Today was my first run on my new Lang 36" patio. It was fun and I think I learned a lot. While I've grilled for 35+ years and smoked for 10+, I've never used an offset smoker.
First some initial critical information:
My splits were a little on the smaller side so I found that I needed to add wood around every 20-30 minutes. Temps seemed to stay consistent but for the first few hours I needed to keep the side vents fully open the whole time. I did preheat the wood on top of the fire box which helped it ignite easily. I watched the temps and the smoke and was happy to be having the sought after thin blue smoke (TBS) most of the time. When I tried to close the vents, the smoke got thicker which I attributed to the fire wanting more air. When I opened back up to 100%, the TBS came back and things looked good. I kept them at 100%.
After 2 hours, I pulled the ribs and wrapped with butter, brown sugar and honey (I forgot the Thai chili sauce I planned to add). Back on the cooker for 2 hours with the temp a bit higher--around 240-250.
I noticed that now that this massive hunk of metal was up to temp, it seemed to hold better. I dialed the side vents back to 50% and was still holding well in my target zone and the smoke looked good.
After 2 hours, I pulled the foiled ribs. They were close to overdone. After I got them all unwrapped, they went back on just so I could get some sauce on them. I gave them a good coating, left on the smoker for 15 min, added another brush of sauce, left for 10 min then pulled.
After resting a bit, they tasted great but were, as expected, a bit too done to be consider great. They had good smoke on them and tasted great, but being a bit less done would have pushed them to the next level.
What I learned:
First some initial critical information:
- Cigars!: Arturo Fuente Anejo Reserva No. 48 and Avo Heritage Robusto
- Beer!: Flying Dog Bloodline Blood Orange ale and Lagunitas Eroica sour ale
- Spareribs: 2 racks and one half rack of organic ribs (for wife)--not trimmed down. This was for family, so I just stripped the membrane and left all the extra meat on the ribs
- Rub: I make my own which is a traditional combination of lots of spices, salt and sugars
- Sauce: again, I make my own with a combination of various bottled sauces, Karo, jam, etc.
- Wood: hickory and oak splits
- Weather: overcast, high 60s with a light breeze
- Water pan on bottom rack at firebox side
My splits were a little on the smaller side so I found that I needed to add wood around every 20-30 minutes. Temps seemed to stay consistent but for the first few hours I needed to keep the side vents fully open the whole time. I did preheat the wood on top of the fire box which helped it ignite easily. I watched the temps and the smoke and was happy to be having the sought after thin blue smoke (TBS) most of the time. When I tried to close the vents, the smoke got thicker which I attributed to the fire wanting more air. When I opened back up to 100%, the TBS came back and things looked good. I kept them at 100%.
After 2 hours, I pulled the ribs and wrapped with butter, brown sugar and honey (I forgot the Thai chili sauce I planned to add). Back on the cooker for 2 hours with the temp a bit higher--around 240-250.
I noticed that now that this massive hunk of metal was up to temp, it seemed to hold better. I dialed the side vents back to 50% and was still holding well in my target zone and the smoke looked good.
After 2 hours, I pulled the foiled ribs. They were close to overdone. After I got them all unwrapped, they went back on just so I could get some sauce on them. I gave them a good coating, left on the smoker for 15 min, added another brush of sauce, left for 10 min then pulled.
After resting a bit, they tasted great but were, as expected, a bit too done to be consider great. They had good smoke on them and tasted great, but being a bit less done would have pushed them to the next level.
What I learned:
- Get more wood. If anyone in eastern PA/Western or Central Jersey has a good wood supplier, let me know. I'll go through what I have in the next two cooks and will certainly need a good supply of oak/maple/hickory/apple etc.
- Temps get more stable as the cook goes on.
- I may give up wrapping ribs. While I love the idea of adding sugar and butter to the cook, it's a mess to unwrap them and I wonder if I just stick to saucing at the 2 hour mark, can I get a similar result?
- Smoking is the best way to spend a day off! Fire, meat, smoke, cigars and beer, what could be better?
