Spare Ribs on my CB American Gormet w. QVIEW

[dan of the highlands]

OK, I'm keeping this one simple because it's more about futzing with the smoker than it is about the meat. Enjoy the Q-VIEW!

So here's what it was. It started life as a cryovac rack of spares... (folded over on itself to fit in the dish).

I rinsed it down, dry it off and oiled it up with a little extra virgin. Then I sprinkled it with the McCormack brand rubs - right out of the store....

No fuss, no muss, no trimming. I don't go heavy on the rubs yet. I'll start experimenting more on those as I get better with other things...

The charcoal's a burnin', but it's a small basket in a small el cheapo off-set...


Meat and taters for 6 hours...


Temps on the left... hard to read (sorry), but it says 200 - eventually 225.


Temps on the right... 150 and up to 175.


Temps on the door... hmmm, we gotta work on that one.

It did eventually get up to 150-ish.

Finally, I did have to pull them off because dinner hour had arrived. I never got the whole rack past 160 at once. Temp control has a long way to go with this little smoker. So, I foil it and rest it for 30 minutes and wallah... Good on this side...


Good on that side...


...and cooked well enough in between...though I would have preferred to cook longer if not hotter.


Just me, the wife and the 6 yr old, so there will be some leftovers to heat in the ov*n tomorrow or maybe to throw in a crockpot. Often I will get the temps way up at the start by doing a small wood fire, but there was an unexpected rain today so... my wood got wet. Don't let it happen to you kids.

I'll continue to work on the draft issues on this smoker. The ribs are OK, but a little more fatty than I like. The fat didn't get cooked down to where I like it best - not with low temps on a limited amount of time.

 

[bassman]

Lookin' good. You just need a little more time next time.

 

[rickw]

They still look like some good eats. That's a lot of taters you have there.

 

[pinkmeat]

As long as you don't pay for it tomorrow, looks good!

 

[dan of the highlands]

Ha, yea, it looks that way becuase the smoker is small. Actually, those are the little salt potatoes. Dip 'em in butter and salt and eat 'em whole. Yummm

 

[1894]

Looks good !!! As mentioned , a little more heat or time and that fat may have rendered down more.
I wonder if you could find a way to elevate that coal basket a couple more inches , and get some more airflow under it , if that by itself would help your temps ?

 

[pops6927]

Hinderwadel's salt potatoes from Syracuse?

 

[dan of the highlands]

I've already chucked the packaging, but it's near enough the same thing I would guess. I lived in that area for a few years.. Army stationed me in the Finger Lakes and later I was up at Fort Drum. I absolutely love fresh dug up taters - no matter the size. A salty thin skin on fresh tater...hell I even eat 'em cold the next day.

By the way, them spares were OK eating yesterday, but they tasted slightly better reheated the next day.

 

[m1tanker78]

Looks real good Dan. I'm sure you'll have your smoker modded in no time and correct the low heat issue. Before you do anything drastic, try briquettes next time. I often have stability issues when I use lump because of the different sizes and densities. Briquettes and/or wood work beautifully for me.

Just a thought
Tom

 

[dan of the highlands]

True that, 1894. I can turn the grate sideways to make it sit higher, but with the baffle I have now the smoke and heat would actually have to go down or straight across to get into the smoke chamber. I'm gonna try changing out that baffle this weekend to improve draft. While I'm at it, I may try to lower the whole fire box so that I get less radiant heat and better convection. If I can get that accomplished then there should be no problem with raising the coals up higher.

Once I'm done with finding the ideal mods for this little smoker, it could turn out to be a real gem. It's small but light and I only need to cook for 3 small appetites. And while it's no kamado (just guessing really, I've never used one), it can be pretty miserly on the charcoal.

 

[dan of the highlands]

That's a sharp idea Tom. I think I did have some pretty good temps with the Kingsford on the first burn. Though, I didn't have the baffle then, nor the basket.

I would probably need to raise the basket to maintain the air intake underneath. I think I recall it getting a little choked near the end of the Kingsford burn. You cant necessarily tell from the angle of the above pic, but I only got about a 2 inch gap under that grate that the basket is sitting on. This little Char-broil doesn't have that clean out door on the end like their Silver Smoker does, so ash can become an obstacle.