Big Rib Smoke on Big New Tank Smoker

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thunderdome

Master of the Pit
Original poster
Nov 19, 2009
1,034
27
Casa Grande, AZ
We spent Memorial Day weekend with some fam and friends. Decided to cook about 4 racks of babybacks, and 2 tri-tips, along with a few sides.

My dad got a new smoker off of Craigslist, pretty cool unit made at the prison that was auctioned off to a local guy who sold it in his moving sale. It was more of a barrel grill at first. He had a guy build a firebasket for it so we could minion method some smoke out of it, adding Hickory chips w/ the spritzing.

Used a mixture of Jeff's modified, and some Salt Lick rub for the ribs. Used Famous Daves Steak and Burger rub for the tri-tips. Cooked the ribs at about 250. Using 3-1.25-1.

Here you can see all the ribs on. The barrel is real narrow, but very long. So I just cut the racks in half. Firebasket is about 70/30 Kingsford/Lump

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Close up of the expanded metal firebasket. It's about 8.5x12x8.5

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Here's the ribs not long after goin on. All I had at my disposal was a grill surface thermometer, so I had to go by the temp on the tank gauge (not pictured)

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Here were our toys for the weekend. 2006 Yamaha Rhino w/ some mods. And a 2010 Polaris Ranger Crew 800 EFI w/ Power Steering

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The smoker was built like a tank. With a little more practice, it has great potential

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We came to find out that we used about 2x's too much fuel. It took till about 9:30 pm that for the coals to burn out. We would have capped off to save them, but we were headed out of town and wanted the smoker clean for the next fam who comes over to give it a whirl

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They were coming along nicely. Only opening for an apple juice spritzing and picture every 45 mins or so.

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Here's a good view of the smoker

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A little further along

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Another of the smoker

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Some of these w/ camera phone, but still wanted to include them

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The bark was comin along nicely

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Here's the tri-tips we cooked on the propane. Seared them for about 5 mins, then took them over to a low grill setting until internal temp hit 130.

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After coming out of the foil, i flipped the ribs and put them back ont he smoker. You can see some pullback here

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Here is the sliced tri-tip. I think this was the fan favorite for the night.

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I didnt get a pic of the whole pile of ribs we had, but here is a camera phone shot of the final plating

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Man oh Man that is one good looking plate of food you have there TD. Now your dad's new grill seems to be working just fine and dandy. I only wish really was to see the ribs sliced but maybe next time. I know how you get all hung up with the food coming off the smoker.
 
Thanks Mark. I wish I would have taken more pics at the end, but like you said, when it comes off the grill is when things are most hectic.  I definately want to give them another try on this smoker. I think I didn't have the temp high enough while foiling so it really didnt tenderize them to our liking. Practice will fix that.....afterall, it's no UDS
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Looks like an awesome feast!!!
 
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