Runaway Ribs

[Charles Howse]

Hi,
Did some 3-2-1 spares last night. Kroger had them on sale for $1.99/lb, but was out of the whole, untrimmed, in cryovac. All they had was "trimmed" in styrofoam, which is a single rib sliced twice length-wise with some other trimmings. Ick!
Anyway, that's what they had, so...

Emptied a small bag of K into the ring, which filled it about 2/3 full. Picked out about 15 briquettes and lit them, as it was windy (I pulled down the Roman shades to cut most of the wind, and I have a nice windbreak).
Added a few chunks of hickory and we were off.

I've recently changed from water to sand in the pan, and this was an interesting cook.

Temps settled in at ~260 for the first 2 1/2 hours. After I foiled is when things went sour. (Did NOT leave the top off while I was foiling).

Temps climbed up to 370! I had all 4 vents closed, and couldn't stop it.
Dumped the heat by removing the dome, but that only worked for a few minutes.

Just came in from taking a look-see at the charcoal bowl. Plenty of unburned left.

My WSM is '05 I think, and it's been rode hard and put up wet. There are some leaks, but not that bad.

I'm obviously going back to water, but can anyone think of anything else that might have made the temps spike like that?

BTW, ribs came out OK.

 

[Don Dukes]

Where were you reading the temp at?...grate or lid? I only foil the pan now and I don't typically have that high of temp starting with only 15 coals. In the future you may want to check for leaks when smoke is coming out. Mine has a few but nothing that I worry too much with.

-Don Dukes

 

[K Kruger]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">BTW, ribs came out OK. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
One would hope. (I cook ribs in the mid-300s start-to-finish so...)

Did you bury wood? That can cause spikes of that nature.

And, yes, where were you temping?

 

[Charles Howse]

Thanks for the replies, guys.
Had the always reliable Maverick on the cooking grate.
No serious leaks at all when smoke is billowing, I watch that every time, it's a habit.
Did not bury wood, it was just dropped on top of unlit coals, then lit coals dropped on top of that.

Guess I shoulda been cookin' a turkey, eh?

 

[Scooter B]

My only suggestion is that when cooking "dry" you need to be incredibly mindful of how long you have the lid off. I know it won't seem like long, but if you have loads of fuel and unlimited oxygen your fire will grow rapidly. Without the water to temper it, that means your cook temp will spike for quite some time as you have wait for the fuel to cool down.

If this happens don't take the lid off to vent the heat. That will only give it more oxygen and prolong the spike in temp. Remember that the sand is going to hold heat so if you get a spike to 300+, then sand will hold that heat for a while until the fire beneath it is cooler.

 

[TravisH]

Sand can be very tricky. Once it gets hot, it stays hot for a long long time.

Not surprised you couldn't get it down. My first experience with an overheat with sand and temps wouldn't come down for an HOUR even after removing ALL the coals! It sucks up that much energy!

 

[Don Dukes]

The only thing that I might suggest is only changing 1 thing at a time to nail down the spike. Perhaps try going back to water to see if it happens again so that you might attribute that to the sand. I simply foil my pan as I cook all the meats a little warmer than the traditional low and slow.


-Don Dukes

 

[Tony C.]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
(I cook ribs in the mid-300s start-to-finish so...)
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

due to time issues i did my first high heat spares on the kettle yesterday.2 racks at 325+ indirect with RO lump and apple wood. they took right at 3 hours to get tender and were just as good as the ones i do at 250-275 for 6 hours on the WSM. maybe even a tad better because the top layer of meat has a nice layer of crunch with nice and tender meat underneath that pulled off the bone with a slight tug. they also had a great smoke ring and a nice smokey flavor as well.