# First time smoker Down Under!



## Manc in Melbourne (Dec 15, 2018)

Hello,

I just bought my first smoker the other day after wanting one for the while. It's currently seasoning in the back garden, ticking along quite nicely at 150 for 30 mins so far. I went for the Hark Chubby after reading a lot of reviews.

Planning on finishing the seasoning today, then tomorrow i'm going to get some Beef Ribs on there as I've been told they're the hardest to get wrong.

Looking forward to my smoking journey though!

MM


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## meatallica (Dec 15, 2018)

Welcome.. Nice looking offset  Good luck with your ribs! You burning wood or charcoal down there?


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## 6GRILLZNTN (Dec 15, 2018)

Welcome to The SMF from Middle TN!


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## Manc in Melbourne (Dec 15, 2018)

meatallica
 I've started with a bag of Blues Hog lump charcoal, and i'm going to be adding some Cherry chunks to it for the ribs. I heard that cooking with charcoal is simpler than straight wood so I figured i'd try that first!


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## TomKnollRFV (Dec 15, 2018)

Welcome Aboard from Wisconsin!

Always nice to see another Aussie! I got a few friends online down there who keep telling me to visit! <Then they tell me about your wild life and I remember how terrifying it is!>


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## SmokinAl (Dec 15, 2018)

Welcome to SMF!
Congrats on the new smoker!
Good luck with the ribs!
Al


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## bluewhisper (Dec 15, 2018)

Welcome from Ohio! I see your latitude is 37.8"S while I'm almost exactly 40"N so it's like we're on opposite sides of the seasons. The ground is already frozen here, and you should be warming up.

However we have very similar smokers (see my sig).  I wanted an offset for many years and I finally got one, and I love it. Fussy like a steam locomotive, and just as capable.

Consider getting something like a Weber kettle because they are very versatile in the gray area between smoking and grilling. 

Your offset can take you there; if it's like mine you can run the main cooking chamber as a big grill. You could have a fire at one end and food at the other, and choose how much heat/smoke you want. My offset has three racks so I can leave one or two out and slide the food rack around.

The main consideration of running an offset is managing the air intake. Leave the exhaust wide open and choke the fire by the intake.  It will take some practice but it's easy to learn.


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## WaterRat (Dec 15, 2018)

Welcome! Nice looking smoker, appears very solid. I'm going to guess that's 150°C not F?

For the beef ribs - back or spares? Not sure they're the easiest but wouldn't say hard either. Anyhow you're looking at a ~6+ hour cook depending on what temp you run.


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## gmc2003 (Dec 15, 2018)

Welcome aboard, happy to have ya join up. Enjoy your ribs.

Chris


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## Manc in Melbourne (Dec 17, 2018)

Thanks for the welcome everyone!

So I attempted my first smoke today, with lets say "mixed" results. I'm not sure on forum etiquette here so if this isn't the right place for this then let me know and I'll move it.

I cooked some Beef ribs and some wings, the wings turned out great, the ribs were great inside but a bit tough on the outside.

My plan was to cook the ribs at 225f for 6hrs, chucking the wings on the for final 2hrs. I stuck to the time but had some trouble during the smoke.

The temperature range was a little erratic, dropping very low at one point (140f) and getting way to high as well (280f)
I think this was because I let the fire box die down too low then add too much to overcompensate. I thinking little and often is probably a solution to this.

I read it was good to spritz the ribs with apple juice to keep them moist throughout, but I didn't have one so settled for a brush instead. This was much slower and I think was causing the temp to crash too much each time.

Both the ribs & wings were a bit too smokey in flavor.
I think this is a knock on from the temperature fluctuations above, when adding lots of coals on to bring the temp back up they smoked like a ****, which i'm guessing is what caused this?

Anyway, despite the setbacks I really enjoyed my first smoke and am planning to try again at the weekend with the ribs again (and a spritzer this time) to see if I can fair a little better!

Any tips welcome though!

Cheers!


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## gmc2003 (Dec 17, 2018)

They look really good to me. Nice Job. As for the ribs I usually let them cook on the grate until they reach about 170* then I'll put them into a foil pan with a little beef broth, cover the pan with foil and let them cook for a couple of hours. After they go back on the grate to finish up. Basically like cooking a brisket. 

Point for sure.
Chris


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