First smoke

[Akdukefan]

I am currently in the process of my first smoke ever. I've kinda Gerry rigged a grill by moving the coals to the side and put some chips in some fol for smoke. Couple questions-
1) is it ok to remove some coals if the heat was to high then just add them back in when the heat gets lower?
2) I've heard varying opinions but should I stop adding smoke after 2 hours or 1 hour?
3) Should I swap the placement of the ribs to put the one furthest away from the coals closer?

Thanks guys. I'm really excited to try this out. Nervous too.

 

[smokerjim]

what do you consider high temps, I usually smoke my ribs at 225 which usually takes 6-7 hours, I add smoke the whole time but looking at your photo looks like your getting some heavy smoke maybe back off on your chips a little until you get a thin smoke that you could hardly see. yeah I don't see why you couldn't take some coals out until you get your temps around where you want them, it's all a learning process so play around and enjoy until you figure it out. it wouldn't hurt to rotate the ribs around to try and get a even cook.

 

[Akdukefan]

what do you consider high temps, I usually smoke my ribs at 225 which usually takes 6-7 hours, I add smoke the whole time but looking at your photo looks like your getting some heavy smoke maybe back off on your chips a little until you get a thin smoke that you could hardly see. yeah I don't see why you couldn't take some coals out until you get your temps around where you want them, it's all a learning process so play around and enjoy until you figure it out. it wouldn't hurt to rotate the ribs around to try and get a even cook.

Thank you. When I first fired up the coals the grill was at about 400 so I removed some coals. It's sitting at about 230-240 now. That seems to have done the trick. I did back off on chips and the smoke seems to be better now. I think I will rearrange to try and get a more even cook.

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

Keep the damper open fully while you have that going! Otherwise that thick white smoke will make your ribs taste like crap. I would keep smoke rolling the whole time and keep moving the ribs around like Jim mentioned. Don't see any problem with removing the coals if need be to fluctuate temp.

Like the creative setup. When there is a will to get some smoke rolling there is a way!

 

[Akdukefan]

Uh oh, that worries me about the bad smoke. It did settle down finally but still...I hope everything turns out ok. I did move the ribs around as well.

 

[smokerjim]

hope they turn out good, let us know

 

[Akdukefan]

So, I ended up putting them in the oven. I think I pulled the trigger to soon with removing the coals at the start. I should have given it more time and let them settle a bit more. I was having to continually add more and more coals to maintain the heat. They are currently in the oven right now so hopefully something went right. I'm a bit worried I ruined them though. First cook failure. On to more.