The day came to cook 4 racks of baby backs on a smoker that I have never used. It is an off set by Nex Gen.
I got a lot of good advice from the members on wood/coal selection and how to light it off.
I started the fire in a chimney with 25 Royal Oak briquettes, 7 large hunks of FOGO lump and two- 4" X 4" Hickory wood pieces.
Used the lightly oiled paper towel and Paper plate trick and every thing was lit and well established in 20 minutes. Dumped into the fire box, opened vents and waited to see how high the smoker temp got.
With all that fire, the gauge on top read 300 degrees, but my Thermo Works probe, at grill height read 210 degrees. I opened the firebox door and the temp went 15 degrees higher.
Put the ribs on and monitored temp closely with my favorite beer close by. I added lump as needed, about every 45 minutes.
After 2.5 hours, the ribs were at 170 degrees and I wrapped. The grill is too small to handle 4 racks individually wrapped, so 3 went into a large pan and one got the solo treatment. Note: I pre-warmed the apple juice so I did not have to wait for it to heat up naturally.
After 2 hours, I opened the solo rack and it the temp was 200 and looked good. The three in the pan, were not ready. My sister has a large gas grill, so I fired that up and transferred the pan to a medium hot gas grill. After 15 minutes, the ribs were at 200 degrees. I
I pulled and sauced the 4 racks.
They were a little tight, but good smoke ring. I used Yard B
ird rub and Sweet Baby Rays sauce.
My final thoughts, are: A cheap, $129 smoker does not work too good. The fire box had a lot of leaks, the fire box needs more fresh air vents, the fire box is too small. The smoker area should be larger. I do a better job with my Tragear Texas at home.
I got a lot of good advice from the members on wood/coal selection and how to light it off.
I started the fire in a chimney with 25 Royal Oak briquettes, 7 large hunks of FOGO lump and two- 4" X 4" Hickory wood pieces.
Used the lightly oiled paper towel and Paper plate trick and every thing was lit and well established in 20 minutes. Dumped into the fire box, opened vents and waited to see how high the smoker temp got.
With all that fire, the gauge on top read 300 degrees, but my Thermo Works probe, at grill height read 210 degrees. I opened the firebox door and the temp went 15 degrees higher.
Put the ribs on and monitored temp closely with my favorite beer close by. I added lump as needed, about every 45 minutes.
After 2.5 hours, the ribs were at 170 degrees and I wrapped. The grill is too small to handle 4 racks individually wrapped, so 3 went into a large pan and one got the solo treatment. Note: I pre-warmed the apple juice so I did not have to wait for it to heat up naturally.
After 2 hours, I opened the solo rack and it the temp was 200 and looked good. The three in the pan, were not ready. My sister has a large gas grill, so I fired that up and transferred the pan to a medium hot gas grill. After 15 minutes, the ribs were at 200 degrees. I
I pulled and sauced the 4 racks.
They were a little tight, but good smoke ring. I used Yard B
My final thoughts, are: A cheap, $129 smoker does not work too good. The fire box had a lot of leaks, the fire box needs more fresh air vents, the fire box is too small. The smoker area should be larger. I do a better job with my Tragear Texas at home.
...JJ
