Brian Johnson
TVWBB Pro
Ok, so maybe the title is a little exaggerated, but it does accurately describe my smoke day...
The day started off well enough. I trimmed and prepped my two slabs of spareribs and got them on the smoker (with the rib tips on the lower grate).
A couple hours later, the ribs were looking good...
Since I started my cook with a full-ish ring of coals leftover from my last rib cook, I decided to do a hot squat and check on my coal bed. I gave my coals a stir and pushed them all together for better fuel efficiency, but didn't need to add any new fuel. A few minutes later my low temp alarm was sounding. I figured it was just an anomaly and gave it a few minutes to rebound. It was at that point that things started going off the rails. My temps kept dropping inexplicably and by the time the temp got down to about 215 °F I realized that I had closed the vents instead of opening them after stirring my coals. Once the temp dropped down to 188 °F I decided that the best course of action was to add some hot coals to the WSM. That's when I saw this. . .
So there I was standing in the rain trying to start a small chimney to add to the WSM. A few minutes after adding the fresh coals, the hail started. Fortunately it didn't last too long and even though it took a while, my temp finally recovered to 250 °F.
The cook went pretty smoothly from there on. I doctored up a store-brand BBQ sauce and brushed it on the ribs.
Rounded out the meal with some veggies and mac & cheese. The family was hungry so there are no plated pictures, but if the after pictures are any indication, everyone clearly enjoyed the meal.
All in all, I'd say today was a good Smoke Day!
The day started off well enough. I trimmed and prepped my two slabs of spareribs and got them on the smoker (with the rib tips on the lower grate).
A couple hours later, the ribs were looking good...
Since I started my cook with a full-ish ring of coals leftover from my last rib cook, I decided to do a hot squat and check on my coal bed. I gave my coals a stir and pushed them all together for better fuel efficiency, but didn't need to add any new fuel. A few minutes later my low temp alarm was sounding. I figured it was just an anomaly and gave it a few minutes to rebound. It was at that point that things started going off the rails. My temps kept dropping inexplicably and by the time the temp got down to about 215 °F I realized that I had closed the vents instead of opening them after stirring my coals. Once the temp dropped down to 188 °F I decided that the best course of action was to add some hot coals to the WSM. That's when I saw this. . .
So there I was standing in the rain trying to start a small chimney to add to the WSM. A few minutes after adding the fresh coals, the hail started. Fortunately it didn't last too long and even though it took a while, my temp finally recovered to 250 °F.
The cook went pretty smoothly from there on. I doctored up a store-brand BBQ sauce and brushed it on the ribs.
Rounded out the meal with some veggies and mac & cheese. The family was hungry so there are no plated pictures, but if the after pictures are any indication, everyone clearly enjoyed the meal.
All in all, I'd say today was a good Smoke Day!
Last edited:
