Loaded Wichita -- First Smoke Today

[bucknut97]

Today will be my first ever smoke. I am still seasoning but the temps are hold and it appears I have good smoke already. I am going to try 3 rack of St. Louis Ribs and possibly some wings as well.

I have good idea on how to handle the ribs, the wings are another story. Any tips on time and temp for wings using an offset would be great if you have them.

Nice crisp day in Ohio here, mid 30's with hardly any breeze. Let's hope it goes well.

 

[WaterRat]

I'm assuming you're running your ribs around 225-275°F -ish. If so, for the wings, you will probably want to finish them on the grill or under the broiler to crisp them up as the skin will be rubbery at those temps. They won't take real long, start checking the IT at a half hour and get them on the grill when they still have 15-20° or so to go to finish cooking. Good luck!

 

[bucknut97]

Thanks for the insight. I decided to just stick with the ribs, I have my hands full with those. I am shooting for that temp range though and will remember that for future smokes. Unfortunately when I first put the ribs on I had probably 5-10 min of what I would consider fairly heavy white smoke. I had too much wood on as I put more in at the same time as the meat. It has been fairly under control since then. Hopefully that initial start didn't ruin them with a bitter taste.

 

[fivetricks]

Meh, with 3 plus hours of smoke you will be more than fine with your white smoke. Don't overthink it.

Also, anything that has skin and flies should be smoked north of 300 degrees if you want crisp skit. Under 300 is fine as well but you will have throw away skin.

 

[SmokinAl]

Good luck, there is always a little anxiety on your first run!
Al

 

[Hawging It]

Pretty cool you are new to the game and will be doing the Virgin smoke on a Wichita! Nice!

 

[bucknut97]

The ribs turned out so so. Weren’t great but also weren’t inedible. I had issues maintaining a coal bed. Many would fall through the grates so I had a nice pile on the bottom of the firebox that seemed to be wasted. I read a post somewhere that a guy took some chicken wire and wrapped the fire grate with it once and that made a difference with the same issue. I will try that and just keep practicing.

 

[bucknut97]

As far as starting out on the loaded Wichita it has been a long time coming. I was so close to pulling the trigger on various offset store models over the past few years but read so much about how poorly they held heat, etc. so I never went through with it. I have a 120 gallon propane tank for a build but that has sat in my garage for over two years. I finally faced reality that the project wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon so I started researching and wound up with the Wichita.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Way to go jump right in and go for it. It takes time to learn temp control and how to get good finished product we all started somewhere and I've many low quality products and still do sometimes.

Warren

 

[Murray]

The ribs turned out so so. Weren’t great but also weren’t inedible. I had issues maintaining a coal bed. Many would fall through the grates so I had a nice pile on the bottom of the firebox that seemed to be wasted. I read a post somewhere that a guy took some chicken wire and wrapped the fire grate with it once and that made a difference with the same issue. I will try that and just keep practicing.

Instead of chicken wire have a look at Hardware Cloth, it’s a heaver gauge wire and smaller holes than chicken wire. Should standup to the heat better than chicken wire.

 

[HalfSmoked]

As a precaution just think about using galvanized items.

Warren

 

[bucknut97]

Thanks for the tip Murray on the hardware cloth. I haven't heard of that but in looking at it I agree that looks like a better fit for what I am trying to accomplish.

 

[gary s]

Good Morning and Welcome from a Sunny and Cold East Texas

Gary