished this outing with two lower vents closed completely, and one opened 1/3, with the top opened ½, and the temp at around 285.
It seems that cleaning this sucker ain’t gonna be as easy as I thought. There is an impressive amount of gunk lining the insides of the smoker, and an equally impressive amount of gunk floating in the water pan. I left the smoker outside, uncovered, since the temp only got down to 150 degrees when darkness blanketed the area. I’ll deal with it tomorrow.
The photos show the progression of the inaugural cook, and there’s enough left over for lunch tomorrow.
I could not have accomplished this without the help of the folks who frequent the VWB Bulletin Board. Again, thanks for your help.
First up – baby back ribs, approximately three pounds. I did not trim the ribs; but, I did remove the membrane. I used Myron Mixon’s rub. I applied the rub approximately two teaspoons of the rub to each side just about ½ hour or so prior to placing the ribs in the smoker. I did them for two hours, followed by wrapped for an hour, followed by one more hour. I couldn’t cut the ribs apart, for they kept falling apart…juicy, tasty, and the rub didn’t overpower the meat. The Boss declared this outing a true success, and she’s never wrong.
I had problems controlling the temp. It took about an hour or so for the smoker to reach temp, whereupon I placed the ribs in the smoker, and the temp steadily but slowly climbed up to around 295. I tinkered with the dampers at the bottom, to no avail. It seemed that as each chunk of wood came into contact with the lit coals, the temp spiked, at times up to over 300 degrees. I should have discarded the smaller pieces, and stuck mainly with the fist-sized chunks. I used three fist-sized chunks, and perhaps two or three wussy-sized pieces, placed among the unlit coals.
All in all, except as noted the smoker held temp in the 280-290 range. At one point I closed two dampers completely and had one opened about 1/3, with the top vent opened ½. I finished this outing with two lower vents closed completely, and one opened 1/3, with the top opened ½, and the temp at around 285.
It seems that cleaning this sucker ain’t gonna be as easy as I thought. There is an impressive amount of gunk lining the insides of the smoker, and an equally impressive amount of gunk floating in the water pan. I left the smoker outside, uncovered, since the temp only got down to 150 degrees when darkness blanketed the area. I’ll deal with it tomorrow.
The photos show the progression of the inaugural cook, and there’s enough left over for lunch tomorrow.
I could not have accomplished this without the help of the folks who frequent the VWB Bulletin Board. Again, thanks for your help.
