Noob from VA

[bogie01]

Hello, I'm a totally lost new smoker owner. I've wanted a smoker for years and finally bought a Backwoods 3400.

My first attempt with smoking was a few days ago, baby back pork ribs. It did not turn out so great lol. I think I really overdid it with the wood chunks and couldn't keep a clean burn. I'm trying again right now on beef ribs, only using 4 chunks of oak. I'm hoping the final product is a little better this time.

 

[crazymoon]

B01, Keep trying and research the forums here for great tips/advice. You'll get the hang of it .

 

[Winterrider]

Welcome from ND.
If troubles , explain briefly technique used and you'll receive sound advice from the group on how to improve.

 

[mr_whipple]

Welcome from the Hampton Roads / Tidewater are. Lost you are no morel

 

[Gonna Smoke]

We'll be glad to help, but we need some info on what you're doing...

 

[DougE]

Welcome from Kentucky!

Beef ribs are somewhat different from pork ribs. Beef ribs are more like cooking brisket, time wise. Just cook till a probe or skewer goes in like into a jar of PeanutButter.

 

[bogie01]

The beef ribs came out just slightly better than the pork ribs .

I found an easy beef ribs recipe on this site and basically followed that. 225 for three hours, wrap for two, then sauce and back in for 10, sauce again and back in for 10.

I really like the flavor and everything but there's too much smoke after taste. I went with four pieces of oak chunks on a bed of Jealous Devil lump. Temps went up to around 265 or so for a bit, I was too late tamping the side vents to control the heat. Thought I had nice clean smoke but there were periods where I had too much smoke.

When you all open the door to the cook chamber, do you get CBS (I think that's the acronym for clean blue smoke) immediately or is some white/slightly dirtier smoke the norm until the coals settle down and get rolling again?

A guy I know has a Backwoods and he told me to keep the side vents open after reaching about 10 degrees to my desired temp then shut them down to about a two finger width opening. He said to use the chimney as the primary heat control. At one point I had the chimney nearly closed to control the heat.

I'm thinking I probably shouldn't go more than 3/4 close, 1/2 - 1/4 closed may be the ideal to keep the smoke/draw circulating. He usually knows what he's talking about but I'm not too sure about this chimney method.

Anyway, sorry for the super long post. I'll get this figured out eventually, I hope.

 

[912smoker]

Welcome to SMF from SE GA!

Keith

 

[chef k-dude]

I'm not sure there is an ideal smoke color per se. The pros here may answer that. There IS such a thing as too much smoke for some people. My wife doesn't like stuff to taste so smoky you're burping up smoke taste the next day, so I learned to stop adding chips earlier in a smoke (I have an MES30 so I can continue cooking without adding any more wood/chips).

I like some smoke flavor but I've gotten to the point that a background smoke flavor is enough for me and I dont have to have everything taste like smoke. I only pull my smoker out a few times a year for specific things nowadays.

 

[bbqbrett]

Did you start with 4 chunks all at once or did you spread them out over the length of the cook?

 

[DougE]

Thin blue smoke is what we shoot for in a perfect world (or no discernable smoke coming out the stack, but we can smell the wood burning. As long as you smell it, it is adding smoke flavor). That said, some "dirty" smoke happens when adding splits, and really can't be avoided, but it isn't necessarily a bad thing so long as your smoker ain't smoking like a freight train the whole cook.

 

[bogie01]

I'm not sure there is an ideal smoke color per se. The pros here may answer that. There IS such a thing as too much smoke for some people. My wife doesn't like stuff to taste so smoky you're burping up smoke taste the next day, so I learned to stop adding chips earlier in a smoke (I have an MES30 so I can continue cooking without adding any more wood/chips).

I like some smoke flavor but I've gotten to the point that a background smoke flavor is enough for me and I dont have to have everything taste like smoke. I only pull my smoker out a few times a year for specific things nowadays.

I may try something like that, just use charcoal and add just one wood chunk. My wife and kids just told me they don't like smoked meat! I had no idea, now I'll have to eat 20 beef ribs.

Did you start with 4 chunks all at once or did you spread them out over the length of the cook?

I added four chunks spread around the coal basket. They may have smoked two at a time but I know (from checking the coal drawer) that the last two chunks lasted until the very end of the burn.

Thin blue smoke is what we shoot for in a perfect world (or no discernable smoke coming out the stack, but we can smell the wood burning. As long as you smell it, it is adding smoke flavor). That said, some "dirty" smoke happens when adding splits, and really can't be avoided, but it isn't necessarily a bad thing so long as your smoker ain't smoking like a freight train the whole cook.

Whoops, I got the acronym wrong. I'll have to remember TBS.

I have some creosote in the smoker but nothing too crazy I think. I'm going to try to smoke a pork butt on Sunday after I try to gather as much info as I can from this site.

Oh I also signed up for Tuffy Stone's BBQ class in September so between that and this site I'm sure I'll work everything out. If not I'll try to sell my Backwoods 3400 and just stick to my propane grill because that will be a sign that I'm too ignorant to operate a smoker lol.

 

[DougE]

Oh I also signed up for Tuffy Stone's BBQ class in September so between that and this site I'm sure I'll work everything out.

Don't skip this one.​

Smoking Essentials Course​

Smoking Essentials Course - Learn to Smoke Meat with Jeff Phillips

5 secrets to smoking meat success will teach you how to select the meat, fire management, what equipment you will need, and a whole lot more!

www.Smoking-Meat.com

 

[chef k-dude]

I may try something like that, just use charcoal and add just one wood chunk. My wife and kids just told me they don't like smoked meat! I had no idea, now I'll have to eat 20 beef ribs.

They may just be referring to what you admittedly over-smoked. Not everyone wants stuff smoked to smithereens. Other people seem like they live in the smoke and smoke everything. Have you and your family never been to a Q place that smokes their meat?

 

[WhoaNelly]

This place is a wealth of knowledge. The people here will shave 5 years off your learning curve and save you a lot of money. Keep at it and you will be nailing it by football season. Reminder that your lump charcoal is made out of oak and hickory. My wife doesn’t like heavy smoke either. You can cut down on smoke exposure by wrapping meat at 165. Personally, I would go charcoal with no wood and gauge it . Then I would start addin 1 chunk of wood during each cook until you wife notices it then back off 1 chunk

 

[chef k-dude]

I recall reading somewhere that meats, or some meats stop taking on smoke in to the smoke ring layers at 165, so beyond that is just wasted smoke. That may be wrong, your mileage may vary!

 

[bogie01]

They may just be referring to what you admittedly over-smoked. Not everyone wants stuff smoked to smithereens. Other people seem like they live in the smoke and smoke everything. Have you and your family never been to a Q place that smokes their meat?

Yep I'm fairly certain it's specifically my smoked meats they don't care for .
We've had Q from Mission BBQ (not sure that counts though since it's very mild and has to appeal to the masses) a couple of places nearby and BBQ Exchange from Gordonsville, VA.

My wife loved the BBQ Exchange food so there's hope for me, just need to get my process right.

This place is a wealth of knowledge. The people here will shave 5 years off your learning curve and save you a lot of money. Keep at it and you will be nailing it by football season. Reminder that your lump charcoal is made out of oak and hickory. My wife doesn’t like heavy smoke either. You can cut down on smoke exposure by wrapping meat at 165. Personally, I would go charcoal with no wood and gauge it . Then I would start addin 1 chunk of wood during each cook until you wife notices it then back off 1 chunk

I read the Jealous Devil lump I'm using is from South America, it's a variety of quebracho Blanco. Never heard of it myself so I had to look it up.

That's what I'm planning for tomorrow's pork butt, I'll just do one, maybe two smaller chunks of wood and see how it goes. I added some apple juice and water to the water pan the last cook but honestly didn't notice a difference.

 

[chef k-dude]

Yep I'm fairly certain it's specifically my smoked meats they don't care for .
We've had Q from Mission BBQ (not sure that counts though since it's very mild and has to appeal to the masses) a couple of places nearby and BBQ Exchange from Gordonsville, VA.

My wife loved the BBQ Exchange food so there's hope for me, just need to get my process right.

Dude! You in the Charlottesville area?

What's pretty funny is my wife thought BBQ Exchange was too smokey! That was some years ago when they first opened. I was never super impressed by their food but then again, its been years. I DID think it was cool that they had a variety of their own house-made pickles.

Mission is not bad but like you said, "for the masses", and that place is usually filled by the masses (also at least back when they first opened, haven't been back in some time) which I'm not a fan of. Don't care for packed restaurants or crowds in general.

I dont smoke a lot of stuff these days but starting smoking myself about a decade ago, first with soaked wood on the grill then moving up to the fairly entry level MES30...well that ruined me for most Q places. Now I was comparing my pulled pork, ribs etc. with every Q joint I ate from and found out I was apparently pretty good as a novice compared to these "pros". Of course I'm not smoking "for the masses" either so maybe that makes a difference...a lot lost in the volume. I have never even been impressed with the famous "Lexington BBQ"...these places are way overrated to me now.

For what those places charge for pulled pork and ribs, I just started NOT patronizing them. If you are in the C'Ville area and are a Sam's club member, I just stumbled on packaged pulled pork there. I was looking for something "easy button" to take to a reunion buffet line and BAM, there it was. A 2lb pack for $11. Yep $5.50 a pound. The Q places are as much as $16 a pound. And this is un-sauced pork which is hard to find. Usually in the stores its drenched with some sickeningly sweet sauce. Is it as good as mine? No, but talk about an easy button! And its as good as most Q places I've tried in my opinion.

 

[bogie01]

Dude! You in the Charlottesville area?

What's pretty funny is my wife thought BBQ Exchange was too smokey! That was some years ago when they first opened. I was never super impressed by their food but then again, its been years. I DID think it was cool that they had a variety of their own house-made pickles.

Mission is not bad but like you said, "for the masses", and that place is usually filled by the masses (also at least back when they first opened, haven't been back in some time) which I'm not a fan of. Don't care for packed restaurants or crowds in general.

I dont smoke a lot of stuff these days but starting smoking myself about a decade ago, first with soaked wood on the grill then moving up to the fairly entry level MES30...well that ruined me for most Q places. Now I was comparing my pulled pork, ribs etc. with every Q joint I ate from and found out I was apparently pretty good as a novice compared to these "pros". Of course I'm not smoking "for the masses" either so maybe that makes a difference...a lot lost in the volume. I have never even been impressed with the famous "Lexington BBQ"...these places are way overrated to me now.

For what those places charge for pulled pork and ribs, I just started NOT patronizing them. If you are in the C'Ville area and are a Sam's club member, I just stumbled on packaged pulled pork there. I was looking for something "easy button" to take to a reunion buffet line and BAM, there it was. A 2lb pack for $11. Yep $5.50 a pound. The Q places are as much as $16 a pound. And this is un-sauced pork which is hard to find. Usually in the stores its drenched with some sickeningly sweet sauce. Is it as good as mine? No, but talk about an easy button! And its as good as most Q places I've tried in my opinion.

Nah I'm near Quantico Marin Corps Base. You're near Charlottesville?

I actually I love BBQ Exchange . You talking about Lexington, NC? I used to live there, never really liked their pulled pork sandwiches. They put coleslaw on it, yuck.

I've heard Costco meats are pretty good. I'm waiting until I stop screwing up these cheap pieces of meat from my local grocery store then I'll go to Costco in Fredericksburg. Maybe start with Choice cuts then eventually graduate to Prime

 

[bazzz9]

Welcome to the forum. There’s a lot of information here about different ways to smoke food. My wife also said she didn’t like smoked meat when I started with my first charcoal grill. Took a couple of years but she loved last nights brisket, lol. I am down the road from you near Reedville VA. Just keep practicing, I do make notes about my cooking experiences, good and bad.