Brand new to smoking. Hey all

[kmcogar]

Hey there,

          I am brand new to smoking. Ive done a lot of reading and i believe i am ready to smoke my first rack of spare ribs. I read baby back ribs are better for beginners but i heard spare ribs taste better. So i went with taste. I actually decided to start smoking TODAY. So ill explain where im at so far and the complications i have ran into. First i went to several different stores trying to find a smoking thermometer. I was very unlucky in my search. I finally found something that might work and it only goes up to a reading of 212 degree F. My dilemma is i put my dry rub on yesterday morning and IM READY TO START SMOKING! So i decided iI was gonna try it anyways. I will just smoke at a steady 200-212 degree F. It may take alittle longer but it might still turn out good. Next thing is I just put my coals on. Of course i put them in my chimney to the top. They were blazing red and i threw them in. was thing wrong? MAN are they hot. They temp gauge keeps maxing out and i cant get the temp controlled. How long will it take to get the coals to stabilize on a lower temperature? i closed all vents and am stopping the airflow as much as i can. Its been a while now and its still heating up a lot. Just wait longer? Its probably only been an our. Anyhow, ill keep posting my mess ups throughout the day. any suggestions are welcome. THANKS ALL!

Kyle

 

[kmcogar]

I guess i forgot a few things for the whole roll call. I am using a char broil offset smoker. I know......maybe not the best choice but it was the right price and im just a beginner. I just moved to hawaii which is cool but i need some BBQ. And i want to become a master of the BBQ craft. I already brew beer pretty well. Now on to perfecting this hobby. Oh yeah, I have a couple more questions. well one more that i can think of for now. Where should i put the water pan. Over top the coals or in the smoking chamber? ive read mixed opinions

 

[themule69]

Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions Post it
and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is because their
are so many different ways to make great Q We all have our own taste.

Happy smoken.

David

 

[kathrynn]

to SMF!  We are so glad you joined us! 

We love to see pictures of what you are cooking (or what we call q-views here at SMF).  To "upload the q-views" just follow the directions here and it will be easier. If you are using a cell phone, an IPad or a kindle, go to the main SMF page and click the Mobile button. Will make the uploads a bit faster too.

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If you need any help roaming around the forums....just holler!  Happy to help out!

Kat

 

[webowabo]

well.. any updates? I see its been a few hours since you posted this. you ever get the temps down... anyways welcome to SMF!

 

[kmcogar]

image.jpg

• kmcogar
• Jul 28, 2013

I got my temp to a steady 209 F. It's working for now. The ribs seem to be coming together good now. After I got the temp steady I just been letting them sit. It's been about 2 hours. There's a little extra piece of meat sitting next to the ribs. Don't mind them. I have one more our on the grill then I'm going to put them in foil for the old texas crutch method. Any ideas on how long I should leave it in the foil? Should I put anything in the foil? Honey? Sugar? Apple juice? I see so many different things. What's your guys take on it?

 

[webowabo]

well if you are thinking about the 3-2-1 method.. that's 3 hours on the grate,..... 2 hours in foil .. and back unfoiled on grate for the final hour. I don't foil my ribs... or spray/mop.. just my likes... but you can add really what ever you like. some use a good brewed beer... or for the sweetness... pineapple.. apple juice.. I use to add a shot of OJ and a little bbq sauce and then use it after for the sauce as well!

 

[allegroc]

Hi! I'm also a "Newbie" and just joined this forum a few days ago. I, too, was smoking my first set of ribs as I was typing away asking questions! I did 2 racks of spare ribs..about 4 lbs each. I tried two methods and took lots of notes. I did both racks at a steady temp of 225 with hickory and apple woods. One rack I did 3 hours, wrapped in foil with some apple juice for another 2 hours, then unwrapped for another hour. My FAVORITE! They turned out great I'm happy to say. Mopped with small amount of sauce and served more on the side. The other I did not foil, but started spritzing with apple juice after the first 2 hours...about once every hour. They were really good too...but nothing like the other slab. I look forward to learning all of this right along with you!!! Glad to know I'm not the only one out there enjoying the learning process. My next project it pulled pork butt...wish me luck!

Carol

 

[s2k9k]

:welcome1: to SMF!!! We're happy you found us! You've come to the right place, we have over 50,000 members who just love to share their experience and over 1,000,000 posts describing it! Yea that’s right over 1,000,000!

We have an Articles section that is full of great information about smoking to include a lot of recipes and instructionals. Check it out there is a lot to learn in there!

You might want to check out Jeff's Free 5 day E-Course, it will teach you all the basics plus a whole lot more!

 

[kmcogar]

@allegroc. How much apple juice did you use? I was waiting on my wife to et home with some apple juice and she was taking too long so I poor half a beer in the texas crutch and wrapper it up.

 

[kmcogar]

image.jpg

• kmcogar
• Jul 28, 2013

Well 6 hours later. Here they are. They look delicious. They taste pretty good too. But, they are somewhat tough. I'm not sure what happened. I guess I need to cook it more. I figured 2 hours in a texas crutch would def make it soft. No clue what I did. It def had a good smoke ring too. I dunno. Practice practice practice

 

[seenred]

Welcome to the forums, Kyle!  This is the best place I know for sharing ideas on smoking, grilling, curing, etc.  There are plenty of friendly and knowledgeable folks who really enjoy helping one another.  Just holler when you need anything, and someone here will have the answer.

If those ribs were tough, consider cooking them hotter instead of longer...seems like you said your target cooking temp was around 212*?  I regularly smoke ribs @ 225 - 250* with good results using a variation of the 3-2-1 method, adjusting the times downward as needed depending on how hot I'm cooking.

Red