- Oct 14, 2012
- 1
- 10
hello all!
i just got my first smoker as a gift, same model as a friend has (char broil gourmet deluxe offset, 700 series) and he's been happy with it.
put it together today, "seasoned it" per the manual with vegetable oil inside and a burn in the firebox.
prepped a nice slab of ribs using a classic KC rub recipe i found online, fired it up and let it go. i was using kingsford hickory charcoal and put a couple pounds? (filled my weber charcoal chimney to the top) in the firebox with some hickory soaked in water.
i had the vent on the firebox open about halfway and the vent on the smoke box chimney open about a quarter of the way to start. later opened the firebox all the way and the smoke chimney about halfway. i'd add charcoal periodically, but couldn't seem to get the temp gauge on the smoke box much above the "warm" line, which i think is about 150F on my smoker.
after about four hours and most of a 15lb bag of charcoal added in sporadically later, i'm finishing them in the oven... frustrated.
was i being too frugal with the charcoal? should i expect to go through an entire bag of charcoal in a 3 hour smoke?
i REALLY want to get good at this, thanks for any suggestions!
-michigander
i just got my first smoker as a gift, same model as a friend has (char broil gourmet deluxe offset, 700 series) and he's been happy with it.
put it together today, "seasoned it" per the manual with vegetable oil inside and a burn in the firebox.
prepped a nice slab of ribs using a classic KC rub recipe i found online, fired it up and let it go. i was using kingsford hickory charcoal and put a couple pounds? (filled my weber charcoal chimney to the top) in the firebox with some hickory soaked in water.
i had the vent on the firebox open about halfway and the vent on the smoke box chimney open about a quarter of the way to start. later opened the firebox all the way and the smoke chimney about halfway. i'd add charcoal periodically, but couldn't seem to get the temp gauge on the smoke box much above the "warm" line, which i think is about 150F on my smoker.
after about four hours and most of a 15lb bag of charcoal added in sporadically later, i'm finishing them in the oven... frustrated.
was i being too frugal with the charcoal? should i expect to go through an entire bag of charcoal in a 3 hour smoke?
i REALLY want to get good at this, thanks for any suggestions!
-michigander
