My first smoke on 22.5 OTP


 
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Adam Caiati

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Well first time post here. MY g/f bought me a Weber Platinum for fathers day and I have been grilling like crazy.
Well today was my first smoke in it, pork ribs and some corn-on-the-cob. I did the MM for the first time and it did great. I used the baskets because I had no fire bricks to hold the coals in. Put some cherry chips in the baskets also.
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All the temps were taken off the lid thermo. After about 30 minutes is was at 190. I put the ribs on and I was getting tons of smoke.
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After I put the ribs on it just kept climbing. I
starting closing the bottom vent and it just kept going, finally I found a good temp. The top is 100% open and the bottom was set at 90% closed. The temp finally got around 270-290 and stayed that was pretty much the rest of the cook. I put the corn on about 2 hours after the ribs and those stayed in till the ribs were done. Here they are after a little peek.
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They cooked for about 5hrs and I think they were in there for a little to long. Here they are sauced and about 30 minutes later pulled and ready to eat.
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The smoke ring was great and tasted even better. My g/f loved them and wants me to do more. Sorry for the long post but the is my first one and wanted to show off a little. I would appreciate some feed back if I did anything wrong or need to do it better.
 
Very nice. It's hard to beat ribs and roasted corn done right.

The settings you mentioned (top open, bottom 90% closed) seem to work real well on my kettle as well.
 
They turned out wonderful.

It was hard trying to find the right venting to control the temp. I left the bottom open to long when the ribs were on and I think thats why the temp. just kept climbing.
 
Looks great but what is in that pan? Applejuice and wood chips? How did that work out for ya?
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The Ribs look super tasty.
 
It's just water and chips in the pan. The pan worked out great, I had to add water about half was through the cook.
 
Pretty good job. My recommendations from years of using my weber as a smoker:

*Don't be afraid of using more rub over your ribs, spread it all over
* A good way to measure temps is to use a probe thermometer pushed through half of a potato on the grill grate. That will give you an idea of how how the temp at the grill is
 
Ribs look really good Adam. Nice job. Like Michael said, rub that seasoning in good. If you want to, you can put one charcoal tray on either side of the grill, and your drip pan in the middle. Helps with even cooking without requiring flipping/moving of the ribs.

When I do ribs on the kettle, I'll only use 6-8 lit briquettes (usually only 6). Otherwise, temps can get up quickly on you. But I'll frequently do ribs on the kettle at 275-300 degrees. They come out great, and obviously faster than a low 'n slow. You can also just put your cold water in the drip pan.

Welcome to the site. Glad you're enjoying that Weber.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Adam Caiati:
They turned out wonderful.

It was hard trying to find the right venting to control the temp. I left the bottom open to long when the ribs were on and I think thats why the temp. just kept climbing. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Grilling and smoking are skills that are well worth the effort to learn. No doubt your temperature control will be that much better the next go 'round. And in the mean time, it is nice that the process is fairly forgiving of deviations in the details so you still get great results. As long as you don't let temperature get too far out of hand, the biggest issue will be getting the food done at a target time. Your results look great!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Michael Pompey:
Pretty good job. My recommendations from years of using my weber as a smoker:

*Don't be afraid of using more rub over your ribs, spread it all over
* A good way to measure temps is to use a probe thermometer pushed through half of a potato on the grill grate. That will give you an idea of how how the temp at the grill is </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was using 2 different rubs, I ran out of one and had more of the other. Do you rub it under the meat also or just on top? How long do you let marinade?
I do not have a probe thermo, you suggest a good one?

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by JimK:
Ribs look really good Adam. Nice job. Like Michael said, rub that seasoning in good. If you want to, you can put one charcoal tray on either side of the grill, and your drip pan in the middle. Helps with even cooking without requiring flipping/moving of the ribs.

When I do ribs on the kettle, I'll only use 6-8 lit briquettes (usually only 6). Otherwise, temps can get up quickly on you. But I'll frequently do ribs on the kettle at 275-300 degrees. They come out great, and obviously faster than a low 'n slow. You can also just put your cold water in the drip pan.

Welcome to the site. Glad you're enjoying that Weber. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Next time I do smoking I'm going to try the fire brick method and foil the charcoal grate. I used about 6 lit per tray. To much? I'm also going to use wood chunks not chips, it will last longer.
 
I'm currently using a Taylor probe thermometer and have been doing fine. I've also used a Polder probe before. Stay away from the Pyrex models. I've had a couple and all of them have gone out within months of using them, and too many wild fluctuations with the temp.

As far as the rub, rub that stuff all over the top and the bottom. I usually let me spares marinate in a lemon juice apple cider mixture for 3 hours. I pull them pat them dry then cover them with a homemade rub recipe and put them back in the fridge overnight.

I use the firebrick method for bbq and roasting all the time in my 22.5 weber. If you are going to fire brick, you'll only be using one side of the grill (1/3 of grate) for coals. I take a full weber chimney of unlit coals and pour them in the small side. I pull out 6 - 10 briquettes (depending on weather) of the pile and put back in the chimney. I bury two wood chunks (usually hickory or cherry) among the unlit charcoal. I then light the 6-10 that I reserved in the chimney. I pour the lit on top of the unlit. I have an older 22.5 that has the three separate vents instead of the ash catcher. I close two and leave the other open. I close the vent at the top to about 1/2 closed. My temps usually hover in the 250-275 range for about 5-6 hours. About 2 hours in I turn my rib rack around so there is even exposure to the heat.

This usually works well for me. I'll hunt around to see if I have any pics of my setup that I can post for you.
 
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