Smoking Pork Ribs In A Char Griller/Sidebox Fire Grill

djcooking · Sep 1, 2007

Hello 22 years of age from Tennessee and i have a Char Griller and Side Box fire Texas style model which i bought from Lows. I'm having a little trouble keeping my heat to maintain at 225 and i will explain my setup. I have my side box fire with a whole layer of coals and a pie pan of hickory chips with foil on the top with holes all around it that sits right above the coals. Now in my much larger grill thats on the side i have no coals but just meat on the racks and a large turkey pan full of water up under it i know that i need to add coals to the first fire i set up that i do but it seems like its not enough i need to know what tips i need to fix this problem. I will suggest that i think that what if i add a small amount of coals the the other side of the big grill would that help any thank you for reading any tips and help will be much welcomed

steelcowher · Sep 1, 2007

Firstly, try applying the wood directly to your fire...It'll add more heat than using the wood to smolder in the tin foil. In fact you can use wood as your primary source without charcoal at all. Are you using a reliable thermometer in your smoking chamber (the food side)?? Double check your vent between the firebox to the chamber and make sure there isn't something blocking it.

seaham358 · Sep 1, 2007

I load the fire box up with charcoal and then use a full charcoal chimney to get it all going. Light the chimney and when its going good I dump it on top of the unlit charcoal in the fire box. Toss on some chunks of your favorite type of wood and then use the damper on the side to fine tune the temp. I sometimes use the damper on the stack when its getting too hot.
IMO using the water pan under the food is not needed and may be taking some of the heat out of the smoke chamber.
Hope that helps some.. I'm sure some of the senior members will have some ideas also.

hawgheaven · Sep 1, 2007

Welcome aboard dj... when you get a chance, get over to Roll Call and introduce yourself so we can give you a proper SMF welcome.

First off, you'll do better with lump charcoal and applying the wood directly to the coals. To start, I apply a chimney of non-lit lump to the grate in the firebox, then apply a chimney of lit charcoal on top of that. Once the coals are going good, I throw on the wood chunks... 2 or 3, depending on size and what kind it is. Leave the chimney vent wide open and adjust your temp with the damper on the fire box.

No, you don't need to (or want to) build a fire in the smoking chamber. What I just explained should get your temps up.

Don't depend on the stock heat guage in the lid... it is a piece of crap. Get yourself a good digital unit, such as the Maverick ET-73, or a quality oven or grate thermometer.

As for the water pan, some use them, some don't. I usually don't. That will definitely affect your temperature. It sounds like it might be too big and way too much water, so that is acting as a big heat sink.

Hope this helps... good luck!

meowey · Sep 1, 2007

All good advice! Wood chunks right on the lit coals are the way to go.

Oh BTW, Welcome to SMF!!

Take care, have fun, and do good!

Regards,

Meowey

ma?tley ca 1/4 e · Sep 1, 2007

I've been using regular Kingsford. Nobody in town has lump. I actually had the reverse problem on my first smoke. I couldn't hardly keep the temps under 275. Don't trust the gauge on the Char Griller. Mine was sitting at 150 while my digital was reading 250 and above. A small pan of water pushed up against the opening of the fire box will help act as a baffle to even temps out across the smoke chamber. A large pan full of water is probably too big and hurting you. But then again, it depends on what gauge you're using.

peculiarmike · Sep 1, 2007

As your Char-Griller manual sez - air flow = heat.
You need to learn to regulate your heat with the two dampers, the one on the SFB and the one on top of the stack. More air, more heat, and vice versa.
Also, turn the fire pan in the main grill upside down and raise it so it is even with or above the top of the opening between the SFB and grill. That will distribute the heat more evenly inside the grill. Otherwise you will have a hot spot on the end the SFB is on. And lose the water pan, not needed.
Ask your local retailer to stock lump charcoal. They will order it.
It's YOUR smoker. Play with it and learn it. Above all, ENJOY!
Smokers eat their mistakes.

geek with fire · Sep 1, 2007

Not sure if you are doing this already, but adding a pan of water just a couple of inches away from the SFB opening in the cooking chamber will help as well. I fill an unused paint roller tray with water, with the deep side towards the heat. This helps keep the heat from bouncing around, and in theory adds moisture to the meat.

I personally feel like when you are still trying to figure out how to control this rig, you will have more luck keeping the upper damper wide open, and control the temp with the side damper; that's just me. Less variables means less trouble.

djcooking · Sep 1, 2007

thanks for the help everybody they chips i was going to use was Western Hickory Smokin Chips small cuts, they did have a huge bag that had large chunks so i'm going to take these back and switch these out. So what i'm getting from you all is that i should lay out some unlit coals first then apply lit coals on top of that and then the wood chips. I'm going ditch the water pan and just stick to pure smoke. Also when i do try to smoke i leave all my vints fully open and crack the sidebox door a little open also.

meowey · Sep 1, 2007

I think that you'll find that with the chimney vent wide open and the fuel as you described in the Side fire Box, that you will have enough enough airflow that once the fire matures (gets the smoker up to temp and settles down) that you will need to shut the Side Fire Box vent to about 25% open or 75% closed (whichever way you want to think). I don't think you need to crack the clean out door at all. That has been my experience with the unit.

Hope this helps!

Take care, have fun, and do good!

Regards,

Meowey

peculiarmike · Sep 1, 2007

Meat comes out of the package with all the "moisture" it will ever have. There is no way to "add moisture". The moistness of a piece of meat is totally controlled by the method used to cook it. Dry meat is overcooked.
A water pan in a smoker is nothing more than a buffer between the high heat of the fire and whatever is being smoked. The pan can be filled with sand and achieve exactly the same purpose.
Heat control is the secret to good Q. Those dampers are that control.

adb551 · Sep 2, 2007

As the more senior members have said, put a load of unlit lump charcoal in the fire box, add a load of lit charcoal (Minion method) on top of it.

Use lump/chunk wood for added smoke if possible, only because of the longer burning time, hence less work adding wood and fewer times opening lid.

I would leave the smokestack open all the way until you get a feel for how well you can adjust your temps with the vents on the fire box door. you may find that you need to adjust the smokestake valve/flap/top/do-dad as you learn more about your smoker.

I have never found it necessary to open the clean out door to regulate heat.

I also think that it is impossible to add moisture to a piece of meat by placing water in the smoker. I do believe that it can be used to baffle/regulate the heat.

good luck! And have fun figuring it out. I have always had a great time smoking, no matter how it turned out. And keep coming back here, I have learned tons from these great people.

plazdiddy · Sep 2, 2007

i didnt notice if anyone said this already, but i hope youre not using the thermometer on the lid to gauge your temperature. its easily 40-50 degrees hotter on the cooking surface than where they 'wisely' situated their stock thermometer. i learned the hard way.

djcooking · Sep 2, 2007

Thanks for the tips i'm going to offically start in the morning i'm going to do 4 slabs of Danish Baby Backs.1 Slab Of Spares, and a pack of Boston Butt Country Style ribs its going to be a long day. I'm going to use Kingsford charcoals and Western Hickory Chunks i also have a half bag of hickory wood chip coals for back up. I'm going to first start my coals in my sidefire box then take them out and put unlit coals in then the use the lit coals on top, after that i will add my soaked wood chunks on top after the coals after all heated up then i will proceed to add my meat in the main unit with no water pan. I have already seasoned my meat for 24 hours i'm using several rubs.
On 2 slabs of danish baby backs i'm using only a salt and black pepper rub and on the other 2 slabs i'm using a Memphis rub without the chilli powder. On the slab of Spare ribs and Botson Strips i'm using Stubbs BBQ rub with added extra paparika, also a spray bottle of apple juice to spray on all the meat. I won't be able to cook all this meat at once i'm going to do the danish ribs first then the other meat if my first is still hot enought i may add some beef sasuage i will try to take some photos of everything if i can find my cam.

meowey · Sep 2, 2007

Enjoy your day!

Take care, have fun, and do good!

Regards,

Meowey

deejaydebi · Sep 3, 2007

Good Luck!

steelcowher · Sep 3, 2007

Hey PeculiarMIke, can you explain in more detail how you regulate your heat distribution. I have a serious hot spot that i have to take into consideration everytime i smoke. It's kind of a pain in the butt. Screws up my cooking times...

ma?tley ca 1/4 e · Sep 3, 2007

One thing I did yesterday that seemed to help out is I filled the gap between the firebox and the inverted charcoal tray with tin foil. I was able to lower that end down a little more and raise the opposite end up some. I also filled the gap on the far end too. That way the smoke and heat had to come from the front and back of the chamber. Most of the time it stayed within 10 - 15 degrees. I got a few more ideas I will be trying over the next few weeks. If any of them work, I'll post 'em.

Also, since raising the height of my charcoal basket, I have found that I pretty much have to leave the damper on the sfb closed. Even cracking it a little bit cause the temps to rise greatly.

redbrinkman1955 · Sep 3, 2007

I wanted one since the first time I saw it but worried about how to use it gettint the heat up and so on,a lot of good advise here so when I get mine soon I have a good base to start with.
Good luck and Good Smoking
Redbrinkman1955

deano67 · Oct 14, 2012

Hello everyone, just joined the group...very interesting tips that everyone has provided. Going to smoke some ribs later today and I will try some of the tips provided. Hope everyone has a great day smokin !

Smoking Pork Ribs In A Char Griller/Sidebox Fire Grill

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