Smoking Neophyte

[makattak]

I recently "converted" my grill into a smoker.

I added a thermometer, a water tub, and a wire basket to hold the smaller coals. It's a smaller platform than most smokers, but to feed my family, I don't need a massive smoker. (And, as a plus, "converting" back to a grill is painless and I still have a thermometer. I'll see if I can get a picture of the set up- $8 for a thermometer, $2 for a small pan (it was a small roaster) and $1 for a wire basket from goodwill, means for $11 and I now have a smoker/grill)

I tried ribs for my first attempt, using the 3-2-1 method.* (I was actually 2-2-1 because I used baby-back ribs instead of spare ribs.)

As I had more space, I also smoked 6 chicken breasts and decided to do 2-2-1 with 4 of them and two that I just smoked for 5 hours.


Difficulties:

Getting a small amount of charcoal ready in my chimney was new. I had to use three newspapers to get it fully started for just 8-10 coals.

I can clearly use a lot less water in the pan- it was more than half full when I was done and it spilled quite a bit as I opened to add coals.

It was struggle keeping the right temperature- when I added coals, the temp dropped to 150 for a some time, so I opened up the air flow until it caught, but then the temperature spiked to 250 for a while and I closed it down. It took significant amount of time for the temperature to drop back down to 220. I clearly need more practice to get it right.

Results:

Despite the struggles, the results were amazing. Even before the last hour, the ribs were nearly falling off the bones. The chicken breasts from 2-2-1 were so tender and juicy. The other 2 were a little drier on the outside, but still very good. The apple wood chunks I used provided a lot of smoke and flavor. And, as a rack of ribs and 6 chicken breasts were far more than we could eat, we now have smoked chicken breasts to use for salads, chicken fettuccine, wraps, etc... all through the week.

My wife is completely on board with me getting more practice at smoking. I'm hoping to be able to do a turkey at Thanksgiving. (Yes, a whole turkey ought to fit in the grill. I may have to split it, but I think it should work well.)




*3-2-1= 3 hours at 220, 2 hours wrapped in foil with a little apple juice or beer, 1 hour out of the foil, slathered with BBQ sauce.

[Perd Hapley]

I like neophyte, too, though it is a little gamey. Some say the Northern variety is best, but I prefer the crested, mountain neophyte.

[Kingcreek]

The water is in there mainly as thermal mass to help keep temps constant.
I have done turkey on a weber kettle with a pan under it and charcoal off to both sides in the small bins.
If you decide to spend more money without going crazy and expand your slow cooking slash smoking, take a look at pitbarrel.com. I have one and it is great. Simple enough to be foolproof and I don't have to babysit the thing constantly tinkering with adding fuel and fiddling dampers etc.
I don't foil wrap ribs. I just smoke until the meat is pulling back from the bone then slather with BBB sauce for another 1/2 hour to carmelize it. I foil brisket and most recently chuck roast and a giant sirloin steak. Chickens I split and do halves.

[makattak]

The water is in there mainly as thermal mass to help keep temps constant.
I have done turkey on a weber kettle with a pan under it and charcoal off to both sides in the small bins.
If you decide to spend more money without going crazy and expand your slow cooking slash smoking, take a look at pitbarrel.com. I have one and it is great. Simple enough to be foolproof and I don't have to babysit the thing constantly tinkering with adding fuel and fiddling dampers etc.
I don't foil wrap ribs. I just smoke until the meat is pulling back from the bone then slather with BBB sauce for another 1/2 hour to carmelize it. I foil brisket and most recently chuck roast and a giant sirloin steak. Chickens I split and do halves.

I'm thinking you mean https://www.pitbarrelcooker.com since pitbarrel.com is not a website.

[Kingcreek]

I'm thinking you mean https://www.pitbarrelcooker.com since pitbarrel.com is not a website.

Yep, sorry.

[lupinus]

I actually use the same grill as a smoker, except mine is one or two sizes larger than the one that shows directly at your link. It was the $99 dolalr job at Lowe's, and can take their small tabletop grill as a side attachment for use as a small grill or firebox for smoking.

I highly recommend looking into the snake method. Theres some more to it, but the quick and dirty version- Stack your charcoal in a pyramid, normally just two briquettes with a third one on top of those two, 3-2-1 also seems pretty common especially if you need higher fires to heat your smoker/longer burns. You make a line or "snake" of this configuration. Wood chips or chunks are spread along the snake to your preference for the amount of smoke and such. Light one end and the fire creeps along. Personally, I make the starting end of the snake at the vent and I just stick a blowtorch through the vent to light the first few coals.

I like this method as once you dial in the vents it gives VERY consistent temps, and there's no need to worry about figuring out when you need to light some new charcoal in the chimney and add it and what not. Also nce you get a better feel for your smoker setting the vents will take minimal fiddling, and you'll have a good idea exactly how long a snake you need for the length of the cook. It's also VERY charcoal efficient. And to answer the inevitable question, no, you don't get any off flavors or anything from having coals that haven't fully ashed over, as would normally be recommended. Personally I use a good natural hardwood briquette. I think some folks use natural lump but briquettes for this method seems to be preferable for consistency.

Personally once I started using this method I haven't gonna back to anything else. My charcoal chimney only gets used these days when I intend to actually grill something.

Like Kingcreek I also don't wrap. I just modulate how much wood I use to get the right amount of smoke over the course of the cook. I also use a 50/50 cut of apple cider vinegar and water, with a little bit of my BBQ rub and a bit of ketchup in a squeeze bottle to use as a baste. I usually just use an old ketchup or mustard bottle, and find about a tsp each of rub and ketchup about right for an average sized bottle of either,it's not rocket science and all to taste. Periodically I'll come out to check the vents/temp and while I'm at it I'll open the lid and give the meat a quick squirt with the baste. If you omit the rub you can use a spray bottle (rub just clogs them up after a few sprays). I also keep a waterpan in there. Both for thermal mass and to add some humidity to the air. With about 45 minutes to an hour left on ribs I'll switch to using straight BBQ sauce, but I prefer a light hand with it.

[Kingcreek]

For great pork ribs...
Rub a light coating of plain old yellow mustard on both sides then dust with your dry rub. It helps the rub stick and adds great flavor. after 3 hours in the smoker you won't be able to detect the mustard flavor and you'll baste with BBB sauce the last 30 minutes or so.
Everybody will tell you how awesome your ribs taste and then ask you what you do different. That's when I lie to them and tell them I marinade in Apple or pineapple juice.

[makattak]

For great pork ribs...
Rub a light coating of plain old yellow mustard on both sides then dust with your dry rub. It helps the rub stick and adds great flavor. after 3 hours in the smoker you won't be able to detect the mustard flavor and you'll baste with BBB sauce the last 30 minutes or so.
Everybody will tell you how awesome your ribs taste and then ask you what you do different. That's when I lie to them and tell them I marinade in Apple or pineapple juice.

I actually did that with mayonnaise, ribs and chicken breasts, both.

[lupinus]

My BBQ pre rub rub down is a mixture of both yellow mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Not a lot, just enough to give a very light coating. Then on goes the rub.

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[lupinus]

Oh and on the ribs, I'm a disciple of the St Louis cut (spare ribs with the hunk of breast meat removed). Never been a huge fan of baby backs. But we've all got our preferences.

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[grislyatoms]

Water soaked chunks of hardwood are better than chips. Chips work but you get into a constant, soak/package/burn/repeat cycle.

[Kingcreek]

I have used the soaked smoke wood method in the past but if you are controlling the burn then dry chunks work just fine. I use 2x2x2" blocks of hickory or Apple and just add to the charcoal if you throttle the smoker down it works great.