Maiden Voyage on the O.C. Wrangler-BB's

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grillin_all_day

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
SMF Premier Member
Jun 5, 2008
511
46
Barksdale Air Force Base, LA
Morning everyone, finally made the switch from gas to a stick burner.  I picked up an Old Country Wrangler Friday night and after seasoning it that night and playing around w/ it Saturday, figuring out it's quirks and controlling temps, I decided today's the day to take it out for a spin and throw 2 racks of BB's on.  I figured it would at least be nice to get one smoke in before I head in for knee surgery on the 24th and lose my whole summer.  I also changed up my rub a little (t[color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]urbinado sugar, sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, paprika, granulated garlic, fine onion power- picked up the wrong bottle, cayenne pepper, chile powder, and allspice) and will be using pecan wood instead of apple.  I've also never sauced my ribs, but figured why not sauce one rack w/ my drunken bbq sauce.  [/color]

[color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]I'm gonna go fire up the pit in about 45 mins, but I'll be back with some updates and QView.[/color]
 
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  I am in!

Kat
 
Nice purchase. Old Country Wrangler is a nice unit for the money and should provide good service.

Hope that you Knee surgery is successful and you have a speedy recovery. They are going to tell you to get up and walk anyway, so you might as well prepare yourself for spending some time on the patio tending that stick burner and making good food for your family.

Good luck and have a great day!

Ed
 
Nice purchase. Old Country Wrangler is a nice unit for the money and should provide good service.

Hope that you Knee surgery is successful and you have a speedy recovery. They are going to tell you to get up and walk anyway, so you might as well prepare yourself for spending some time on the patio tending that stick burner and making good food for your family.

Good luck and have a great day!

Ed
Thanks Ed, I appreciate it.  This is actually my second reconstructive knee surgery, so now I have matching knees haha.  I've been up walking around for about the last 2 weeks now and my leg muscles were pretty much shot after being on crutches for a month.  While my leg has gotten stronger, it's going to revert back to being jello and I'll have to start the process over again, but at least I know what to this time.
 
Oh boy is it a hot and humid day in NW Louisiana!  Thankfully I've got some liquid gold to help me keep cool.  This is the earliest I've fired up the pit and built my fire a little too big so I was fighting high temps and have had to get creative in keeping them down.  I've barely got the side vent open on the SFB, but didn't want to choke the fire out and get billowing white smoke, so I cracked the lid of the SFB open and have been able to keep the temps between 258-273 consistently.  Still have the damper on the exhaust wide open and have nice clean heat coming out of the top.  I'm using full splits, but think I'm going to invest in a chop saw so I can cut them in half for next time.  And before I forget, here's the Qview I promised

The rub


The BB's right before they went into the pit


The pit all sealed up, ready to work it's magic

 
Got another update, I foiled the ribs around the 2.5 mark (I was making my bbq sauce) and switched to some smaller splits that I cut in half w/ an ax.  I've been getting much better temp controller w/ the smaller splits.

Here they are coming off the smoke and into the foil


And my drunken bbq sauce simmering away (didn't want to waste my good whiskey in it so I used the wife's Capt. Tattoo)...I'm going to transfer it to the smoker in a bit


Speaking of tattoo's, I learned a valuable lesson today.....be very aware of your surroundings when putting wood into the SFB.  I got a little too close and since I switched to a sleeveless shirt, I singed my shoulder tattoo!  Oh well, no guts, not glory!
 
Looking great! I have been looking at that unit so I will be interested to here how it smokes gor you as you get into it more.
 
Thanks everyone, I put the bbq sauce in the smoker about 45 mins ago, threw another log on and wouldn't you know it.....I hit the SFB AGAIN!!!!!!! Even though I can't squat that well because of the bum wheel, you would have thought I learned my lesson the first time.  Now I know, when throwing a split on, don't get try reach around the side and get too close to the darn SFB!!  The combo of beer, ice pack (which I have plenty of now thanks to another torn ACL) and ointment is helping it feel better.
 
The pit's working very well and I'm very happy with it.  Switching from gas, it's definitely a learning curve.  I pulled the ribs out of the foil and the smaller one was mushy and broke apart when I tried to throw it back on the pit.  Said screw it and slathered bbq sauce on both and threw it back in the smoke for a little bit longer.  Hoping it will firm up a bit, but either way it will get eaten!  This was a great first smoke on the pit though and am just riding out the next 20 mins. until its done.  Sorry no QView of the saucing process, but I'll post some when they come out of the smoker and they're sliced  Thanks for watching!
 
Everything's all done and mostly ate.  The ribs firmed back up a little bit and were fall off the bone.  While I don't like them fall off the bone, the family enjoyed them very much.  Ended up saucing both of the racks and was amazed at the extra depth of flavor it provided.  I will definitely be saucing more often.

Here's the sauce keeping warm on the SFB


Right before they were pulled off....notice the little one that split


All carved up, my cuts got a little off



My little helper approved though


Finally my battle scars 

 
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