Well, and this is the first time I've said this...the ribs were not very good. I figure that they were either 1. Way oversmoked, or 2. Too much Alder can make for a weird, sweet taste. IMO, the problem came because the logs weren't able to burn cleanly enough...and produced a lot of smoke even though I had all the bottom vents open. The thing is, If you let the logs burn down to ash covered coals and then put them in, you won't have much fuel left for a long cook and will have to keep adding. On the other hand, if you don't let them burn down completely (as I didn't) then when you assemble the wsm there isn't enough air for the logs to burn cleanly and they smoke too much. There were times throughout the cook when the logs were burning well in the wsm (i.e. no smoke coming out the top) but that was rare. Most of the time there was visible smoke coming out. Creosote? Maybe. All I know is that the ribs didn't taste very good. Not that my buddies didn't scarf them down like starved dogs, but to me (and I'm sure to people here, who know what good bbq should taste like) they were *way* oversmoked.
One other thing...unless one has a really big backyard or you live in the country, be careful with the fire! When you have 6 or 7 logs of hardwood burning simultaneously it can get *hot.* Further, in my backyard there is a redwood tree that is probably 75 feet tall and 5 feet in diameter, and the sparks from the fire were being blown into its branches. It wouldn't catch at this time of year, but I was starting to get a bit worried (another reason I put a few of the logs out with sand).
