Started my smoke of 3 racks of spare ribs for today. 4th smoke ever, and first with my mods.
Got my OKJ Longhorn offset modded this week, with a convection plate, charcoal basket, Nomex gasket on chamber and firebox lids, and alum elbow in the smokestack to extend closer to cooking surface.
Ribs rubbed with Jeff's rib rub recipe ( first time as well) last night, put on the smoker at 12:00 pm today:
The trimmings, are for the dog Sasha they brought with them - of course!
Don't know if you can see it in this photo, got some nice TBS going:
Put about 6-7 lbs of charcoal in my new basket, and lit about 15 to pour in the middle using minion method. Once burning, I threw about 3 hickory lumps on it.
So far, I am very pleased! It gradually got up to about 225, I then closed the intake damper about 2/3rd , and she is holding steady at 223 and has been for the past hour. It will be trial and error for me with the new basket, on how much charcoal to actually start with to get a nice long burn, today's experience should be a nice starting point.
The Nomex got rid of most of the leaks, still have couple small ones in the upper curve of chamber lid. Very pleased with the new basket. You can see where I wrapped aluminum foil around where the smokestack chamber exits, to help on the leak there.
Convection Plate - it improved the temperature variance side to side, not as much as I was hoping. it is now app 40 degree variance, previously it was like between 60-70. Certainly better though. I have seen where others have convection plates that hold within about 10 degrees - kind of what I was hoping for, but this at least is an improvement for me.
Will be using 3-2-1 method once again, have gotten good results with that. Spritzing heavily every hour with 50/50 mix of Apple Juice and Apple Cider Vinegar. Got family in for the holiday weekend, looking forward to around 6:00 pm this evening!
Got my OKJ Longhorn offset modded this week, with a convection plate, charcoal basket, Nomex gasket on chamber and firebox lids, and alum elbow in the smokestack to extend closer to cooking surface.
Ribs rubbed with Jeff's rib rub recipe ( first time as well) last night, put on the smoker at 12:00 pm today:
The trimmings, are for the dog Sasha they brought with them - of course!
Don't know if you can see it in this photo, got some nice TBS going:
Put about 6-7 lbs of charcoal in my new basket, and lit about 15 to pour in the middle using minion method. Once burning, I threw about 3 hickory lumps on it.
So far, I am very pleased! It gradually got up to about 225, I then closed the intake damper about 2/3rd , and she is holding steady at 223 and has been for the past hour. It will be trial and error for me with the new basket, on how much charcoal to actually start with to get a nice long burn, today's experience should be a nice starting point.
The Nomex got rid of most of the leaks, still have couple small ones in the upper curve of chamber lid. Very pleased with the new basket. You can see where I wrapped aluminum foil around where the smokestack chamber exits, to help on the leak there.
Convection Plate - it improved the temperature variance side to side, not as much as I was hoping. it is now app 40 degree variance, previously it was like between 60-70. Certainly better though. I have seen where others have convection plates that hold within about 10 degrees - kind of what I was hoping for, but this at least is an improvement for me.
Will be using 3-2-1 method once again, have gotten good results with that. Spritzing heavily every hour with 50/50 mix of Apple Juice and Apple Cider Vinegar. Got family in for the holiday weekend, looking forward to around 6:00 pm this evening!
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