finally, i THOUGHT, a nice enuff day to break in my christmas gift........
its a good experience for a stick burner, but i did discover several issues with the ol man
i haven't been able to do any mods to the beast yet, so i knew i was going to have to babysit it the entire smoke
i started with a chimney full of charcoal, and added splits of ash........the ash was free, and i had hickory to use for smoke if so needed
i finally found full racks of spares..........which needed to be trimmed to st. louis style ribs
my plan for this days smoke was both racks of ribs......the trimmings from the racks.......4 heads of garlic.....2 chicken 1/4's......2 iowa chops.....dutch's beans........and abt's
this pic is the start of the smoke........the 2 racks of ribs.....the trimmings from the ribs, there in the pic to the left.......and the garlic
i fought temps all day........needed the smoker in the wind so the fire would stay up to temps, but with 10 gauge sheet metal, the smoker part ran temps of 50-100 degrees diff. between firebox side and exhaust side.....
THEN the wind would die down, so i added a cheap mod
the fan is all metal, so no worry of anything melting.........unfournately the fan wouldn't push enuff air to really do any good
this next shot shows the sloppy mess i was dealing with........when the sun was out and the clouds away........wasn't too bad......but when the clouds moved in......it was cold, damp, and windy.........picked up abit of a cold
one DEFF. mod needed, is the baffle.......the chicken 1/4's i put next to the fire box, since temps at that end was running 300-350.......hoping to have crispy skin........but the wind would push the flames into the fire box, and burnt the chicken abit........sorry no pics of that..........but i brined the chicken over nite.......was the best chicken yet i have done......
this next pic is the chops.......the ribs......and the beans..........the ribs never pulled back on the bone........
so i foiled em, and put into a cooler for abit..........then at the end of the smoke.......brought em back out to put sauce on em........and glaze it up.......which it didn't.........the fire was dying out, and really didn't want to fire up a whole bunch of coals just to do that........so i had the wife put em under the broiler for a bit........should of told her only 3 minutes or so........but with THREE women running off the face.......they got toasted abit.........meat was good........but need to learn to trim st.louis style better....and they was NO way near fall off the bone.........
All in all........a learning experience........and i wasn't expecting great results, since no mods, and being the first time...........but the meat was edible and i learned alot........
*SIGH*
its a good experience for a stick burner, but i did discover several issues with the ol man
i haven't been able to do any mods to the beast yet, so i knew i was going to have to babysit it the entire smoke
i started with a chimney full of charcoal, and added splits of ash........the ash was free, and i had hickory to use for smoke if so needed
i finally found full racks of spares..........which needed to be trimmed to st. louis style ribs
my plan for this days smoke was both racks of ribs......the trimmings from the racks.......4 heads of garlic.....2 chicken 1/4's......2 iowa chops.....dutch's beans........and abt's
this pic is the start of the smoke........the 2 racks of ribs.....the trimmings from the ribs, there in the pic to the left.......and the garlic
i fought temps all day........needed the smoker in the wind so the fire would stay up to temps, but with 10 gauge sheet metal, the smoker part ran temps of 50-100 degrees diff. between firebox side and exhaust side.....
THEN the wind would die down, so i added a cheap mod
the fan is all metal, so no worry of anything melting.........unfournately the fan wouldn't push enuff air to really do any good
this next shot shows the sloppy mess i was dealing with........when the sun was out and the clouds away........wasn't too bad......but when the clouds moved in......it was cold, damp, and windy.........picked up abit of a cold
one DEFF. mod needed, is the baffle.......the chicken 1/4's i put next to the fire box, since temps at that end was running 300-350.......hoping to have crispy skin........but the wind would push the flames into the fire box, and burnt the chicken abit........sorry no pics of that..........but i brined the chicken over nite.......was the best chicken yet i have done......
this next pic is the chops.......the ribs......and the beans..........the ribs never pulled back on the bone........
so i foiled em, and put into a cooler for abit..........then at the end of the smoke.......brought em back out to put sauce on em........and glaze it up.......which it didn't.........the fire was dying out, and really didn't want to fire up a whole bunch of coals just to do that........so i had the wife put em under the broiler for a bit........should of told her only 3 minutes or so........but with THREE women running off the face.......they got toasted abit.........meat was good........but need to learn to trim st.louis style better....and they was NO way near fall off the bone.........
All in all........a learning experience........and i wasn't expecting great results, since no mods, and being the first time...........but the meat was edible and i learned alot........
*SIGH*
