After seasoning my Old Country Brazos offset smoker, I decided my first smoke would be ribs. I picked up two racks of St. Louis style ribs from HEB.
After some trimming, I added a 2/3 black pepper, 1/3 coarse kosher salt as my rub, I didn’t weigh just eyed it in an old HEB black pepper bottle. I did this while some lump charcoal was starting.
I started off with a bed of lump of charcoal and one piece of Post Oak from a bundle I got from Lowe’s. I was easily able to get to 225.
My idea was to do the following, a template from a Mad Scientist BBQ video:
- Spray mixture of 150ml water with 150ml Apple Cider Vinegar
- 4 hours @ 225
- Hour 3: spray every 15 minutes until hour 4
- 1 hour @ 275 - move ribs closer to firebox -spray every 20 minutes
- Wrap - add ghee - smoke 30 minutes, meat side down until done temp if 200+
I had some beginner temp issues, so my first 4 hours I was able to keep between 200 and 250. I realized I was putting logs that were too big and putting them where they were chatting not burning. To fix this, I would use a smaller wood chunk (pecan chunks) to lean a log on, therefore giving air underneath to catch fire. I don’t know if it’s bad to be mixing pecan and oak but it worked for fire management purposes.
I placed the bigger, meatier rack closest to the firebox. I also put around 7 tablespoons of Ghee in an aluminum pan and put this in the top rack. (The recipe called for tallow or lard for the wrap but I didn’t have those, had some leftover Ghee from some Indian food I made).
I ended up using an entire bag of post oak, so I had to run to Lowe’s while my wife watched the pit. The temp was the same even after a 25 minute trip! I couldn’t have don’t that in my old Nexgrill smoker from Home Depot.
I wrapped the ribs at around the 5th hour when the temps of both racks were at 165-170. I used smoked Ghee in the wrap ( I didn’t have lard or tallow). I smoked these in the wrap and placed them relatively close to the firebox, where as during the first 4 hours they were near the smoke stack. The closest one ended up getting to 202 and the farthest one got to 198. I decided to take them off then because they bended and we were hungry as hell! The cook lasted from 12pm to 5:45ish pm.
I ended up not glazing them, but I made a “homemade” sauce w it h the following ingredients (and in one of the pictures):
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1/8 cup honey (didn’t have brown sugar)
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey garlic rub
Overall, we were impressed with the results, especially for my first time in this smoker. The Ghee I think did a surprisingly good job, and some of my bbq sauce ingredients ended up working well too. I have some work to do on fire management, but overall I’m proud of this smoke and felt obliged to share it with the community!
After some trimming, I added a 2/3 black pepper, 1/3 coarse kosher salt as my rub, I didn’t weigh just eyed it in an old HEB black pepper bottle. I did this while some lump charcoal was starting.
I started off with a bed of lump of charcoal and one piece of Post Oak from a bundle I got from Lowe’s. I was easily able to get to 225.
My idea was to do the following, a template from a Mad Scientist BBQ video:
- Spray mixture of 150ml water with 150ml Apple Cider Vinegar
- 4 hours @ 225
- Hour 3: spray every 15 minutes until hour 4
- 1 hour @ 275 - move ribs closer to firebox -spray every 20 minutes
- Wrap - add ghee - smoke 30 minutes, meat side down until done temp if 200+
I had some beginner temp issues, so my first 4 hours I was able to keep between 200 and 250. I realized I was putting logs that were too big and putting them where they were chatting not burning. To fix this, I would use a smaller wood chunk (pecan chunks) to lean a log on, therefore giving air underneath to catch fire. I don’t know if it’s bad to be mixing pecan and oak but it worked for fire management purposes.
I placed the bigger, meatier rack closest to the firebox. I also put around 7 tablespoons of Ghee in an aluminum pan and put this in the top rack. (The recipe called for tallow or lard for the wrap but I didn’t have those, had some leftover Ghee from some Indian food I made).
I ended up using an entire bag of post oak, so I had to run to Lowe’s while my wife watched the pit. The temp was the same even after a 25 minute trip! I couldn’t have don’t that in my old Nexgrill smoker from Home Depot.
I wrapped the ribs at around the 5th hour when the temps of both racks were at 165-170. I used smoked Ghee in the wrap ( I didn’t have lard or tallow). I smoked these in the wrap and placed them relatively close to the firebox, where as during the first 4 hours they were near the smoke stack. The closest one ended up getting to 202 and the farthest one got to 198. I decided to take them off then because they bended and we were hungry as hell! The cook lasted from 12pm to 5:45ish pm.
I ended up not glazing them, but I made a “homemade” sauce w it h the following ingredients (and in one of the pictures):
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1/8 cup honey (didn’t have brown sugar)
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey garlic rub
Overall, we were impressed with the results, especially for my first time in this smoker. The Ghee I think did a surprisingly good job, and some of my bbq sauce ingredients ended up working well too. I have some work to do on fire management, but overall I’m proud of this smoke and felt obliged to share it with the community!
