First Smoke - Super Bowl Sunday - Any Help Would be Appreciated

[phoenix316]

I am going to do my first smoke with a 4 rack digital on Super Bowl Sunday (actually start the night before).

Here is my plan (any changes or fixes would be appreciated):

Cooking 5 Pound Pork Butt, 2 Racks of ribs cut in half, 1 Polish sausage.

I already have the Pork Butt  brineing in the fridge

Going to rub it with spices and start is at 220 the night before at 11:00 p.m. with hickory smoke.

Going to rub the ribs with BBQ spices and let them marinate overnight.

At 10:00 am going to put the ribs in the smoker.

At 1 p.m. going to wrap the ribs in foil and add apple juice to the pouches.

Add the sausage at the same time.

Pull the Pork Butt at 191 and wrap it in foil and let it finish in a cooler.

At 3 pm pull the ribs cover in sauce and put in for 1 more hour.

At 4 pm pull everything out and let it rest.

Anyone have any ideas, suggestions, or tips.

I will have hickory running through the whole thing.

[TedEbear]

That looks pretty thorough and is probably the same way I'd do it.  It looks like you're doing the 3-2-1 on the ribs.  You can check for doneness by seeing if the meat is pulling away from the end of the bone.  My first few attempts at ribs in the Bradley turned out a little tough. I like them fall-off-the-bone tender.  After I started observing a little more at the meat in relation to the bone instead of just time they turned out much better.

[phoenix316]

I normally braise my ribs using the good eats method, and they are fall off the bone, but I love the taste or smoke so I am trying them this way.  Which seems to braise them for 2 hours anyway.

Appreciate the thoughts.

[beefmann]

looks like a good plan

[phoenix316]

Two quick questions:

Should I have the smoke on the whole time?  I keep reading recipes with like half time smoke or even less.

Where in the smoker should each meat go?  I was thinking pork on bottom, ribs on the middle two and sausage on top.

Edit:  Added second question.

[mikecorn.1]

Two quick questions:

Should I have the smoke on the whole time?  I keep reading recipes with like half time smoke or even less.

Where in the smoker should each meat go?  I was thinking pork on bottom, ribs on the middle two and sausage on top.

Edit:  Added second question.

Most do 4 hours tops on butts.  3 tops for ribs (for me) and I've hit fresh homemade sausage with 3 tops. That's just me. I'm sure others have their  own method of madness :D. Its up to you and what works for you.
I dont see nothing wrong with the way you have the meat in. Again. Just IMHO. :)


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[Ka Honu]

Should I have the smoke on the whole time?

Generally smoke adherence/absorption reaches a point of severely diminishing returns after about 4 hours in a Bradley so that's usually the max most people use.  Don't worry; that long will give you plenty of flavor.

Aside from that, your plan looks doable.  I'd probably move the pork butt to a 225^o oven if it's not done by the time you put the ribs in and would cook it to 200^o IT before FTC and pulling.  You can FTC for several hours without a problem; if it's gonna be longer than that before serving, I'd probably put it in a crockpot on "Warm" until I was ready.

You might also want to put the sausage in while the ribs are smoking so you don't have to double up on bisquettes.  They'll probably be done about the time you foil the ribs but you can always FTC them for a few hours.

[phoenix316]

Ok, just started the smoke.

1 Hour late (2 year old that didn't want to stay in bed).

Have the drip pan under the pork.

I read about flare ups and want any advice on how to keep that to a minimum.

It already smeels great.

[GusRobin]

empty and replace the water and spent pucks after the smoke time is done on the butt.
Are the ribs spare ribs or baby backs? With BB you may want to look at doing 2-2-1  rather than 3-2-1. When you foil the ribs, try drizzle with honey, sprinkle with brown sugar, add 1TBs butter. Double foil and put in meat side down.

[phoenix316]

Ok, dumb question, what water?  I was just using the bowl to catch grease.

They are baby back, I might smoke for 2.5 and then braise for 2.5.

[GusRobin]

the bowl that goes under the puck burner catches the spent pucks. That should be filled with water at the beginning of the smoke. It also dilutes the grease. Otherwise you run the risk of a bowl of grease which can catch fire.
Fill it with hot (boiling is good) water  to about 3/4 full. Using hot water helps the bradley maintain temp  because the heat isn't absorbed by the water. i usually change after the smoke is done. I like to minimize the grease/water ratio.

[phoenix316]

Thanks for the advice.

I ended up figuring out that I didn't put it together right.

I never put the drip tray in place, it was still on the bottom of the smoker.

I feel like an idiot.

I filed it with cold water, but the smoker recovered fairly quickly, thankfully.

[Habanero Smoker]

Looks like you  are breaking your smoker in big time.  :)

Also when you have long smokes, and/or are doing multiple smokes; one right after the other. Keep a metal 2-inch putty knife handy to scrape off the drip tray. This will prevent the vents from getting clogged up. A metal spatula will also work, but a little award to use.

Check your manual's component's list to make sure you have the drip tray in correctly.

If you don't have your manual handy, you can look up the component's list by clicking on the below link, and click on the link for your model;

Bradley User Information

[watchdog56]

After your smoke is done and you take the water bowl out you may want to take a foil pan and fill it with water and a cup of apple juice and put it under your bottom rack of meat to catch the drippings. You do not need to put it under the v-tray. But you do need to keep some type of liquid under the meat to catch the grease drippings to prevent a fire.

[TedEbear]

Ok, dumb question, what water?  I was just using the bowl to catch grease.

Many of us have replaced that small water bowl with an 8x13" (or whatever size fits) aluminum baking pan.  It holds many more spent pucks and the water won't evaporate nearly as fast.