Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Love the way you set up a "test". But correct me if I'm wrong, but there was no head to head STL vs. BB?

 

Noooo! That's it, our friendship is over. It was a good 6 hours.

I've found simpler is better with ribs too. Maybe with all the time you'll be saving you can practice smoking tofu & broccoli to go with your pansy ribs

 

Getting started! First time attempting to smoke anything so we'll see how it goes. I know its not the most efficient smoker, but its what i have. Theres also plenty of beer for moral support!

 

Little bit of yesterday's fun.

 

Its kinda tough to keep that bad boy at 220. Seems like the only constant temp i can keep is 270ish

 

Awesome! I love me some BBs as well! Gonna have to give the SPOG a run!

 

Maybe put a foil pan with some water in there?

 

Thats not a bad idea... Ill see how it goes

 

No, but I've done about 20 racks total of STL, in every iteration, over the last year (I did a similar test with them as I did with this batch of BB's).

 

And if that doesn't work enuff u could put ice in it

 

Are you measuring temp at grate level, couple inches from meat, with digital probe tip which isn't touching grate?

 

Im roughing it right now... Ive got an analog thermo a few inches above the grate. I know their not the most accurate but its what i have.

 

Argh... My post had part of a previous post to somebody else that I never finished and submitted... Damn iPad / website saves the draft apparently.

Anyhow, yeah, the only way to really know is with a digital probe near the grate. Analog... Iffy. You'll be fine, just check the internal temp of the meat every hour to know you're heading in the right area at the right speed. Opening the lid that often may actually help if you're that far above 225.

 

And next time maybe consider spending thirty bucks at bed bath & beyond for a digital with remote. That's what I use as of now. Not the best quality but it's worked great for me so far. One of these days I'll get real and spend the 100+ on a good one with dual probes.

 

Yea im opening it a good bit and giving a quick spray with water to cool the coals down. 6.5 hours in and im sitting at 147f in the meat so im not terribly far ahead of schedule. It wont be the 12 hr smoke i wanted, but itll work

 

Yea i debated that, but figured id try a few out first to see if my grill is even well suited for it to begin with. Next time though!

 

Yeah, you're a bit ahead of schedule but it'll be fine just keep doing what you're doing, you got this.

 

I started on a regular grill same layout as yours... It helps a lot to get a few fire bricks to segregate the coals from the meat area. It's all expirimentation, but that's the fun part

 

Great point, Scott. Looks like the wood to coal ratio is too high, and flaming chunks of wood bring the temp up very fast, a lot. Very hard to control. Plus you don't want too much smoke anyway, can go too far and make the taste too strong.

 

thats my little aggregation of coals right now. Also, damn this smells good.