First ever ribs

[bigcheese]

So despite the weather I went ahead with my first go on the offset smoker.
I bought some ribs yesterday and rubed last night with some mephis style rub and left them overnight, I then got the coals burning in the weber chimney once they where white put them to in to one side.
Checked a couple of soaked cherry woods chunks on top too. Got the temp to 225f (finally) waked the ribs in a waited for around 2 hours before I checked on them. I opened it up and noticed a few had started to burn where they where a bit close to the coals so I had a little shift around. One thing I did notice is it was very hard to keep a constant temp so I just keeped an eye on them and put some sauce on them and just waited until they reached 165f internal temp.
Ribs where ok but a little tough. I think I'm gonna by a stack smoker now as mine was just to darn hard to work.
I'm thinking about a pro Q frontier are they worth the money?

[Ady]

Hiya Big, I've used a 'naff' un-branded smoker for a year and just decided to get a good one this week, a wsm. I did some ribs yesterday and they were amazing, the smoker is nice and air tight and holds the temp very well, I'm very very pleased with it!

Tough Ribs suggest they need cooking for longer, I did mine for 6 hours (3-2-1 method) and they fell of the bone

I've seen a comparison video between the pro q and wsm, the guy obviously prefers the wsm (the nutter has a weber tattoo) but admits the pro q did exactly what it was meant to do.

Rain or not, pork shoulder is going on tomorrow!

p.s I think this was some kind of event today, I'm sure you'll get more replies / assistance when people get home.

[bigcheese]

Hi ady,

I just read your post after I ordered the frontier (doh!!)
They do look pretty air tight mine had smoke coming out all over the place the temps just would not sit still. My plan was to do the 3-2-1 method but to be honist I was getting the hump with it ( weather didn't help ) so I just waited until they where safe to eat and that was that. At least now with a proper one I can relax a bit more and actually pull of the 3-2-1 method. Do you have any tips on using it as ours seem to be pretty much the same?

[Ady]

I'm only on my second smoke so I'm still getting to grips with it. This is going to be a good 10 hour or so smoke so I'll let you know if I learn anything alone the way.

Edit.. a little over 3 hours in and I'm struggling to keep the temp down! I did something else for a while and when coming back the temp was up to 350. Over the past hour I've shut down the bottom vents and opened the top fully and added more water to the bowl. I've no idea how it got so high!

It's come down a little to 300, finger crossed it will drop a little more. my pork shoulder is already at 170, not good.

[bigcheese]

Oh dear that's not good, good luck let me know how you got over it.
I'm sure I read somewhere before that if you have all the vents shut your temp will be lower and all vents open will cause it to be higher. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong hopfully!!

[Ady]

It was an operator error! It has three lower vents, right from the start I thought the back one was closed (as my smoker is kinda in a corner) Turns out it was fully open all along!

Its been holding at around 240 for about an hour now, woohoo! I've just put a couple of spuds on and ABT's are in the fridge, I'll pop them on as the shoulder comes off. Things are look up!

You are right about the vents, open = more air = more heat. If fact when I finished my first smoke, I shut all the vents and it choked the fire out meaning I still had loads of coals in there for today's smoke.

I'm not sure what role the top vent plays though, I would think it would reduce the temp but having said that it would allow a good airflow, maybe helping the bottom vent draw in air in?

[bigcheese]

So how was the vents positioned in the end to be able to hold that temp?

Glad to hear it all turned out good in the end, I hope the tast reflects the work put in

[Ady]

At the moment I've got 2 bottoms vent 1/4 open and one closed, might open that last one a little though because the temp is down to 210. It's ok at that temp but I don't want to to drop much lower. Tiny adjustments then a good mins wait to see the effect seems to be the way to go.

I'll grab some pics at some point.

[bigcheese]

Nice

[Mike_P_in_Tucson]

I have an Excel 20, big brother to the Frontier. I love the Excel 20. I am probably in the minority here, but I prefer it over the WSM. Your Frontier will leak smoke quite a bit until after maybe a half dozen cooks, when it should be nicely seasoned and tighter. But even at the start, it is tight enough so when you shut all the vents, the chacoal will extinguish and can be re-used.

I cook a little hotter -- at 275 F. For ribs, I cook them on the grate for 1 1/2 hours, then wrap in foil with a little apple juice or butter (not poured over the ribs, though). I cooke them foiled for another 1 1/2 hours, open the foil, sauce the ribs, then check every 15 minutes or so to see if they are done. I check by using a toothpick -- stick it into the meat between the bones, when it goes in with virtually no resistance, the ribs are done. It usually doesn't take more than another 30 minutes.

I use the Minion method for getting the Excel 20 going and I use a clay saucer in the water pan instead of water. When the somker temp gets over 200, I start closing the bottom vents and keep closing them more as the smoker approaches 275. I end up with 2 of the bottom vents completely closed and the last one maybe 1/8 to 1/4 open. Top vent always wide open, otherwise, you can get an acrid taste from too much smnoke.

For some reason, I sometimes just can't get the smoker temp over 250. That's OK, just allow maybe another hour for the cook.