- Apr 11, 2016
- 12
- 12
Hey guys, I am new to smoking, and yesterday gave it a shot. I smoked 2 butts last year on a Brinkman smoke and grill and was discouraged due to the lack of air flow and constant need to add charcoal. Got the WSM 18" as a gift and what a beautiful smoker. I had a 9.5 LB butt from my local grocery store, and 2 racks of spare ribs in a cyrovac pack. I will get to that later. The evening before i put rub on the pork butt and put in fridge overnight. I got up early in the morning, 530AM Eastern Time. I prepared the smoker, got it up to about 300 degrees with a full chimney of charcoal, using the minion method. Put the butt on at around 640 AM. Around this time i added about 5 chunks of apple wood. About every 90 minutes would spray the butt with apple juice. I've watched how Aaron Franklin trims spare ribs so i kind of had an idea. I opened the cyrovac pack which, the smell, my goodness is awful. I have never purchased meat in a cyrovac and was nervous when i smelt this putrid odor. I did some research on the forums and found that this is normal and to rinse the meat with water, which i did and the smell dissipated. I started to trim the ribs, and remove the membrane. This left much extra meat, which i wound up putting in the freezer and will put on the BBQ this week. Any suggestions for that? :) After trimming, put the rub on and put in fridge for about an hour. When the butt got to 160 degrees, i took off the grill, wrapped, and poured a mixture over. Wrapped it back up, put back on and put thermometer back through it. Also at this time I put the ribs on, bone side down. Also found that the temp of the smoker was starting to decrease so figured this was a good time to light another chimney. It was probably around 11AM at this time. I also added 4 more chunks of apple wood for the ribs. After 2 hours, I wrapped the ribs, poured a mixture over and put back on for another 2 hours. Took ribs off, unwrapped, and finished with no foil for the last 45 minutes. Needless to say the food was delicious. I will post pictures, and also share with you some I wouldn't say problems, but maybe advice could be sent my way.
1. What can i do with all the leftover trimmings of meat from the spare ribs.
2. I was able to constantly keep smoker temp between 225-275, but I feel the charcoal burned too quickly. Friends have told me a full chimney can last 12 hours easily. After 6 hours I had to add another chimney, and found that most of the original charcoal had ashed over and fell through the grate.
3. The ribs were delicious, I was trying to have both meats finish at the same time. I know the 3-2-1 method but was up against the clock. Although the ribs were very tender, i feel like they could have been more and more fall of the bone. If i stretched to 3-2-1 from the 2-2- 45 minutes, would it have made much difference?
4. Used apple wood, I also have cherry, hickory, and mesquite. What else can I use with pork? Mixing woods?
Thanks for the input guys!
1. What can i do with all the leftover trimmings of meat from the spare ribs.
2. I was able to constantly keep smoker temp between 225-275, but I feel the charcoal burned too quickly. Friends have told me a full chimney can last 12 hours easily. After 6 hours I had to add another chimney, and found that most of the original charcoal had ashed over and fell through the grate.
3. The ribs were delicious, I was trying to have both meats finish at the same time. I know the 3-2-1 method but was up against the clock. Although the ribs were very tender, i feel like they could have been more and more fall of the bone. If i stretched to 3-2-1 from the 2-2- 45 minutes, would it have made much difference?
4. Used apple wood, I also have cherry, hickory, and mesquite. What else can I use with pork? Mixing woods?
Thanks for the input guys!