First Smoked Ribs - My Birthday - A few Pics Included

[ArnieM]

Hi All,

Somehow, everyone comes to my house for my birthday.  I buy the food and booze and do the cooking.  I think I may have a problem here.  ???

This is my second use of the OBS.  I'd strongly advise anyone fairly new to the OBS to go through the forums and read, read, read.

For this attempt, I did about 3 hours, 40 minutes of smoke time.  Roughly 1/4 apple, 3/4 hickory.

If this post is too long winded and boring, please let me know.  I'll try to do better.

The basics: 

My wife got some plain old spare ribs a couple of weeks ago and we froze them.  It was "Buy one, get two free"; she couldn't resist and got three racks.  They were about 13 pounds total.  I thawed them out for Saturday morning.  I made a rub of roughly equal parts garlic, onion powder  salt, ground black pepper, white pepper and cayenne (1 TBS each).  Added about 1/4 cup of Hungarian sweet paprika (that's all I had on hand, wish I had more) and 1/2 cup brown sugar.  That's probably fairly standard.

Time Line:

Saturday Morning. 
Rinse and dry the ribs.  Cut that extra flap of meat off of the bone side.  Remove any excess fat though not much there.  Remove the membrane covering the bones.  As someone said, sometimes it removes easily, sometimes it doesn't.  I've generally found it easier on baby backs.  I use a butter knife to get it started and a paper towel to grip and pull.  I cut off the bone (chine?) at the 'top' of the long rib end.  I then cut them into two or three pieces so they'll fit on the OBS racks.

Rub 'em up.  The pic below is for rack two of three.


Once rubbed, I wrap them in two layers of foil and put 'em into the fridge for use the next day.

Sunday Morning:

7:30 AM.
It's 55 F outside and breezy.  I turned my oven on to Slow Cook/Low, about 210-220 F.  I wanted to bring the ribs up above room temp.  Made coffee.

7:50 AM.
Turned on the OBS SG and tower heater to preheat up to 225-250 F (wishful thinking?)  The vent was closed.

8:20 AM
Added boiling water to the OBS water bowl and put the ribs on the lower three racks.  The ribs were warm but could still be hand-held.  The temp dropped like a rock. 

Here we are, ready to go.  The OBS looks pretty clean, huh?  That's going to change real soon.  Opened the vent half way.


10:00 AM
It's now 62 F and breezy out.  The OBS has only recovered to 185 F.  This is like pushing a rope - uphill.  I don't trust spring-style thermometers so I dropped my wired probe into the vent.  They were at about the same height in the tower.  Lo and behold, they ended up being about +/- 2 or 3 degrees of each other.  I was impressed!

10:20 AM
Make the mop.  Got a glass, added some ice, tequila and my special lemon-lime mix.  Oh yeah, the mop.  3/4 cup apple juice, 1/4 cup rice vinegar and 1 TBS olive oil.  This went into a spray bottle.  I figured I'd have less door-open time using a spray rather than doing actual mopping.  I explained to my wife that opening the door lets a lot of heat out.  She replied with "So what the hell are you doing opening the door and taking pictures?"  She just doesn't understand thermodynamics.

10:50 AM
The smoker is up to 201 F and I'm getting up there myself.  Open the door, squirt, squirt, close the door.  I closed the vent down to about 1/4 - 1/3 open to try to keep the heat up.  The squirting went on about every half hour.

4:00 PM
Well, they're almost done.  We'll eat around 5 PM.


5:00 PM
Finally, dinner.  (The one in the red is my wife taking a nap.)  I made a side sauce for those that like it.  Tomato sauce, brown sugar, garlic and onion powder, a little Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco.  Reduce by about 1/4 until thickened.  I don't care for it myself.


The ribs came out really well based on everyone's comments - maybe they're just being polite.  But, I liked them too.

[IMHO]
So, what did I learn based on my extensive experience (2 smokes)?  The endeavor will probably take longer than I figured on.  The preheat and recovery times are longer than I expected.  The SG works fine but IMHO the tower heater is simply not powerful enough.  It's difficult maintaining 220-230 F when it's below 70 F outside.  Someone said they use the OBS in the winter, shoveling a path in the snow.  I can't imagine that unless you're REALLY cold smoking.
[/IMHO]

Well, enjoy your smoking.  I'll be happy if I've actually managed to help anyone out.

[mikecorn.1]

I noticed on the bottom of you tower, that you didnt have any bricks at the bottom. I have two of them in mine wrapped in foil. It helps recover the temp come back up after you open the door. I did 3 racks full of yard bird legs and 1 of abts yesterday and never had a problem with the temp coming back up to par. At one point I had to adjust the temp down because it was climbing to high. I placed the maverick et-73 probe away from any meat juices and or grease from getting on it.

[ArnieM]

Hi Mike,

I noticed on the bottom of you tower, that you didnt have any bricks at the bottom. I have two of them in mine wrapped in foil. It helps recover the temp come back up after you open the door.
Nope, no bricks.  I have two that I also wrap in foil and use them to flatten out my yard bird halves when doing them on the grill.  I've read about the bricks and the use of a larger water bowl as heat sinks to help recovery.  I still think that a few bucks more for a more powerful heating element would do the trick.  But, as I indicated, I'm new here and will be doing some experimenting.  Maybe some of my wife's old gold ...
I did 3 racks full of yard bird legs and 1 of abts
What are/is abts?  Is this a typo and you were actually cooking bats?yesterday and never had a problem with the temp coming back up to par. At one point I had to adjust the temp down because it was climbing to high. I placed the maverick et-73 probe away from any meat juices and or grease from getting on it.
People here really seem to like the Maverick.  It has an awful lot of negative comments on Amazon, primarily for a lack of range.  I figure that I now know the OBS temp gauge is pretty accurate and I have the wired temp probe for the food, I probably don't need a Maverick.  I appreciate your response.  Every little bit helps  :D

[Mr Walleye]

Hi Arnie and congrats on your first smoke!  ;)

You will want to have some type of thermometer to monitor the internal temps of the meat you are smoking. As far as the tower temp goes my thought is you want to measure the temp just below the lowest rack. By measuring it there you will see the temp that the meat is being exposed to. If you place your probe above the meat the moisture coming off the meat will influence the readings.

Here's a couple of links for you from the recipe site....

Additional Heating Element

Maverick ET73 Range Modification

Mike

[Tenpoint5]

Arnie, The only thing I would suggest is once you set your vent in the 1/2 to 3/4 open. LEAVE IT THERE!!!!! never shut your vent down. Yes one would think that you will trap more heat in. In fact you are also trapping the moisture in there as well. All that trapped moisture will do two things first it will DROP your temp in the cabinet. Two it will moisten that black creosote tar stuff that will form in the vent and drip onto your meat. IT TASTES NASTY and doesn't look all that great either. In your "4:00"" picture it looks like it might have done this a little bit on you. The black spots in the center of the top rack. Although that might also be from your mop, but that is what it looks like. Been there done that myself. Great looking Ribs though.

[mikecorn.1]

Hi Mike,

I noticed on the bottom of you tower, that you didnt have any bricks at the bottom. I have two of them in mine wrapped in foil. It helps recover the temp come back up after you open the door.
Nope, no bricks.  I have two that I also wrap in foil and use them to flatten out my yard bird halves when doing them on the grill.  I've read about the bricks and the use of a larger water bowl as heat sinks to help recovery.  I still think that a few bucks more for a more powerful heating element would do the trick.  But, as I indicated, I'm new here and will be doing some experimenting.  Maybe some of my wife's old gold ...
I did 3 racks full of yard bird legs and 1 of abts
What are/is abts?  Is this a typo and you were actually cooking bats?yesterday and never had a problem with the temp coming back up to par. At one point I had to adjust the temp down because it was climbing to high. I placed the maverick et-73 probe away from any meat juices and or grease from getting on it.
People here really seem to like the Maverick.  It has an awful lot of negative comments on Amazon, primarily for a lack of range.  I figure that I now know the OBS temp gauge is pretty accurate and I have the wired temp probe for the food, I probably don't need a Maverick.  I appreciate your response.  Every little bit helps  :D

Abts= atomic buffalo terds.    jalapenos wrapped with bacon stuffed with owens sausage, cream cheese, cheddar, pepper jack (or whatever you like) smoked with whatever you like. I usualy do mine for 1:40 to 2 hrs. I start the meat and at the last two or so hours, i place the abts on the top rack. Click on the smoking ribs at the bottom of my post and you will find the abts

[Wildcat]

I totally concur with Mike and 10.5. In addition, you indicated that you opened your cabinet every 30 minutes. I would recommend no more often than every hour and even then just to rotate racks if you want. Do the other things like spray or mop or take pictures when you have to open the door. Also, on windy days you should do whatever you can to block the wind from the top of your unit. Wind will blow down the vent and cool your unit. Many on here have cooked in really cold environments, but not with unblocked wind.

My door gauge is also pretty accurate - problem is that it only reflects how hot it is right where the door gauge is. This will normally not be as hot as the rest of the cabinet until you get near the end of your cook simply because that is the coldest spot in the unit. The Bradley is designed to cook low and slow - that is why they elected to use the provided heating element. Granted it would be nice if it produced more power, but it works fine like it is.

Hope this helps a little. I think once you get the feel for it you will really love it.

[pensrock]

Arnie, Yep, the ribs look good.  :) I'm doing a rack as we speak.

I agree with the others:
1. Keep the vent 1/2 to full open at all times. (Mine is 3/4 to full open at all times.)
2. Bricks or some other type of heat sink will help a lot with temp recovery.
3. Keep the door closed! I would not open any more than once an hour at the very most.
4. Preheat the tower and smoke generator, to 20-40 degrees higher than planned operating temp. Then after loading adjust temp to desired cooking/smoking temp.
5. Rotate racks - top to bottom and front to back every 1-1/2 hours or so.
6. Ignore the door gauge and go by a Maverick or similar type temp sensor placed near the center of the food load, not touching the racks or food.

Hope these tips will prove helpful, the more you use the smoker the easier it gets,
pens  :)

[ArnieM]

Thank you all for your replies.  It looks like you've all been around the block a few times so I appreciate your advice.

• I'll keep the vent at least half open if not more.  Logic says that I close the windows when it gets cold outside.  I guess that doesn't apply here due to the moisture build up.
• I'll use my foil-wrapped bricks next time.  I would guess, though, that the preheat might be longer.
• That's a nice fish Mike.  Walleye Pike?  The best I can do around here are Pickerel - and the bones ...
• I don't think the black on the top rack of ribs was from the vent, but I'll have a look at it and clean it if necessary.  I rotated the racks about 3 hours in; top to bottom with the middle rack left in place.  The top rack may appear a bit blacker from being on the bottom for so long.  However, nice catch.
• I wouldn't figure on using a temp probe on the ribs.  There's just not enough meat there to get a reliable reading IMHO.  For ribs, I go for the meat pulling back off of the bone.  I think a probe would work well for Butt or turkey (whole or breast).  Opinions welcome.

This article http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?p=910#post910 looks interesting and I'm not beyond tinkering  :)

Thanks again for your responses.  I'm gonna keep fiddling with it.

[Mr Walleye]

Arnie

You'll have that baby dialled in in no time!  ;)

When I mentioned using a temp probe I really meant for other items and not ribs. Your absolutely correct regarding ribs. I always watch for the meat pulling back and I also do the twist test on the bones.

You got it on the fish... It's a 13.1 lb walleye. We fish a lot of walleye here in Saskatchewan... well at least in the soft water months.

Keep us posted on your projects.

Mike

[squirtthecat]

Instead of brinks, I use a heavy lodge cast iron skillet, with the handle lopped off.  Inside of it sits a 9x9 foil pan for my water pan. With the extra water capacity, I can go ~6 hours without it running dry, and the cast iron makes an excellent heat sink.

Here is a post showing how it all went together, and some temperature recovery times. (read at the door, as I didn't have my fabulous Maverick ET-73 yet)

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=10989.0

[ArnieM]

You got it on the fish... It's a 13.1 lb walleye. We fish a lot of walleye here in Saskatchewan... well at least in the soft water months.
So, did you smoke that sucker?

Keep us posted on your projects.

Mike

[ArnieM]

Instead of brinks, I use a heavy lodge cast iron skillet, with the handle lopped off.  Inside of it sits a 9x9 foil pan for my water pan. With the extra water capacity, I can go ~6 hours without it running dry, and the cast iron makes an excellent heat sink.

Here is a post showing how it all went together, and some temperature recovery times. (read at the door, as I didn't have my fabulous Maverick ET-73 yet)

Yeah, I saw your post before I started all of this fun.  I use cast iron almost exclusively on the stove.  It cooks great, cleans up easily and there's no  non-stick in it.  They also have square cast iron griddle pans.  It might fit better, I dunno.  I'll take a look into it and post back if I can make one work.  Certainly, they cost more than bricks but are still a really good deal for what one gets.

Now for my next test, I'm looking for a way to mount the matter and anti-matter pods  ::)

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=10989.0

[Hopefull Romantic]

congrats on your first smoke and may god bless you with many more.

HR

[Mr Walleye]

You got it on the fish... It's a 13.1 lb walleye. We fish a lot of walleye here in Saskatchewan... well at least in the soft water months.
So, did you smoke that sucker?

Keep us posted on your projects.

Mike

It's still swimmin' Arnie.

We usually don't keep any of the big ones, 2 or 2.5 lbs would the the typical keeper.

Mike