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

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..... that's funny (to me anyways), the very first thing I smoked in my MES40 a few years back, were St. Louis style ribs. That dinner plate made the picture carousel.


This past Sunday, again, the very first thing I smoked in my 22.5" WSM were St. Louis style ribs and they too made it..... I'm on a roll, 
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Your ribs looked awesome Joe!

I would never trade my WSM...best little smoker available for the money - hands down!

Bill
Thanks Bill!

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  I hit it out of the park on my first swing!

I was surprised how well and easily it maintains temperatures. No issues at all of running too hot when new. 

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   It's a keeper for sure! 
 
Thanks Bill!

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  I hit it out of the park on my first swing!

I was surprised how well and easily it maintains temperatures. No issues at all of running too hot when new. 

th_wsmsmile0ly.gif
   It's a keeper for sure! 
LOL... you almost feal guilty the first few smokes on a WSM, because of how easy it is to use. My old Char-Griller required constant attention, so when I switched to my WSM I had to figure out what to do with all the extra time I had from not having to tend to the smoker all the time. The best are overnight smokes - get it running, get meat on, get temps stable.... and go to bed!
 
Great lookin' ribs!

I'd be curious to see what you think about the WSM vs. the MES (maybe after a few times with your WSM)...mostly regarding the taste of the final product.

I was using a Weber kettle for indirect smoking (very limiting in sizes of meat you can use, constantly adding charcoal, tough to regulate temp), until I recently got my WSM.

First two tries were with chicken leg quarters: turned out great! (Look for the Snake Bitten Chicken recipe at this site.) Many thanks to Johnny for WSM tips and mod info to get me up and running! I'll definitely get a welding blanket in the fall.

Next two tries were St. Louis-style ribs...last two weeks. The first was OK, so I had to do some tweaks (mostly to my rub) and try again last weekend. Much better the second time around. Many thanks to JJ for help.

I wanted to try Pork Butt this weekend, but the weatherman isn't helping. Scattered showers are one thing, but thunderstorms? Maybe Sunday will turn out OK.

Good luck with your WSM!
 
LOL... you almost feal guilty the first few smokes on a WSM, because of how easy it is to use. My old Char-Griller required constant attention, so when I switched to my WSM I had to figure out what to do with all the extra time I had from not having to tend to the smoker all the time. The best are overnight smokes - get it running, get meat on, get temps stable.... and go to bed!
I'm really looking forward to smoking some butts on there, but I doubt I'll be able to sleep much, if any. At least not yet. 
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 I volunteered myself to smoke 3 more racks for Mothers Day.
Great lookin' ribs!

I'd be curious to see what you think about the WSM vs. the MES (maybe after a few times with your WSM)...mostly regarding the taste of the final product.
I've made some really good ribs on my MES40 and I'm sure that I'll be smoking more in the future.....if I'm fortunate enough to do so. Obviously I've only smoked on the WSM22.5 one time..... taste of final product- I loved it and so did everyone else. Good luck with yours also!
 
Loo
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!Thumbs Up
. They are looking good... You will find that your smoker will become like an old friend and the more seasoned it becomes, the better the product it will produce. Happy smoking!
 
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.

John i've been contemplating picking up a welding blanket for cold weather smoking using the drum smoker.. i assume it'll fit fine.    Just curious if you're loosely fitting it around the air intake so it won't choke it off.   I'll be using the guru so it'll get plenty of air but i was just curious, thanks. 
 
John i've been contemplating picking up a welding blanket for cold weather smoking using the drum smoker.. i assume it'll fit fine.    Just curious if you're loosely fitting it around the air intake so it won't choke it off.   I'll be using the guru so it'll get plenty of air but i was just curious, thanks. 
Basically yes. On the WSM the intakes are down where the bottom bowl curves down to the botttom, so even hanging straight down they get plenty of air. But due to the thickness of the welding blanket when  you roll the ends together to snug it up before clamping the metal pins on you aren't going to get an "airtight" seal by any means. Just roll it tigher near the top and loosly at the bottom and you should be fine.

Also to remove the lid you only need to remove the top clips till you can peel the top down below the lid. For probe wires I usually run them in the area between the clips - to do that you just roll the ends together right where you are putting the clip and leave the areas between the clips alone. This makes it so the blanket will hold on well, block the wind well, but still leave breathing room - any gaps between the blanket and the body of the smoker act like the air gap in double paned windows. Keeps the cold out and the heat in.

I will say this will cover you 99% of the time, but if there is that day where the wind is kicking up to a steady 30 MPH, and the temp is down around 17 °F, you might want to just order a pizza... lol.
 
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