New-2-Q with a few questions

[New-2-Q]

This will by my first post so please bear with me. My wife and I are building a new house. A couple of weeks ago the brick mason was throwing a cast net on my future neighbor’s dock catching mullet. I was telling him it has been a long time since I have eaten mullet and I didn’t really care for them. He ask if I had ever had them smoked and I told him no. Well that’s when it all began. He made Them sound so good that I went to Lowes and bought a smoker. I came home and started goggling everything about smoking and found this site. For the past couple of weeks I have been reading the post. I now thought I was ready for my first smoke. I was not interested in a little fish, I wanted pork. So Friday morning I did a good seasoning of the smoker and that after noon head out to get some spare ribs. I used a rub recipe I found on the site and used about every trick I could find to help make them perfect. Now this is the first time I have used any kind of outdoor cooker that wasn’t gas. I used some Rancher charcoal and some small lumps of hickory about every hour to give a little smoke. I thought the ribs turned out pretty good for first time. Now I do have to say I’m hooked on smoking . Now I have a few questions.

1.I used a chimney to start the first bunch of coals. When it was time to add more I had another chimney ready, but when I poured them on top of the others a huge cloud of ash blew all over the place. To avoid this from happening again I set some unlit coals as needed on top when it was time. Is this the correct way to do this?

2. I smoked the ribs for 6 hours at 225* and in the last 2 hours I sprayed them with apple juice every 30 min. I did not rap them in foil. They seemed to be a little under cooked. A little mushy and stringy kind of like Under cooked steak. The time and temp I used seemed to be what most people use from reading their postings. Any suggestions on this one.

I do have more questions, but this post is getting long so I will post latter when ever body gets a little rest after read this novel. Thanks for all the info and help. Looking forward to lots of smoke talk.

[gentleman of leisure]

Glad to see you are hooked.

Setting the unlit coals on top of the lit coals works fine. You may want to put in a bed of unlit coals down first then place the lit on top in the middle. The temperature/time sounds right. 225-250 is a good place. Cook to an internal temp rather then to a time. Other than that welcome aboard.

[roxy]

A good general rule to test ribs to see if they are done is grasp half the rack with tongs and lift the rack upwards, as the rack bends the top meat should just begin to crack or pull apart. Some like it so if you continue to lift the rack will break.. Depends on how you like them IMO.

You did not mention as to what kind of smoker you bought..?? An offset or a WSM, each cooker works differently.
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Chargriller Akorn
WSM
LIAR #100
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Do not rely on a rabbits foot for luck, it did not work out too well for the rabbit...

[New-2-Q]

It is a char-broil double door offset from lowes. I did have a time keeping the temp at 225. With the door on the fire box closed and the vent cosed I could not bring the temp down,it would jump up to the 325's. so I had to leave the door on the fire box open a little to let some of the heat escape. I only had about may 8 to 10 coals in the fire box.

[gentleman of leisure]

you may want to search for a list of mods in the cooker section. That might help with you heat control

[roxy]

With that amount of fuel in the firebox I got to question the thermometer as I assume you are using the one that comes with the cooker..

I can get temps like that in my Chargriller but it takes a full load of charcoal.

I would suggest you buy a grate level thermometer to get a accurate reading. Maverick makes a good one that is very inexpensive.

http://www.partshelf.com/maot03.html
_________________
Chargriller Akorn
WSM
LIAR #100
_________________
Do not rely on a rabbits foot for luck, it did not work out too well for the rabbit...

[troystr68]

Welcome!! We got another one... Your hooked. LOL

You will do fine, Double check that thermometer and keep trying, I made some chicken once my dog wouldn't even eat so practice and read and practice and post up some pick and the guys here will set you straight!!!
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life is too short to be in a hurry Slow down and enjoy the ride!

[Tom C]

I'm a newbe to the the group as well. I've had a lot problems in the past maintaing temps in my Char-Broil CB900 (Not really a smoker but I like to pretend it is)

In addition to the advise posted already, you might try getting an ash bucket or something you can hold lit coals in. This always allows me to add well lit coals or remove some if the temps flair up. In my case I don't have much control over airflow so I control with the amount of fuel. It might work for you until you get it all dialed in.

[BackYardNik]