My first smoker and smoke...WSM 18.5

[dsmhero]

I have always wanted a smoker and I finally broke down and bought one.  After quite a bit of research I settled on the Weber Smokey Mountain 18.5", it seems to get great reviews and easy for the beginner.  

I tried my first smoke that same day.  A rack of pork spare ribs which I seasoned a few hours ahead of time with some Alpine Seasoning and Prime Rib rub.  I smoked with Cowboy Lump, which I am hoping to use up quickly and purchase a better quality product and some apple wood chips.  I smoked at ~225 for 5 hours, with a spritzing every 45 mins using a mixture of EVOO, soy sauce, Worcestershire, and apple cider vinegar.  

A few thoughts, I didn't use enough charcoal to keep the temps for that long and had to add, which caused a nice spike in temp. I also hope to use chunks of wood instead of the chips, which seem to burn off quickly.  

Anyways here is the final product which did taste amazing.  I am hoping for some more ideas as I browse this wonderful forum.  

ribs1.jpg

• dsmhero
• Jun 15, 2015

ribs2.jpg

• dsmhero
• Jun 15, 2015

My next endeavor is going to be a pork belly for a house warming party this Saturday.  I did put up a post in the pork forum for ideas, but if you have any that would be greatly appreciated.   

 

[b-one]

Congrats on the new WSM! Ribs looked tasty! Good luck with the pork belly best suggestion I can come up with would be to cook something else with it that belly will be super rich and some people may not want to eat to much of it. Just my personal feeling and I have only done one another thing I did was to toss the belly on my gasser with indirect heat to melt out more of the fat.

 

[mike5051]

Nice looking ribs!  Temp control will get easier once the new shiny surface gets covered with soot.  Never done a pork belly but best of luck!

Mike