Going to burn and then it's my first smoke tomorrow

[Curlie028]

Plan to light a mass of charcoal and let it burn tomorrow and then want to smoke these bad boys with a Beer Can Chicken or two.





Don't have a rib rack yet but plan to add a rub and place the ribs on the bottom grate, fatty side up and put the Beer Can Chickens on the top grate.

The ribs weigh 2.2kg.

Does my plan sound OK in terms of where I place each offering and smoking them together?

[joker smoker]

I would suggest that you trim off most of that white fat otherwise your rub will not get into the meat

[Curlie028]

Will do!

Thanks

[Vic.]

Curly, I could be wrong but I don't think the rib racks you buy are meant for spares, they will hold babyback ribs better. If you're using a clay saucer, you might get more heat coming from the bottom of your cooker, so check that the underside of your ribs don't burn. If that's the case, it may be better to place them fatty side down......also remove the membraine of skin on the under side. There's vids on youtube showing how to do that, it's easy to do with a paper towel for grip. best of luck

and,.....don't cook chicken on top of other meats learned that one here

[Curlie028]

Ah, so the chicken has to go on the bottom grate.
I guess too much juice runs out of the chickens??

[Vic.]

chicken juices in cooked are dangerous .............I think

[Curlie028]

Ribs will have to wait until tomorrow

Neighbour looked like he was struggling this morning, so myself and No3 lent him a hand, to knock his garden wall down, lift all the bush things and take up some kerbing.

So, I only got to light for the "burn off" about an hour ago.

Wow, two sheets of newspaper, one match and the chimney had that charcoal glowing in about 20 minutes. What an invention!

Temp shot up to about 285 so I closed all the bottom vents and it dropped to 210. Will experiment over the next couple of hours regulating the temp.

BTW even though there is no meat in the WSM the tempation to lift the lid is excruitating.

My problem is two fold.
1.A little smoke is escaping from round the door but much more is escaping from where the top sits on the middle chamber. I'm twisting it to try and get a seal.
2.Charcoal been in the WSM for about 40 minutes and the smoke is still white. Think I read somewhere it would turn a blue colour but I could be wrong.

Any advice gratefully received.

[Swindon_Ed]

1.A little smoke is escaping from round the door but much more is escaping from where the top sits on the middle chamber. I'm twisting it to try and get a seal.
2.Charcoal been in the WSM for about 40 minutes and the smoke is still white. Think I read somewhere it would turn a blue colour but I could be wrong.

1. They will always have some smoke escaping but It should seal more after a couple of runs, the more you use your cooker the more it will become air tight, but i sould recomend putting some wood on whilst you've got it going as that will help seal some gaps. If this is still a problem you could try and plug the gap with a bit of foilin the gap to try and plug it.

What charcoal are you using for it to be giving off white smoke? i always use natural lumpwood and this gives off no smoke unless i'm putting wood on. Also the blue smoke relates to the wood smoke as you don't want too much in one go just a nice consistant amount.

[Curlie028]

3 hours in and there is no smoke now, (temp holding at 250), so can't be sure if there are "leaks".

Had put a handful of apple chips wrapped in foil with 4 or 5 holes on. That's probably why she was smoking so much.

[All Weather Griller]

I tend to just throw my chips on, I don't worry about the foil. You will get immediate plumes.

That's said I have an abundance of chips, foiling them would make them last longer.

Any pics?