listo
New Member
Posts: 4
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Post by listo on Jul 27, 2009 13:15:40 GMT -5
Not sure what the issue was at a whole but I tried to smoke 2 racks of baby backs on Saturday. I followed all the directions for setting up the S1000. I counted 60 brickets and then pulled 16 of them and put in my chimney. I lit those and then put some hickory chips about 1/8 cup each side. After the coals were good I put them in with the water pan and let the temp come up to about 230 dome temp. I then put my ribs on the cooking grate flat. I checked them after about 1 hour to add water, they looked good. But during the entire time they never ever got tender. The entire cook was about 6 hours and I foiled the ribs for about 90 minutes during this too. The temp stayed around 230 - 255 dome for the cook. The ribs were done but extremely firm and not very good. I've oven cooked baby's and st. louis before and they came out perfect. Hopeing to do another cook soon. Not sure what happened but even after 3 hours the ribs didn't bend well at all picking them up with tongs and the meat never really moved back from the bones.
Please help. I'm thinking that maybe it just wasn't hot enough on the food rack to really cook. First time I ever smoked anything and was hoping for wonders.
The meat we did eat did have a nice smokering and good flavor but it was tough and very dry.
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Post by slider6 on Jul 27, 2009 13:30:17 GMT -5
Usually when your meat gets tough it means....first yor temps got too high at some point, and secondly you had a lack of moisture during the process. I always add 2 hours to published cook times for BBQ. The worst is when you've got a schedule to keep...like everyone is coming over and chow time is X. Hard to do with BBQ. It's done when it's done. Every cut of meat is different, and pound for pound you can only estimate when it's going to be done. So my advice, allow more time and keep the temps lower...225 max. Also the water reservoir should be used when smoking low and slow. When it's time to finish you might want to go with a mop and take the water container out. Hey, if BBQ was easy everyone would do it! It's trial and error.
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Post by bbqbubs on Jul 27, 2009 13:41:06 GMT -5
Also another quick tip when u bbq for ppl while doing ribs or any other meat. Let the ribs stay at room temp for 30-45 min before bbqin'. I bone in the ribs stay cold for quite some time not cooking the meat around it. When the bone heats up the meat starts to cook as well. This could have cut the bbq time down about an hour or so.
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Post by jerkylips on Jul 27, 2009 13:48:38 GMT -5
Not sure what the issue was at a whole but I tried to smoke 2 racks of baby backs on Saturday. I followed all the directions for setting up the S1000. I counted 60 brickets and then pulled 16 of them and put in my chimney. I lit those and then put some hickory chips about 1/8 cup each side. After the coals were good I put them in with the water pan and let the temp come up to about 230 dome temp. I then put my ribs on the cooking grate flat. I checked them after about 1 hour to add water, they looked good. But during the entire time they never ever got tender. The entire cook was about 6 hours and I foiled the ribs for about 90 minutes during this too. The temp stayed around 230 - 255 for the cook. The ribs were done but extremely firm and not very good. I've oven cooked baby's and st. louis before and they came out perfect. Hopeing to do another cook soon. Not sure what happened but even after 3 hours the ribs didn't bend well at all picking them up with tongs and the meat never really moved back from the bones. Please help. I'm thinking that maybe it just wasn't hot enough on the food rack to really cook. First time I ever smoked anything and was hoping for wonders. The meat we did eat did have a nice smokering and good flavor but it was tough and very dry. how were you checking the temp? The first time I used mine, I relied on the thermometer that came with my weber. I found out the hard way that it was far from accurate. Also, where are you measuring the temp? If you're at 230 up at the top of the dome, you're lucky to get 200 at the grate--that's good for jerky, not so much for ribs.. |
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listo
New Member
Posts: 4
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Post by listo on Jul 27, 2009 13:59:07 GMT -5
I used the Taylor thermometer that I got with the smokenator and used it in the top vent witht the probe about 2" inside. The grate probably was not hot enough to start breaking down the meat for cooking.
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Post by lytefly on Jul 27, 2009 14:03:57 GMT -5
I agree with this statement. In my experience the grate temp would be even lower. I would really like for more people to test temp at dome versus grate because I seem to get a much larger variance than is typically stated. My "average" variance would be around 50 degrees difference. 15 to 20 degrees difference is not realistic to expect in my personal experience.
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listo
New Member
Posts: 4
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Post by listo on Jul 27, 2009 14:07:59 GMT -5
Would the best bet then to get a remote thermometer and put it on the grate and when that is at 225ish put the ribs or other meat on. and then base what on what the dome temp is and just adjust for differences.
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Post by lytefly on Jul 27, 2009 14:19:32 GMT -5
Would the best bet then to get a remote thermometer and put it on the grate and when that is at 225ish put the ribs or other meat on. and then base what on what the dome temp is and just adjust for differences. This would be my advise hands down. But I want to see the grill temp all the time. I'm a huge fan of this at the moment. I watch the temp from my recliner!!! Shop around for best price. www.maverickhousewares.com/et73.htm |
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Post by delapaco on Jul 27, 2009 15:15:24 GMT -5
Couldn't agree more. What I like is the ability to set the alarms at both lower and higher smoker limits (as well as meattemp of course). This way one can walk around the lawn and cruise for sunny spots while drinking a cold beer. |
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Post by bigsteve on Jul 27, 2009 15:38:24 GMT -5
Not sure what the issue was at a whole but I tried to smoke 2 racks of baby backs on Saturday. I followed all the directions for setting up the S1000. I counted 60 brickets and then pulled 16 of them and put in my chimney. I lit those and then put some hickory chips about 1/8 cup each side. After the coals were good I put them in with the water pan and let the temp come up to about 230 dome temp. I then put my ribs on the cooking grate flat. I checked them after about 1 hour to add water, they looked good. But during the entire time they never ever got tender. The entire cook was about 6 hours and I foiled the ribs for about 90 minutes during this too. The temp stayed around 230 - 255 for the cook. The ribs were done but extremely firm and not very good. I've oven cooked baby's and st. louis before and they came out perfect. Hopeing to do another cook soon. Not sure what happened but even after 3 hours the ribs didn't bend well at all picking them up with tongs and the meat never really moved back from the bones. Please help. I'm thinking that maybe it just wasn't hot enough on the food rack to really cook. First time I ever smoked anything and was hoping for wonders. The meat we did eat did have a nice smokering and good flavor but it was tough and very dry. how were you checking the temp? The first time I used mine, I relied on the thermometer that came with my weber. I found out the hard way that it was far from accurate. Also, where are you measuring the temp? If you're at 230 up at the top of the dome, you're lucky to get 200 at the grate--that's good for jerky, not so much for ribs.. I agree 100%, you really need to know what the GRATE temperature is, not the dome. Some folks here are reporting 50-75 degree difference between dome and grate. if that's the case, you undercooked your ribs, and the fact that they didn't bend or have pull-back tends to support what I just said. For now, I would bump the temp up you read at the vent at least 20*, but do try to find a thermo to use for grate level. |
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listo
New Member
Posts: 4
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Post by listo on Jul 27, 2009 15:50:44 GMT -5
From a newbie smoker perspective the quick start directions might want to specify that your looking for grate tempurature and not dome temp. Stinks that 40 bucks in ribs went out the door. But its not easy and is an artform to be practiced.
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Post by jerkylips on Jul 27, 2009 16:28:38 GMT -5
From a newbie smoker perspective the quick start directions might want to specify that your looking for grate tempurature and not dome temp. Stinks that 40 bucks in ribs went out the door. But its not easy and is an artform to be practiced. baby back ribs are one of the more "tempermental" cuts to smoke. as a "newbie", you might have better luck starting with a chicken or a turkey breast. These cook pretty quickly & are much more forgiving. Once you have the temp controls down, move on to something like a pork butt. Also very forgiving, but will take significantly longer. Doing ribs your first time out...let's just say that you set yourself up for a challenge. good luck & keep trying, results should get better every time.. |
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Post by lytefly on Jul 27, 2009 17:03:55 GMT -5
From a newbie smoker perspective the quick start directions might want to specify that your looking for grate tempurature and not dome temp. Stinks that 40 bucks in ribs went out the door. But its not easy and is an artform to be practiced. baby back ribs are one of the more "tempermental" cuts to smoke. as a "newbie", you might have better luck starting with a chicken or a turkey breast. These cook pretty quickly & are much more forgiving. Once you have the temp controls down, move on to something like a pork butt. Also very forgiving, but will take significantly longer. Doing ribs your first time out...let's just say that you set yourself up for a challenge. good luck & keep trying, results should get better every time.. Excellent advice! Do a "dry" run (no food). It will help you get the feel of the nator as well as YOUR grill. Give you the opportunity to manage your temps and learn your grill without worrying about dinner  While Don's instructions give VERY good direction on how to manage temps with the Smokenator, a lot of factors play into the result. Once you learn your environment, it will get better. Keep at it!! And I am a big advocate of a remote thermometer to measure grill/grate temp. The simplest way to add a thermometer to a kettle is to add one at the dome and "estimate" at the grill. I do believe you can be close enough with this method, but let's take the guess work out of it. |
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Post by planeguy on Jul 27, 2009 21:46:23 GMT -5
For whatever reason my yard is like a wind tunnel. The first time I used the smokenator I did a dry run and there was a 30 degree difference between the dome / grate.
I now just use a digital thermometer at grate level to be sure I am maintaining temp.
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gumby
Junior Member
Posts: 8 
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Post by gumby on Jul 31, 2009 6:23:32 GMT -5
One question about the digital remote thermometer on the grate. When i do that, the lead from the probe to the sending unit goes between the lid and body of the kettle, causing a small opening as is if the lid was warped. Doesn't this let in more air and raise temps too much ?
Greetings from Oz,
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