Well gents, I did my 1st smoke on the SI 1 yesterday. The ribs were ok. Gary's beans were great again. I was a little disappointed with the results on the ribs because they just didn't have the flavor that I get from my egg. I prepped them the night before just as I usually do. A compound rub of Montreal Spicy Steak seasoning, and Red Barons (a commercial bbq rub). Wrapped in stick and seal and refrigerated overnight. I used 2.4 oz. of almond and 1 smallish piece of lump in the wood tray. Put them in around 1pm and set the temp on the SI 1 at 225. Garys beans went in below them and I started watching the temp climb....for 2 hours. It finally hit 210 at 2 hours in and would go no farther so I took the beans out and put em in my oven to finish them. The temp in the SI 1 went up and down as expected then. Moving from set temp to about 15 degrees below set temp, so I reset it to around 235 and let her rock and roll for the rest of the cook. I started checking for doneness at about 4 hours. Finally pulled them at 5 hours and 30 minutes. The bend test didn't work but a toothpick went into the meat with little to no resistance. It was the 1st time I've actually cooked ribs long enough to get them to the temp required to melt down the collagens and connective tissue, and I found that I don't like em done that well. lol. Lesson learned. There wasn't any, and I repeat any red smoke ring even though I did have smoke coming out of the smoker for at least 2 hours. The taste was ok, but maybe a tiny bit bitter and the texture, as I said, overdone for my druthers.
I did like the "set it and forget it " cook you can pull off with the SI 1, but I think I'll be doing most of my smokes on the egg. I only took one pic when I pulled the ribs out. Here it is.
I did like the "set it and forget it " cook you can pull off with the SI 1, but I think I'll be doing most of my smokes on the egg. I only took one pic when I pulled the ribs out. Here it is.