I finally got around to another smoke yesterday. 3 racks of ribs.
Took ribs out of the fridge to counter for 20 minutes later while I lit some charcoal.
Put them (still cold) on a cool 150* smoker with 1/2 chimney of lit coals to one side of a pile of unlit ones in the basket.
1/2 hour later smoker was at 240* and I added some wood chunk for smoke, and away we went.
Now my Maverick died on me during the end of my last smoke. Just kaput. The remote would not turn on at all. Bummer. So I ordered a cheaper Thermo Works one from a SMF Sponsor.
Received it a week or so ago. Did a boiling water test and it was within a couple degrees. But... then I decided to take the maverick remote apart to see if there was anything I could do inside to fix it. Nope all solid state.
Oh well..... but...., when I put it back together it turned on and started working again! HUH?
I was happy to have my Maverick back, and figured I'd keep the new cheapie as a back up.
But today, I decided to run them both side by side to check the new one out. At first I thought the new one was WAY off. But after many probes switching, and placement, as well as checking with a non-remote digital therm, and it turned out that it was my maverick that was haywire, not the Thermo Works. So tomorrow my Maverick will take a trip to the dump, as I wipe a tear from my eye. I sure did love that thing while it was working properly.
Long boring story huh? LOL
Anyway, with all this testing and switching things in and out and around, I must have had the lid open on the smoke chamber at least 50 times. I figured it would take me 8 hours to finish the ribs because of that, but they still got done, good bark, and very tender at 5 1/2 hours in. I didn't notice that tho', until I checked them for doneness at the 6 hour mark.
A little more tender than I like, but over all, I'm happy.
No plated photo's, or smoke ring photo's. . I did do a taste test with one skirt that I forgot to trim off before had. Even that, was juicy and tender.
I am giving one of these to a neighbor, and the others to a horse therapy program, for Veterans with PTS, as well as First Responders, and children with severe problems.