Newbie questions

[Jim Babek]

Greetings...I am absolutely new at smoking and have only done two sessions thus far. Both being ribs with the first batch comming out way underdone and the second batch comming out pretty darn well if I do say so. I have to admit I dont have a WSM but rather a cheapo water smoker that Ive had for years but never used. It works fine so far and will probably continue using it for a while and then graduate.
I homebrew beer and figured while spending 6 hours brewing I could be smoking a nice dinner as well. So my adventure begins.
My questions are these...
1. The temp on the smoker doesnt seem to get hot enough and Im wondering just how much charcoal I should be using.
2. Second, does anyone have a really good recipe for sauce for ribs. Ive looked around the net but nothing seems to catch my eye. I really dont want to use bought sauce, even if doctored up. I really want to keep everything from scratch.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[Bill Small]

Hey Jim,
Without knowing your smoker, I cant help out much. I do have a great rib recipe and BBQ sauce.
Rib Rub:
1tbs peprika
2tsp brown sugar
1tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp salt

email me for the sauce. I use it for competitons.

 

[Kevin Taylor]

Welcome, Jim!

Your smoker suffers from a couple of major design flaws. You have no control over the air flow of the smoker, therefore, no control over the heat of the fire. Also, if it is like most of these inexpensives ones, the ahses end up drowning the lit coals...making for a short cook.

Follow this link to a site that has a list of mods. They look fairly easy and the good news is they work. This will help you get thru the times until you can upgrade.

ECB Mods

When it comes to sauce, there are literally thousands of them on the internet. VERY hard to pick what might be your favorite. Instead, how about several sites with some recipes?

I would start right here on this site and visit the Recipe Boards.

Here are some other faves........
Regional Sauces

My own......
Stogies recipe site

BBQ Sauces

More BBQ sauces

Yet more sauces


Finally, I would not dismiss commercial sauces. More and more BBQ teams are marketing their sauces. These are very good and most have an impressive track record of winnings. So, try some of them out....you may be impressed!

 

[Jim Babek]

Thanks for the info on the mods to my cheapo smoker. I just spent the past hour and a half making them. I raped another really bad smoker/grill I got at a stag and vented the charcoal pan with a fancy slider. Also switched the legs and vented the lid and added a thermometer. The only mod I didnt do was the charcoal rails, basically because I couldnt figure out how to work it out with the materials I have. As far as the legs, Im using cut down coffee cans till I can get to home depot.

Yeah its all on the cheap but to me thats half the fun. Besides, if I can make something that tastes awsome form a piece of junk then all the better.