Great job on the ribs! Anyone see any room for improvement? Not me. Those are beautiful!
The Smokenator in my 22.5" Weber taught me how to smoke meat and control temps, lessons I still use with my WSM. I now use my Kettle/Smokenator about 1/4 of the time I smoke. I string my 6 foot Mav 732 chamber probe through the top vent and clip it to the grate on the opposite side of the SN, just below the top vent. If using a meat probe it goes through the same top vent hole. I leave the bottom One Touch vent fully open and control temps with just the top vent. It is a bit of an art with the Kettle, but once you get figure it out you can hold temps steady for 90 minutes or more, or make small adjustments in the temp by opening or closing the top vent by 1/16" of an inch.
I don't use the SN water pan any longer, just filling the SN with charcoal and wood. I use briquettes in the SN because they just work better than lump. I often dry smoke but when I use a water pan I put a bigger pan filled with water on the charcoal grate pushed up against the side of the SN. You can buy a larger pan that is 2" deep that fits on top of the SN, covering he center hole and about 1/2 of the other two holes. Just be careful when you take the lid off or you'll get a face full of steam (don't ask how I know).
I love to use the Kettle/SN combo for ribs, chicken parts, ABTs, fish, and meatloafs. The only thing I don't like to smoke with the SN is taller meats like turkeys or beer can chickens. There is too much of a temperature different between the circulating air in the top of the dome and the temp at the grate, as much as 75-100F for hotter smokes in what, 7 or 8 inches? It is only about 30F at lower temp smokes.
I am amazed at how little charcoal you use in the Kettle/SN. It is one efficient smoker compared to the 22.5" WSM. It is for that reason the SN still gets used quite often.
On my now defunct 18" Kettle I used two fire bricks as a heat fence instead of another SN. It worked just about the same.
The Smokenator in my 22.5" Weber taught me how to smoke meat and control temps, lessons I still use with my WSM. I now use my Kettle/Smokenator about 1/4 of the time I smoke. I string my 6 foot Mav 732 chamber probe through the top vent and clip it to the grate on the opposite side of the SN, just below the top vent. If using a meat probe it goes through the same top vent hole. I leave the bottom One Touch vent fully open and control temps with just the top vent. It is a bit of an art with the Kettle, but once you get figure it out you can hold temps steady for 90 minutes or more, or make small adjustments in the temp by opening or closing the top vent by 1/16" of an inch.
I don't use the SN water pan any longer, just filling the SN with charcoal and wood. I use briquettes in the SN because they just work better than lump. I often dry smoke but when I use a water pan I put a bigger pan filled with water on the charcoal grate pushed up against the side of the SN. You can buy a larger pan that is 2" deep that fits on top of the SN, covering he center hole and about 1/2 of the other two holes. Just be careful when you take the lid off or you'll get a face full of steam (don't ask how I know).
I love to use the Kettle/SN combo for ribs, chicken parts, ABTs, fish, and meatloafs. The only thing I don't like to smoke with the SN is taller meats like turkeys or beer can chickens. There is too much of a temperature different between the circulating air in the top of the dome and the temp at the grate, as much as 75-100F for hotter smokes in what, 7 or 8 inches? It is only about 30F at lower temp smokes.
I am amazed at how little charcoal you use in the Kettle/SN. It is one efficient smoker compared to the 22.5" WSM. It is for that reason the SN still gets used quite often.
On my now defunct 18" Kettle I used two fire bricks as a heat fence instead of another SN. It worked just about the same.
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