First smoke with 22.5" WSM...St. Louis Style Ribs

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jp61

Master of the Pit
Original poster
★ Lifetime Premier ★
Mar 6, 2011
2,882
189
NE Ohio
Got her fired up Minion style with Stubb's for about an hour now. Just closed two air intakes all the way and one just under half way. She seems to be holding at 253° but still have white smoke....not as bad as when first fired up but still white. Ribs are resting at room temp., rubbed with Emeril's Original Essence and brown sugar. Question for WSM owners..... how long is an average time frame before TBS is present? Nice day again temp wise here in NE Ohio, but have some wind at 10-20mph.

It took a little while to post this while doing other things.....just looked at the smoker again and it's looking steady at 250° with TBS. Time to load her up with some pork. I'll be back later...


 
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I failed to mention before that I'm using apple wood chunks and also water in the pan. Had the fire ring filled to the rim and using about 5 chunks of wood. I heated up some apple juice on the stove to add before I put the ribs on. Boy..... she sure don't like being messed with. Between adding the juice and ribs, she started up again with the white smoke. But I got her to settle back down in short order. 235° and TBS......nice!


 
Don't worry about the smoke up when you open it up. That goes away after the first hour, it's just while the wood is getting hot and the charcoal it getting going it will create a bit of smoke - but it will settle down to TBS for the rest of the cook.

Grats on the new toy! .... and the ribs look like they are off to a great start!
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Lookin' good so far, Joe...

Red
Thanks Red!
Don't worry about the smoke up when you open it up. That goes away after the first hour, it's just while the wood is getting hot and the charcoal it getting going it will create a bit of smoke - but it will settle down to TBS for the rest of the cook.

Grats on the new toy! .... and the ribs look like they are off to a great start!
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Thanks for the help JIRodriguez!
Good looking rig and ribs!   Did you do the 3-2-1 method and did you use JJ's finishing sauce?
Thanks FWIsmoker! Yes on the 3 2 1 and just some apple juice. Last hour will use some BBQ sauce.
 
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 WSM is an awesome smoker! Other than the wind, things couldn't have gone any better for the first smoke. The ribs turned out really good, however, next time I'll go a bit lighter on the rub. She's still chugging along at 237°, so I tossed on the trimmings with some Kansas City Style Rub. 

Thanks for eyeballing my Q... :)

Just out of the smoker





 
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Looking good.  Congratulations on the new WSM!
Thanks Jaybone!

I've had this smoker for a year now, today I finally put it to some good use.

BTW..... it's been about 11.5 hrs since I got her going. Nothing in it right now, everything wide open and holding at 255°. Wanted to see how long a full ring will last.
 
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I would imagine that not all charcoal burns at the same rate. Being that this was the first time I used the smoker, I have nothing to compare it to. I used Stubb's 100% all natural briquets and got 12+ hours from it. If I would have had a long smoke going on and didn't play with the air intakes like I did, I think I could have gone a good solid 13 hours. Guess I'll have to figure all this out as I keep using the smoker with different brand charcoal briquets and/or lump.
 
In summer weather using Kingsford Blue bag I average a little over 1 hr. per. lb. of charcoal..... and since you can fit a full 20 lb. bag in the ring, that's 20+ hrs. of smoke time on one load!

For wind issues I use a 6 ft. x 8 ft. welding blanket - picked it up for $40. It wraps lengthwise around the smoker, then I fasten it with big metal clips I picked up at the hardware store. Even in windy 28 °F weather I can run at a steady 250° without much problem at all. Just make sure to leave the exhaust clear - the discoloration is due to exhaust smoke, not heat - the blanket is good to something like 1400 °F. Best of all it folds up and sits on a shelf in the garage when it is not needed.

 
Some of the best ribs I have tasted have been cooked in a WSM. Yours certainly look great and have got the saliva running here
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Nice ribs!  Congrats on the new smoker....and a success!

Kat
Thank you Kat! So far everything is good.
In summer weather using Kingsford Blue bag I average a little over 1 hr. per. lb. of charcoal..... and since you can fit a full 20 lb. bag in the ring, that's 20+ hrs. of smoke time on one load!

For wind issues I use a 6 ft. x 8 ft. welding blanket - picked it up for $40. It wraps lengthwise around the smoker, then I fasten it with big metal clips I picked up at the hardware store. Even in windy 28 °F weather I can run at a steady 250° without much problem at all. Just make sure to leave the exhaust clear - the discoloration is due to exhaust smoke, not heat - the blanket is good to something like 1400 °F. Best of all it folds up and sits on a shelf in the garage when it is not needed.
20+ hrs per load sounds really good! Thanks for the the tip Johnny, I've seen your thread on the welding blanket..... that's a good idea!
Some of the best ribs I have tasted have been cooked in a WSM. Yours certainly look great and have got the saliva running here
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Thanks Wade! I'm very happy with the WSM's performance and the way the ribs turned out. Maybe it was beginners luck :)
Those are some really nice looking ribs.......
Thanks Foamheart, everyone really liked the ribs. I've made some good ribs in the past with my MES40 and will make more in the future, but I have to be honest and say, these ribs from the WSM were much better. For me, the added setup time, money and effort to run this smoker is worth it.
 
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...... took a few leftover bones for lunch today and had the boys & girls drooling themselves after I nuked the ribs. All the vacations started up now so the timing is off, but when we're all together again, I'm planning on smoking some PP for everyone to make up for all the lost saliva. 
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