Spares and Tips on the WSMs for Mrs. Indyadmin's work QView Heavy!

[indyadmin1974]

My wife asked me last week if we could have some people over from her work.  They are doing some training and there are people from the VP of the sector down to kids right out of college (think interns) in from all over the World including China.

She wanted to do burgers and dogs on the grill and at first I was OK with that.

Then I got to thinkin'...if given the choice, would I rather have burgers on the grill or ribs?

Ribs FTW (for the win for you non-geek types).

I got 6 slabs of ribs from Sam's last night, made up some of Jeff's rub doctored up to make it Mike's rub and trimmed up the ribs.

I cut the tips up, put some rub on them and put them in a foil pan.

The ribs were trimmed up St. Louis style and rubbed down.  I wrapped them in plastic wrap and put them in the fridge over night just for convenience.

This morning, I fired up a chimney full of coals.  The Weber Performer is so versatile and convenient!

Here I got the minion method setup:

A closeup:

Here's my attempt at the clay pot method:

And here they are fired up and settling in.  It's a bit hard to tell, but the temps were 1 or 2 degrees off of each other (and still are):

You can't (and probably won't) see the tips in the pan below until the money shot.

I probably should have used the rib rack, but I really like them laid out flat.

And there's the TBS (on the left...still settling in a bit on the right)

 

[ak1]

Looks good so far.

One question though. What's the clay pot method?

 

[indyadmin1974]

Looks good so far.

One question though. What's the clay pot method?

It's an alternate method of heat regulation in the WSM.  And it's for lazy people like me who like easy cleanup.

Basically you take your water pan to your local hardware store and find a clay pot base that fits at least 1" below the lip of the water pan (remember to account for the foil that you're wrapping the base and water pan in).

I wrap the water pan and the base which makes for pretty simple cleanup.  Not exactly a green method, but it seems to work fine.

Some say that the clay pot regulates the temp better but for me besides cleanup is the fact that you don't have to open 'er up and put water in as the smoke progresses and the water evaporates.  In conjunction with the minion method, I can go ~12-14 hours on one full pan of charcoal.  It eliminates the need for opening the lid so often and some say it helps recover faster from the lid being open.
 

 

[indyadmin1974]

About 1.5 hours in and we're looking good.

I had to rack the ribs though.  They were getting steamed instead of smoked.

TBS how I love thee.

I had to remove the ET-73s when I put the ribs on flat but the lid therm and the ET-73s were the same.

 

[jirodriguez]

Looks good! Cant wait to see the finale!

 

[pineywoods]

Looks like a great smoke going on and I'm sure they'll like ribs over burgers and dogs 

 

[jak757]

Looking good Indy!  

I use the clay saucer in my water pan too.  I like it -- easy clean up, seems to work well for me.

Two WSM's......man I am jealous!!!

Looking forward to the finished product!

 

[ak1]

It's an alternate method of heat regulation in the WSM.  And it's for lazy people like me who like easy cleanup.

Basically you take your water pan to your local hardware store and find a clay pot base that fits at least 1" below the lip of the water pan (remember to account for the foil that you're wrapping the base and water pan in).

I wrap the water pan and the base which makes for pretty simple cleanup.  Not exactly a green method, but it seems to work fine.

Some say that the clay pot regulates the temp better but for me besides cleanup is the fact that you don't have to open 'er up and put water in as the smoke progresses and the water evaporates.  In conjunction with the minion method, I can go ~12-14 hours on one full pan of charcoal.  It eliminates the need for opening the lid so often and some say it helps recover faster from the lid being open.
 

Thank you!

 

[indyadmin1974]

Almost 4 hours in and we're looking good.

Spiced Rum and Apple Juice spritz every 1/2 hour now.

Here's a shot of the tips.  Remember I had to rack up the ribs...steamed ribs bad...smoked ribs good.

 

[herkysprings]

Regarding the clay saucer thing:

Do you find with pulled pork or brisket that the clay saucer thing gets full of juices? I ask because I installed this on mine last week, and used it for chicken. it worked great, but it basically sits right on the water pan. when foils the lower rack just barely rests on the foil, and I dont really have much room to catch anything. I wonder if a smaller saucer that would go in the water pan would be better?

Otherwise I liked the clay saucer, it worked very well.

 

[indyadmin1974]

Regarding the clay saucer thing:

Do you find with pulled pork or brisket that the clay saucer thing gets full of juices? I ask because I installed this on mine last week, and used it for chicken. it worked great, but it basically sits right on the water pan. when foils the lower rack just barely rests on the foil, and I dont really have much room to catch anything. I wonder if a smaller saucer that would go in the water pan would be better?

Otherwise I liked the clay saucer, it worked very well.

It got some juices but not too much.  They evaporated pretty well.

 

[indyadmin1974]

Here we go.  Getting ready for foil with the brown sugar and Parkay goodness.

I'm glad I made 6 racks.  Old dad may need one for myself!

Gotta go fire up the grill for chicken.  Apparently some folks don't like ribs.  I didn't invite them...

 

[deannc]

Looking great!  

 

[indyadmin1974]

Well the big wigs ended up not showing up...I'm a little PO'd, but dang the food came out great!  The rest of the folks that showed up are enjoying it now.

The ribs are fall off the bone which is too done for me, but they still taste great!

Enjoy the QView while I enjoy the Q!

Thanks for watching.

 

[smokingohiobutcher]

Dem is some mighty fine lookin piggy bones!

Yum!

SOB

 

[indyadmin1974]

OK so I said I was done with the pics...but I'm not.

Here are the tips and the leftovers.  I think there's another pan of ribs left somewhere, but I don't see them.

 

[mnjosh]

Wow, I should never visit this site hungry. Looks like a great smoke!

 

[jak757]

Fantastic job Indy!!!  Those are mighty fine looking ribs!

 

[indyadmin1974]

So I brought in the leftovers and rib tips into work today.

I get this e-mail back from one of our IT guys:

One word….AMAZING!

Do you/would you cook up a batch for others? If so, how much $. Id love to serve these at my next get together.

That's an ego boost!

 

[bpopovitz]

I thought I smelled smoke in Indy yesterday ...Looking good, now I've got to go fix breakfast.  so glad it's a work from home day, may have to fire up the smoker...