My First Smoke....with pictures!


 
B

Bill Meredith

TVWBB Fan
The new addition to the family finally arrived last night around 6pm. I ooohhhed and ahhhhed at the box while my son laughed at me (wait til he's in his 50's! LOL). We proceeded to open the box and get to work. Having 2 people was a big help (almost a necessity) when it came to attaching the legs with the heat shield to the bottom! Once that was done, I attached a grill strap using the bbqguru eyelets and the rest went according to plan: http://i1095.photobucket.com/a...1104/0528011857a.jpg

Calibrated the hood thermometer - reads about 17 degrees low.

Sunday, 9:30 am - prep the smoker with 18lbs of Stubbs and a couple of pieces of apple and cherry wood: http://i1095.photobucket.com/a...m1104/0529010927.jpg

Got the ribs out of the cryovac, wiped and membranes removed: http://i1095.photobucket.com/a...m1104/0529010939.jpg

Rubbed and ready:
http://i1095.photobucket.com/a...m1104/0529010946.jpg

Fired up about a 1/2 chimney full of Blue K I had open, dumped them on top, put the middle section on, put a gallon of water in the pan, the lower grate on, probe thermometer situated in the middle of the grate and waited for it to come up to temp. In no time the ribs were on the grate, and closed that puppy up!

Differences in hood temp and at the grate:
http://i1095.photobucket.com/a...1104/0529011025a.jpg
http://i1095.photobucket.com/a...m1104/0529011025.jpg

A few of my new toys:
http://i1095.photobucket.com/a...m1104/0528011919.jpg

Ol' Rusty ready for retirement:
http://i1095.photobucket.com/a...m1104/0528011437.jpg

Will post updates as the day progrresses....

11:35 AM. Been on for an hour now. dome temp reading 300 (280 but is 20 off) and lower grate temp reading 205. Trying to resist the urge to fiddle with the vents. Throwback from the Offset days when every 20 minutes you had to do something! lol
 
Nice pics, so clean and shiny.
I have an older 18.5, so no lid therm...lot's of posts about inaccuracy on the board.
I use the temp just inside the top vent, and generally cook between 225 and 250.
 
Well the ribs and brats came out AMAZING!!!
http://i1095.photobucket.com/a...m1104/0529011458.jpg

When I took them out of the smoker they literally fell apart (next time I'll cook them an hour less). The smoke ring was very deep, the meat very tender and juicy! They simply melted in your mouth. I thought my rub contained a bit too much white and cayenne pepper but I'm always hyper-critical of my cooking. Slathered them with Dinosaur sauce and we all chowed down. I also drained a couple of cans of Bush's best beans and added the Dinosaur sauce to them and threw the pot into the smoker. A quite delicious side! I now have ribs for my son and I tomorrow and plenty of brats for lunch during the week.

My cousin had come down for the feast and we put a healthy dent in a case of Sam Adam's Summer Variety waiting for dinner.
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I found the smoker very easy to control. It did get hotter as I had expected from reading here and had only 1 vent 50% open on the bottom with the top vent wide open. Hood temp stayed steady at around 270 and lower grate temp (where I had the ribs) stayed steady at around 230. The only issues were I almost forgot to refill the pan with water during the cook and I found out the new Polder dual probe doesn't like to be left out in the sun. It heated up and quit working so I simply replaced it with my Taylor which had no problem. I'll just have to remember to keep the Polder in the shade. The only other issue was this shaved headed fool forgot to wear a hat and the top of my head is sunburned!! LOL

All in all it was a wonderful first smoke. Now for tomorrow....
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Looks great Bill. I have the same situation with my lid thermometer. During yesterdays cook the difference between the grate and lid varied between 5 and 35 degrees.
 
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