Getting somewhat serious

[roched11]

    Hey All, this site is fantastic!!!!. I'm relatively new to smoking. My rig at the moment is an ECB that I bought about 15 years ago. I used it once not knowing anything about smoking, temps or anything. Needless to say, my first cook would have benefited a Cobbler who could have made several pair of shoes. After that, my ECB languished in my shed until this summer. After watching numerous BBQ shows on TV, I decided to break it out again.

  I bought a remote temperature probe and now understand temperatures sorta. I slow cooked a couple of Tri-tips and the second one came out excellent. So, Now i'm gonna do me some ribs later today. I have an Idea how I'm gonna do these but it's gonna be a lot of babysitting I imagine.

  My ultimate is when I buy my WSM which should be any day now. Now I'm trying to make due with what I have. I'm expecting a wonderful 6 ribs (There's just the 2 of us) as a practice run.

  I don't know the point of this post except to put myself out there.Hopefulle I'll have the gumption to take pics if I can figure out how to post.    Wish me luck everyone

 

[viking72]

Good luck mate.

 

[oldschoolbbq]

 , Roched . Glad you found our Neighborhood ,  and hope you plan to become another neighbor

.

Have fun with your Ribs , and gather the gumption for pics ,, for if no Q-view , you must assume the position and

See ya later , and I'll be watching for Q-view...

 

[gary s]

Good Luck,   I get my ECB out every so often and fire it up.  I made some mods on mine here are some pictures, they really help

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• gary s
• Dec 8, 2014

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• gary s
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• gary s
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• gary s
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• gary s
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• gary s
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• gary s
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• gary s
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• gary s
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• gary s
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• gary s
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• gary s
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• gary s
• Dec 8, 2014

 

[roched11]

Wow, thanks for the pics of your Mods. Those are awesome!!!!!!

. This will allow me to keep this when I get my WSM---are you listening Santa? That will give me back up if needed or a dedicated fish and hotdog smoker. Thank you very much!!!!

 

[smoked alaskan]

Hey Santa, you hear that

...... howzabout helping a Smokin Brother out ?

 

[jirodriguez]

"Dear Santa..... I promise to not smoke any more venison if you will bring me a new smoker!"

 

[smoked alaskan]

Dirty little secret...Santa eats venison.

What do you s'pose happened to the reindeer that didn't make the team??

 

[roched11]

    OK, I learned a few things. I was somewhat disappointed with this effort. I was extremely happy with the appearance,bark. texture, pull and moisture. The flavor left a lot to be desired. Being that this was an ECB, temperature control was a major factor. I started out with about 20 unlit briquettes in a circle and then added 1/2 a lit chimney to the center. My temps started out over 250. and eventually crept up to close to 300. Thinking that was too high, I left it for about an hour and then it eventually  dropped to 240 so I thought now's the time to put the ribs on.

   I put them on and the temp stayed pretty much steady for about another hour until another precipitous  drop. BTW, I was monitoring grill temps using a wireless remote temperature probe inserted in one of the huge gaps in the between the body of the smoker and the lid. I lifted the smoker body off the coals and discovered they had almost burnt out. I tried to gather the functioning coals left in a group and added about 10 more on top of those. 

   This brought the temps back up over 250 and then all of a sudden the temps started rising quickly. I went outside and discovered my water pan had evaporated so temps got up to 275 by the time I got more hot water in the pan.

   This brought the temps down back to a bit less than 250 and then the temp dropped again. I went a checked and discovered I had only a few coals left. So, I made up another 1/3 chimney of coals and by the time they were ready the temps were down in the 140's yielding a nasty smoke. I added the 1/3 chimney and finished the project. Like I said before, everything looked good and the bark and textures were fine but the overall taste was of a too smokey flavor that yielded acid indigestion after eating

    I don't think I'll try ribs again on this rig, Tri Tip will be fine cuz external temps are not that important since my temp probe goes in the meat and I pull when temp hits target.   Sorry I dont have pics, Maybe that should be my next project, to find a hosting site to put pics. 

   Anyway, that how my rib adventure turned out.  The ECB has too many gaps to be able to control temps in an effective manner so as long as I'm using this, low and slow is not the way to go.  For me anyway.      Thanks for reading

      Terry

 

[gary s]

These mods really make a big difference, gives you lots of control where you have next to nun . I have an RF I use most of the time because I usually fill it up. But it's nice to get out the ECB every once in a while.

Gary