Greetings friends,
Thought I would drop by and share my experience and key learnings from my maiden voyage on the Model #3. If some of this is redundant, I apologize.
So, I decided to test drive this thing with three racks of ribs. I know some here are debating as I did as to what size smoker to get. I think it is difficult to really get a perspective on the size of these units based on the pictures on the Smokin-It site.
The #3 can simply be described as cavernous. Plenty of space for food to fit comfortably. Sorry I can't speak to the #2 or #1 but if you are considering the #3, this is what you can expect.
Also note there are five rails available for up to five grills. I have two installed, and the unit comes with four. I bought an extra one so that come summer, I'm ready.
Notice how big the fire or smoker box is? This is my key learning. One piece of wood in there is going to seem small and lonely. Don't get tempted to put more in than you need!
I put the approximate equivalent of these three pieces of wood in (it really was two slightly larger pieces, one cherry, one apple. AA battery included for perspective). My next smoke will have significantly less wood! I felt the ribs were too smoky at the end of my smoke.
Before I started this, I had asked some questions about doing 321 or 221 vs. just putting them in and not foiling them. I had also asked about water pans. I decided to just put then in, at 225 apply barbecue sauce at 3 hours, and take them out at 4 hours. I did not include a water pan but I did fill up the little flavor container with apple juice. Here is my second key learning. If you want fall of the bone moist ribs, you probably want to foil them and possibly add moisture to the foil. If you want ribs with more of the consistency you would find in a barbecue restaurant, where the ribs might come out cut into individual bones, and you actually pick up each bone and can take a bite out of it without it falling off the bone, don't foil. My daughter's first reaction was, "these are pick em up ribs". My next batch will probably not be foiled, but I think I'm going to introduce a water pan to the equation and perhaps go a bit lower in the temperature setting. Note, I did not have an external thermometer handy to gauge or calibrate the smoker so I'm not really sure what the temperature was in it.
So, after four hours, this is what came out. I initially panicked and thought I had burned them, but realized later, I had over smoked them. Keep in mind, this is a matter of taste because by the end of the meal, we had knocked out almost two racks (two kids and two adults).
Other key learnings, this unit is incredible insulated. It was cool to the touch the entire time unlike the MES 40 I used to have where the glass would get hot.
I hope this is helpful to someone. Thrilled with my purchase and can't wait to go again. By the way, to the person that was asking about the cord hanger,
