Noob is 0 for 2 on the WSM


 
G

Greg Grolemund

New member
Hi everyone. Just bought the WSM 18.5. Did a couple of dry runs to familiarize myself with it. Prior to buying it I used a 22.5 Weber kettle with a smokenator. Got decent results but it's a pain to keep lifting the lid to stir the coals, etc.

Recently to NE FL from SW OH. My patio faces west and the Florida sun beats down mercilessly on me while I'm cooking. Mid 90s yesterday.

Have attempted back ribs twice and on both occasions they were over-smoked. Both times I did 2 racks on the upper grate, pin wheeled. Have been using the Minion method, a little less than 1 1/2 chimneys of Kingsford BB, started with 20 hot briquets. Water pan filled with hot tap water. It comes up to temp in no time flat in this heat. Both times I used 4 chunks of applewood, less than 2x2x3 inches. I use the ET 732 to measure temp at the upper grate. Upper vent wide open, throttling the lower ones.

The first time I semi-buried the wood in the charcoal and made sure the starter coals were placed right by them. I had temp control issues which I expected but got it under 245 after about 90 minutes. During hour 4 the temp dropped under 200 so I opened the vents a bit and took a shower. When I came back there was smoke pouring out and the temp was 265 and rising. Oops.

Was more careful yesterday upon attempt #2, or so I thought. Put wood on top of the lit coals until they started to flame up. Had good temp control and stayed close to my target of 225, never went over 234. Didn't see visible smoke but after hour 3 I detected the now familiar smell of over-smoked ribs. After removing the ribs I looked inside and there was a considerable amount of unburnt wood left.

I'm thinking I use too much wood, too big of pieces, or both. Sorry for the lengthy explanation. Thanks in advance for your help.
 
Sounds like too much wood to me. A little bit of wood smoke goes a long, long way when cooking for hours. One chunk might be enough.

265 degrees for a while shouldn't hurt anything. Maybe shorten the cooking time a bit, but that's about it. Not the end of the world. BBQing is pretty forgiving.
 
"they were over-smoked. Both times"
"the now familiar smell of over-smoked ribs"

I'm smoking salmon right now and am familiar with the process.
This is on an electric smoker.
The ages-old rule of thumb is to not try to infuse smoke after the first 2-3 hours of the smoke session.

When I do ribs on my WSM or kettle, I often use no smoke wood at all.
I get enough smoke flavor from the charcoal.


What do you mean by "over-smoked", I suppose is my question ?
What does it taste like ?
What does it smell like ?
(to you)
 
Last edited:
Greg, welcome to the forum from a fellow Jacksonville-ian

A couple of things..... I almost always smoke my ribs and butts at 265-275 so that should not be a problem.

Second, did the wood have bark on it. A lot of people say it doesn't make a difference but if the wood has bark that is slightly moldy or dirty it could be giving a bitter smoke taste.

I use the first method you did with the wood buried in the coals, however I keep one piece where I first dump the coals and the other pieces buried deeper or off to the sides. You only need one piece of wood smoldering at a time. I find that I get more smoke in the beginning and less towards the end. 4 chunks of applewood should not give you too strong of a flavor to ribs.... but if you had smoke the whole length of cook that would probably make them over smoked. Remember, you want a "thin blue line" of smoke

Are you using the dome thermo. If you are it might be reading hotter or lower than you think. If the wood you were using was catching on fire, you may be running hotter than you think or you might have more air getting in than you think. The wood should really be smoldering and not burning per say...

New smokers have a tendency to run a little hotter than normal until they get gunked up and seal a little better. This could be causing the wood to burn

Also, half a chimney of charcoal on top is probably too much and could be why your temperature shot up. I use 10-12 and let the temp come up slowly to where I want it before adding meat. All those coals were definitely causing more of the apple wood to burn.

This may seem confusing, ( or just the way I wrote it) but it gets easier. If you read on here you will find plenty of discussions about all of us having problems when we started.

Keep playing with it and you will get it figured it out...
 
Last edited:
I would describe the smell and taste as bitter. It overpowers the taste of the meat. I'll keep searching the site for pointers so I don't ask things that have been already answered. I will add that I'm in no way discouraged. It just makes me look forward to the next attempt. There were no guests involved. First of all I just got here and know nobody and secondly I never have guests for dinner until I know what I'm doing. Thanks for your response!
 
Rick Body said:
Greg, welcome to the forum from a fellow Jacksonville-ian

A couple of things..... I almost always smoke my ribs and butts at 265-275 so that should not be a problem.

Second, did the wood have bark on it. A lot of people say it doesn't make a difference but if the wood has bark that is slightly moldy or dirty it could be giving a bitter smoke taste.

I use the first method you did with the wood buried in the coals, however I keep one piece where I first dump the coals and the other pieces buried deeper or off to the sides. You only need one piece of wood smoldering at a time. I find that I get more smoke in the beginning and less towards the end. 4 chunks of applewood should not give you too strong of a flavor to ribs.... but if you had smoke the whole length of cook that would probably make them over smoked. Remember, you want a "thin blue line" of smoke

Are you using the dome thermo. If you are it might be reading hotter or lower than you think. If the wood you were using was catching on fire, you may be running hotter than you think or you might have more air getting in than you think. The wood should really be smoldering and not burning per say...

New smokers have a tendency to run a little hotter than normal until they get gunked up and seal a little better. This could be causing the wood to burn

Also, half a chimney of charcoal on top is probably too much and could be why your temperature shot up. I use 10-12 and let the temp come up slowly to where I want it before adding meat. All those coals were definitely causing more of the apple wood to burn.

This may seem confusing, ( or just the way I wrote it) but it gets easier. If you read on here you will find plenty of discussions about all of us having problems when we started.

Keep playing with it and you will get it figured it out...
Click to expand...
I was using the ET 732 with probe at the grate. No bark. I used 20 hot, grey ashed over briquettes to start. I'll find my groove eventually. Thanks for your help!
 
Greg Grolemund said:
I would describe the smell and taste as bitter. It overpowers the taste of the meat. I'll keep searching the site for pointers so I don't ask things that have been already answered. I will add that I'm in no way discouraged. It just makes me look forward to the next attempt. There were no guests involved. First of all I just got here and know nobody and secondly I never have guests for dinner until I know what I'm doing. Thanks for your response!
Click to expand...
I would say too much smoke for too long a period.
Also, be it fish or meat, if the surface is wet (no pellicle) this smoke bitterness can take hold especially if you hammer it too long with smoke.
For example, with this salmon smoke I'm doing now, the fish came out of the brine and air-dried for about 4 hours prior to the smoke.

Try a cook without smokewood (but mix in some lump with your briqs) and then slowly ramp up with the smokewood in succeeding smokes.
 
When I do ribs on my WSM or kettle, I often use no smoke wood at all.
I get enough smoke flavor from the charcoal.

me three....
 
I'll try not to repeat the good points above. Kbb provides some of it's own smoke flavor, possibly too much for ribs if you don't wait till the charcoal smoke "cleans up" after dumping lit onto the unlit.

Regarding the wood, it puts off some nasty smoke if it catches fire and then gets put out. Ever noticed how a log or stick smokes if you pull it out of a fire? Anyhow, that's why you want to put wood chunks on after the meat goes on. It's best if it starts to smoke slowly.

One other possible issue is the water pan. I'm all for water in it for ribs, but it's very easy to boil the water in the stock pan of the 18.5" since it's so close to the coals. So you can end up with get this funky smoke flavor. Seriously. It makes a difference that even your wife will notice if you know you're behind in a cook and end up boiling the pan. I'd read where pros mentioned this issue, but have also experienced it first hand. Anyhow, other than controlling the coals, the answer is to use the CHARCOAL pan that they sell for the Brinkman el cheapo water smoker. It's flat on the bottom so you have more room, but it holds plenty enough water for overnight cooks.
 
First off ****and I know you might roll your eyes****trust me, we've ALL been there in one way or another!

Okay, now let's talk about your topic:

1. Yes, it might be too much wood. I think we're all a little heavy handed with wood when we start, esp. with ribs. If you look at this recipe, you'll notice it only uses wood BEFORE the ribs are added.

2. Don't trust temp gauges! Well, maybe, some of them. For example, my lid temp tends to be 30-35 degrees lower than my grate (where I now have a Tel-Tru gauge installed--see pic below). Also, I'm not a fan of the Mavericks. Owned two and mine have been junk. Really.

3. I never touch the top vent, however, I'm not afraid to completely close off the bottoms, if need be.

4. I always believe that it's easier to raise temps than to lasso them when they're too high. Try cold tap water. 20 unlit for the Minion Method is just fine, but significantly close down your bottom vents when you're 50 degrees away from your target temp.

Don't get discouraged. You're on the right track!

 
Yep, everyone has different tastes, and what seems over-smoked for some might be perfect for others. Start with one chunk and then work your way up. Apple is pretty mild to me, I like to mix that with cherry for ribs, and what works for me is to split those chunks into 3-4 smaller splits. You get out of that thick white smoke faster and into the TBS that we all love.:wsm:

Tim
 
Like Timothy said, we all have different tastes. I'll use my friend as an example...
He recently purchased a BGE and was super excited to try it out...Salmon was first on the menu, so he went light on the smoke wood. When all was said and done, he had smoked some truly awesome salmon that his wife and daughter hated! "Way too much smoke flavor" was the reason they told him. To him, it tasted perfect...point being, your taste may require very little smoke wood to achieve the desired smoky flavor. Like it's been said before...start out without anybody and (if needed) work your way up until you find what's best for you...
Good luck, Tim
 
After I have a clean burning fire, I place the food on the cooking grate and add my smoke wood thru the door. I use smoke wood like a strong spice to avoid the ashtray effect. One piece at a time. On ribs I may use two pieces depending on how big the pieces are and the type wood.

I've found the door to be the single best design feature of the WSM. In other designs, you have to open the cooker, and remove the food and diffuser to tend the fire/add wood.
 
Last edited:
Start over and start with this:

http://virtualweberbullet.com/rib4.html

That will give you a base line on how to cook ribs. You can make adjustments from there. Given that you seem to like less smoke, try using little to even no wood. The point is to get some good ribs and then you can work on great ribs. Notice that this cooking recipe doesn't require any use of a thermometer. You can look at yours to see what's going on, but don't worry about temp. Also, as was mentioned, don't trust your thermometer. Find a way to test it (boiling water is 212º).

Not to be critical, but there's so much you're doing with your cook, it's hard to tell you what to do to adjust. The best thing to do is start fresh and work in changes from there. I hope you take this advice, you'll be a better BBQ'r for it. Good luck.

Jerry
 
timothy said:
Yep, everyone has different tastes, and what seems over-smoked for some might be perfect for others. Start with one chunk and then work your way up. Apple is pretty mild to me, I like to mix that with cherry for ribs, and what works for me is to split those chunks into 3-4 smaller splits. You get out of that thick white smoke faster and into the TBS that we all love.:wsm:

Tim
Click to expand...
Just say no to heavy white smoke and yes to thin blue smoke.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top