Chargriller Smokin Pro Newbie ?'s

[bishop916]

I usually give a good cleaning with rolled up newspaper or a ball of tinfoil and spray down with pam or cooking oil, before and after.

Wirebrush takes off all the seasoning. (black buildup of cooked-on oils, meat juices, etc that protects the grates and prevents rust).

 

[smoke freak]

Noob, you sure have been thinkin this thing over for a while havent ya. Lots of great questions. Most have been answered well. But you asked so heres what "I" think.

Last question first. Instructions with your grill told ya to scrape/brush the castiron grates after each use. Then rub with veg oil while they are still warm. If ya do this EACH time then nothing will stick. Not even grilled fish. How ever sometimes the beer keeps me from doin this and things still work out OK.

As far as the fire goes, I guess I do things diff than most have advised. I like to tend a small "clean burning" fire. No smoldering allowed. To do this, I start with a pile of lit charcoals. Lump or briquettes. No matter to me. This is just to get things started. To this Ill add some twigs/kindelin till it flames up then lay on a small split. Like a fireplace log only split much smaller. Bout 2 to 3 inches in diameter. Maybe bigger. I guess chunks would work but I would have to pay for them. Then I shut both lids and wait. No food yet! I want the temp to stabilize and the grill to warm evenly. Hurrying at this point will make things much harder. When youre satisfied that temps are where ya want em and there gonna stay close to that, On goes the meat! When the temp starts to drop near 210 or so then Ill add another stick and some times add a couple "unlit" coals. This kinda helps me maintain a good bed of coals and steady temps. Dont panic about dips and spikes in temp. Just controll them like that Gorilla guy said. Master the fire and have fun! Keep cookin and some day youll be tellin me how its done. Of course then youll hafta change your name,eh!

 

[motorhedd]

I nominate noobsmoke for a nickchange to CharGriller_Pro
MH

 

[noobsmoke]

Ha ha, not yet MH :)

Guys, I need some quick help. I just started my first smoke and I added lump to the side firebox with a few chunks of hickory, but I can't seem to get the temp above 175 (stock thermo). I added about two more unlit chimney's full of lump but it still hasn't raised. I've already used about 3/4 bag of royal oak. I have my chimney open half way and the damper on the SFB open all the way.

How can I raise the temp?

How many bags of lump do you typically go through in a rib smoke?

How much lump should I be using? I don't want to over/under fill the SFB. A quick response would be great as the destiny of my ribs depends on it :)

Thanks!

 

[gorillagrilla]

noob.Please refer to my previos post in this thread. Do Not use your chimmeny to regulate heat.Rip that cap offa there if ya gotta if it will keep you from using it ! control heat using vents only !!If ya buy flowmasters for your car you will notice they dont come with a cap !!

 

[noobsmoke]

Thank you gorilla. I have opened the chimney all the way. I still am having trouble keeping my temp up. Can someone please answer the questions in my previous post?

I appreciate all your help!

 

[gorillagrilla]

are ya usin the stock charcoal grate or a basket ?I know I'm answering questions with questions but it helps to diagnose.A build up of ash under the grate will choke out the fire. Raise the grate somehow to get some air under it. Hope this helps. better late than never.

 

[jond]

Hi Noob,

If you are still working off the stock temp guage i did some testing today and reckon mine is reading somewhere between 25-35 degrees low. I know they are all different but it gives you an idea how bad they are.

Hope the smoke went well.

Jon.

 

[noobsmoke]

Gorilla,

I was using the stock charcoal grate, not a basket. I'm not a fab type of guy so I haven't tried making one and I bought the grill basket from Lowes as suggested but couldn't figure out how to get it to fit.

Regardless, my first smoke is complete. My chicken came out wonderful after an hour and a half, but my ribs...my poor poor ribs. Five hours of smoking for my baby backs and the funny thing is that they fall off the bone, but some of the flesh is chewy and tough. I am not sure what went wrong. If anybody can shed some light on this I'd appreciate it for next time. Alas, the ribs are edible so it wasn't a complete failure.

Was the temp too high? Did I overcook?

Noobsmoke, still lives up to his name

 

[jond]

Which way up did you have the grate in the firebox? I thought it would go in to with the angles at the end up but it they should be down which gives more ash space and air entry.

Glad the chicken came out well :) can;t comment on the ribs as haven't tried them yet.

Jon.

 

[fireguy]

noob, first off ... did you remove that thick membrane from the underside of the ribs??? it will creat a major chew factor if you didnt. Also did you foil like suggested in the 3-2-1 method??? that will keep some moisture to em. as for your grate, it would really help you inmo to get some sort of raised basket in the sfb. I had similar prob when i first tried my cgsp... once I put a basket in it , and raised it up so more air would feed the coals from the botttom of the basket it could maintain higher temps with more consistency.. hope this helps.

 

[noobsmoke]

1. I did put the charcoal in in the correct direction. I didn't use a charcoal basket but will look into getting one.

2. I did remove the membrane from the ribs.

3. I didn't use the 3-2-1 method because this was my first time smoking ribs and I wanted to be able to compare ribs done the normal way, then using 3-2-1.

4. When I say they were chewy, I mean they were overly crispy and hard to chew. I don't really know how to explain.

I mainly am hoping to find out what would cause ribs to turn out this way so that I can avoid the issue in the future. The sad thing is, I've had ribs like that from restaurants before and been very disappointed. I don't want to have them at home too! :)

 

[motorhedd]

noob here is how i use my lowes basket.hope this helps.

MH

 

[noobsmoke]

Thanks MH.

What did you do to make it fit? I was under the impression that the basket didn't need any modification.

 

[fireguy]

noob, Just keep trying, youll get it soon enough!! When I was experimenting with my new cgsp I did burgers and brauts alot just to get to know my smoker and how it preformed. on the ribs do the 3-2-1 next time and i bet they will be much more to your liking. good luck

 

[motorhedd]

took boltcutters to the basket ends,hacksawed the handle hardware,used (4) 5/16X1" SS bolts.washers,and nuts for resting on the sfb grate lip.



hope that helps
MH

 

[venture]

With this basket, you can also cut two 7/16 rolled steel rods to 14 7/16 inches. (No zinc plating please) These can be easily forced through the mesh at the top right and top left of the basket. They will rest nicely on the grill rail and give you a solid setup which is easily adjustable within the SFB. Be sure to measure your rails, mine are 14 1/2 inches, so I shaved the rods to be slightly shorter.

Also, has anyone out there been using this basket long enough to give an estimated life span on it? I am thinking about ordering a spare while they are still making it. This is a cheap solution to the charcoal basket problem, and I have been happy with how it works.

 

[bishop916]

I have been using mine for over 3 months with no degradation. It looks to be a permanent fixture in my sfb

 

[solar]

Gotta get me a basket. You guys say they sell them at Lowes?

 

[bishop916]

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...21-451-4984108