Pictures of new smoker

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schultzy

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Jun 5, 2007
105
10
East Galesburg, IL
I joined in last night and have a lot to learn. I posted some pics of the smoker I worked all winter on. I hope to some day be able to master it. I have tried several meats on it some excellent and some needing practice. I did enter a rib contest in 3 weeks and am getting nervous. My biggest concern is they give you 2 cases of ribs and I cant fit that many at once on my unit. I have talked to other entries and they cook at higher temps than what I have been using they cook around 300 and it takes about 3 hours, Ive been cooking at 240 and taking 5-6 hours. At that pace i can have the first batch done at 11 and the next not done until 5. Any suggestions on what to do. Looking forward to hearing your replies, feel free to comment on my smoker to. Thanks in advance, The Rookie Ribsters (team name)
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Use Rib Racks. They will hold the ribs on their sides and you should be able to fit 5 x's as many on your grates. i asked around about this idea and a few folks said they work like a champ, so I got some and tried it out. i can smoke about 5 x's as many ribs at the same time now. You can pick em up at Lowe's or any BBQ site. smoker looks nice, let me know it treats those ribs! Good luck @ the comp.
 
Nice looking rig you built there, Schultzy!

Yup, ditto on the rib racks...

Good luck at the competition and welcome aboard!
 
The tank is made from an old boiler we figure at about 220 gallons. The fire box is 100# propane tank. Inside the cooking area 6 inches below the grates and right above the plinth where the smoke box is attached we have a sheet of steel that goes from the back of the tank all the way around to about 6 inches from the sides and front. This allows the smoke to roll around the steel and up over the meat. It also diffuses any flames that may come into the tank through the plinth and allows indirect heat. Its also a great place to put a water pan to help keep things moist.
 
Welcome Schultzy -

You did a fine job building that smoker! Head out to Lowe or WalMart and get a few rib racks there only about $6 each and they will hold either 5 or 6 racks of ribs each in about a 10 inch space.

Good luck on your competition!
 
I went to Lowes today and bought 1 rib rack, I think its only intended to hold 3 racks but I think if you bend the wires a little you can get 6 in there> I plan on doing a trial run this weekend and will try it out. Im thinking about kicking my heat up to about 300 and see what happens. Ive got a friend who has won several contest and that what he cooks at. Only takes him about 3 hours to cook. I will let you know, plus I have a new rub mixed up and experimenting with a new sauce.
 
Schultzy,

I may not understand what you mean by 'bending' and being able to fit 6 in there ......... so work with me here ........ I dont like to have my ribs (or anything) over lapping (or resting on one another) in the smoker. It seems that what ever is covered or touching wont "bark" up, the meat will certainly be done but it wont look like it ...... you dont want that if you going to present it to a judge (if that was your intention). Let us know how it works out.
 
The problem with only using the rack for 3 is, I need to cook about 26 slabs of ribs and I didn't want to buy 8 or 9 racks at $8.00 a piece. I was hoping to cut that in half. I am doing a trial run as I type will let you know how it turns out.
 
Welcome Schultzy, very nice smoker!!! Just did a rib comp last weekend, i'm assuming your cookin spares, would definetly go with the higher heat, use the racks or don't but the ribs your cookin for judging do not go on a rib rack, ruins the bark and tends to burn the ends. Keep us updated and could u please resize your photos, eyes are gettin old
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I need a little help with resizing the pics, when they were larger the site would not let me send them as an attachment. Is there a better way to post. Thanks
 
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