First time using my smoker....2 racks of ribs (Q-view)

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papagreer

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Jul 7, 2010
249
16
Raleigh, NC
Well I finally was able to break in the ole smoker for her test run, and she was great! Here is the Q View:

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Rack one and two. Rack one with MDM Rub and rack two with a St Louis style rub I came across online. 

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The young lady and some nice blue smoke.

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Rack two. Nice pull back ;)

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Rack one complete.

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Good Stuff....A lunch of Champions. 

Sorry about the sideways pics, for some reason they were rotated when I added them. 

All in all it was a great day. Learned a ton about my smoker and what I need to do to regulate temps. I used the 3-2-1 method and did not mop or spitz during the smoke. I used Tru Cue lump charcoal and hickory chunks. Has anyone used that charcoal before? I had two bags of it and there were a ton (about 3/4 of each bag) that were really small pieces. I lost half of it out the bottom of my chimney starter. I prob wont be buying that brand again, unless I got a crap batch or something. 

The built in therm is about 75 degrees off so I am glad that I went to Wally World and picked up a digital probe therm. One thing that i was surprised to find out was the change Brinkmann made to my model smoker. They changed the handles to magnetic ones (which is fine, they worked well) but the biggest change was the charcoal pan. They changed it from the normal round bowl to a square, grill wok shape and added a grate in the bottom. No holes though. So i drilled about 16 3/8 holes on each side of the square and about 10 in the bottom. I will be drilling many more in the bottom so allow the ash to fall through. I did run into a problem of a slight smothering due to the ash build up. How does everyone deal with the build up? Do you shake the pan inside the smoker or pull it out and shake it into a barrel or bucket? I can see that being a problem on a long smoke like a butt or a brisket. 

Can't thank you guys enough for my successful first smoke. I've read so much valuable info here that it made this smoke go really smooth and the outcome amazing. My ole lady and my daughter send thanks your way as well. SMF is the best!

Chris
 
Looks like everything came out great.

 maybe put a small grate inside the chrcoal pan to keep the coals out the ash???
 
Looks great and I'm sure tasted even better
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Nice job Chris!

As soon as I saw you were in NC, I knew you'd do some fine Q-smoking!

Bear
 
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Now your ribs look great but your smoker looks alittle screwed up. I have a box smoker like that ( a GOSM) I don't know alot about them but mine works alot better standing upright. But thats just me.....
 
Chris congrats on some great looking ribs, glad to hear everyone liked them.  Great first smoke!  I'm not familiar with the lump you burned, the only thing I can find around Fayetteville is Cowboy brand and I won't buy it.  I've been pretty happy just using the Kingsford original (blue bag) in the UDS.  Sam's Club has a great deal on 2 - 20 lb bags for around $14.

Not familiar with your firebox but was wondering if you couldn't just build a square one out of 3/4" expanded steel with bolts for legs and put a cookie sheet or cheap wally world pizza pan under it similar to how a fire basket is setup in a UDS. 
 
Thanks guys! The ribs were great and it was fun to cook them. Nothing like smoking some ribs and a couple of adult beverages to wash the afternoon down.

Mballi--- Imagine if i actually used my smoker that way! HAA! I still do not understand why the photos rotated that way when I posted them. Hrmph.

Eman--- Brinkmann actually included the grate for the bottom of the pain (which was awesome) just need to drill some more holes to help with the ash. I have a feeling that the next smoker will go much better. 

Chris
 
Looks great,if you have not tried them you should search the forum for wicked baked beans.....dang-it man they are good.I cant give credit to the genius who created them cause i suffer from CRS.They are a favorite at my house......
 
Looks good!!!

I recently bought a vertical smoker and one of the reasons I didn't go with Brinkmann was because they had magnetic doors.  The thing was that the doors on the display model would not shut and stay secure.  I guess it was just some dumb kid who didn't care put it together.  The doors on the vertical charcoal units had swivel locks where you turn the handle down and it pulls the door closed. 
 
I have a brinkman upright and i just put a pan underneath my charcoal pan and whenever i reload it i just give it a quick whack and all the ash falls into the pan for quick clean up after the smoke.  It works great if you have enough holes in the bottom of the pan.
 
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