First cook on the Smokin-It model #1 w/pics

[cabin fever]

Hey folks,

My Smokin-It model #1 arrived Wednesday and I seasoned her up right away. I smoked 2 racks of spare ribs using a simple homemade rub and three hickory wood chunks. They were on for 5 hours at 225 and so far are the best ribs I've done. I was really impressed that I had perfect thin blue smoke the entire cook, but there wasn't a whole lot of smoke flavor in the finished product which I don't understand at all.

I didn't use my wireless thermometer to monitor the actual inside temp so I’m guessing the smoker ran a bit hotter than 225 since the top of one of the spares was a little dry. Anyway, here are a few pics from the cook. Also, any tips on getting a deeper smoke flavor would be appreciated.

 

[pgsmoker64]

The ribs look nice...I've never had the drying out problem with my charcoal smoker, but I also always use a water pan to keep up the moisture in the smoker. As for the deeper smoke flavor, maybe use a few more chunks of hickory and make sure you soak them in water for a few minutes first.

 

[glenn t]

Congrats on the #1. Mine always seems to provide enough smoke flavor. Hopefully your next try will be smokier. Perhaps a different piece of hickory?
By the way, ribs look great.

 

[smokin leo]

good looking ribs

nice little rig u got there

 

[cabin fever]

Thanks for the kind words on the ribs fellas. I've got a 7 pound pork butt sitting in the fridge coated with just salt and pepper waiting to go on tomorrow night. This time I'll set her to 200 instead of 225 and use 4 of the provided hickory blocks instead of 3. I'll be using my wireless Maverick ET-73 and going by internal meat temp and not cook time.

I've been told that meat doesn't really absorb much smoke flavor when it's cooked at a high temperature and I'm pretty sure my Smokin-It was way above 225 on the first cook. I'm anxious to see how the butt turns out and I'll make sure to post a few pics of that cook as well sometime Sunday.

 

[bamafan]

Well they look damn good and a nice pull back. Took me a few times on the MES to get the smoke flavor I wanted. Which is a lot! I throw a couple of pieces of Royal oak lump in my wood tray with the MES? Seems to make a better smoke flovor for me.

 

[glenn t]

I'm thinking 12 or more hours at 200. I always cook by temp with a probe thermometer not time. I normally use 200 indicated on my #1 but sometimes go to 225. I do add a cup filled with water and just set it on the bottom next to the smoke box.

I get a heavy but not dry bark on the butt. After pulling the bark gets softer and the smoke flavor seems to intensify if left overnight. I always do two butts at a time so one gets to sit overnight. The other is not so lucky.

If you still don't get enough smoke flavor you may try a different source for wood. I'm guessing but the amount of flavor from one tree to another must vary.

Keep us posted. As you know I love my #1!

 

[cabin fever]

To get a better feel for the true inside temp of the #1 I've got her on right now with nothing inside, but the wood box and my ET-73. Set to 225 my Maverick reads 247 and with the smoker set to 200 it shows the actual temp at 235. This really doesn't surprise me as electric smokers almost always tend to run on the hot side.

I've now got her set to about 180 and I'll go from there. I'm trying to pinpoint the correct dial setting so I'll get a solid 215-225. Hopefully the high temp with the #1 set to 225 was the cause of the lack of smoke flavor in the ribs, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed on the pork butt tonight.

Edit: This is getting just a little bit strange. I had the smoker set to 180 and my Maverick is reading exactly 180 as well. I guess at this point you could say I'm just a wee bit confused.

 

[mballi3011]

Yepper the ribs look great to me. You said that your smoker was running hotter then the 225° that you set it for???? I would use your thermo-meter and see what the temp is if not for anything other then safety. I always smoke around 240-250°ish and I can control it very well I'm a gasser. My worry for you is the 40° to 140° in four hours thingy.

 

[grampyskids]

At 200 you may be in the danger zone for too long. I would suggest 230-240. Take one of your probes and push it through a potato to check your cooking temp and put the other probe into the meat. You will find out how accurate the stock therm is. Keep notes so that in the future you will be able to dial it in.