chuychanga
500+ Posts
Got my first smoker for Father's Day and used it to make a feast for myself and the other dad's in my family on Saturday. Here's the report:
Picked up my brand new Weber Smokey Mountain on Friday afternoon and put it to use that same night. The Virtual Weber Bullet website says no seasoning required since it's lined with porcelain. So I just put that sucker together and let her rip.
Got an 11 lb packer at HEB. I trimmed a good amount of fat, but left the fat cap at about a 1/4 inch thick and left everything between the point and flat. I'll take my lumps now. It was too late by the time I read the "Fat Cap" thread. Next time I do one I'll leave all the fat on just to see the difference, but this one turned out great.
I rubbed it with Stubb's rub the day prior.
I followed the virtual Weber site's advice and used the minion method of fire starting with a full load of unlit Kingsford, topped off with about 20 lit briquettes and about 6 fist sized chunks of pecan (I was going to use oak, but could only find it in chips, not chunks.)
The temp got right up to 200 in no time flat. I closed it up a little and had it dialed in at about 230 fairly easily. I stayed up for about an hour watching it because I was paranoid, this being my first time and all. Meat went on at 3:15am. I finally went back to bed a little after 4:00. Got up at 5:50 and it was still steady at 232 degress. Went back to bed. Got up at 7:00 and that sucker had shot up to 265. I'm not sure how long it had been there, but certainly less than an hour, so no sweat.
I closed it all up on the bottom and it still kept climbing to a peak of 275. So finally I opened up the door and started removing about a third of the hot coals. That finally brought it back down. I kept it at about 210 for the next few hours with no problems. Next time I'll start with less charcoal.
Left the house at 9:00am for my son's swim lesson. Temp was 216. Got home two hours later and it was 219. Throughout the afternoon I rarely touched the vents again and it stayed pegged between 220 and 240. I did throw on a few more chunks of wood to keep the smoke churning. Brisket came off about noon-thirty. Internal temp was 165. Wrapped it and put in the oven at 225. Took about and hour and a half to get it to 190 internal. Then kept it wrapped and stuck it in the cooler until dinner time.
I also did a rack and a half of pork spare ribs, following Hornian's method to a T. Timed everything to be rested and ready at 5:00pm for dinner with my dad, my wife's dad, and all the associated family members. All meat was out, unwrapped and resting for about 35 minutes prior to slicing.
Here we go.
Before trimming.
After trimming.
Opening my new toy.
Thar she blows.
Dialed in.
Fast forward about 13 hours... and viola...
Post-rest
It was moist. It was tender. The rib bones were falling out of the meat. I didn't get a smoke ring, I guess because I wrapped toward the end, but they were chock-full of smoky taste. All in all I am very happy with how it all turned out. We ate it all with some twice baked potatoes and baked beans. Yummy.
Next time I'll try it without trimming any fat before cooking, like I said, this round came out nice.
Happy Father's Day everybody and thanks for all the BBQ threads for info and advice!
edited to fix the pics
Picked up my brand new Weber Smokey Mountain on Friday afternoon and put it to use that same night. The Virtual Weber Bullet website says no seasoning required since it's lined with porcelain. So I just put that sucker together and let her rip.
Got an 11 lb packer at HEB. I trimmed a good amount of fat, but left the fat cap at about a 1/4 inch thick and left everything between the point and flat. I'll take my lumps now. It was too late by the time I read the "Fat Cap" thread. Next time I do one I'll leave all the fat on just to see the difference, but this one turned out great.
I rubbed it with Stubb's rub the day prior.
I followed the virtual Weber site's advice and used the minion method of fire starting with a full load of unlit Kingsford, topped off with about 20 lit briquettes and about 6 fist sized chunks of pecan (I was going to use oak, but could only find it in chips, not chunks.)
The temp got right up to 200 in no time flat. I closed it up a little and had it dialed in at about 230 fairly easily. I stayed up for about an hour watching it because I was paranoid, this being my first time and all. Meat went on at 3:15am. I finally went back to bed a little after 4:00. Got up at 5:50 and it was still steady at 232 degress. Went back to bed. Got up at 7:00 and that sucker had shot up to 265. I'm not sure how long it had been there, but certainly less than an hour, so no sweat.
I closed it all up on the bottom and it still kept climbing to a peak of 275. So finally I opened up the door and started removing about a third of the hot coals. That finally brought it back down. I kept it at about 210 for the next few hours with no problems. Next time I'll start with less charcoal.
Left the house at 9:00am for my son's swim lesson. Temp was 216. Got home two hours later and it was 219. Throughout the afternoon I rarely touched the vents again and it stayed pegged between 220 and 240. I did throw on a few more chunks of wood to keep the smoke churning. Brisket came off about noon-thirty. Internal temp was 165. Wrapped it and put in the oven at 225. Took about and hour and a half to get it to 190 internal. Then kept it wrapped and stuck it in the cooler until dinner time.
I also did a rack and a half of pork spare ribs, following Hornian's method to a T. Timed everything to be rested and ready at 5:00pm for dinner with my dad, my wife's dad, and all the associated family members. All meat was out, unwrapped and resting for about 35 minutes prior to slicing.
Here we go.
Before trimming.
After trimming.
Opening my new toy.
Thar she blows.
Dialed in.
Fast forward about 13 hours... and viola...
Post-rest
It was moist. It was tender. The rib bones were falling out of the meat. I didn't get a smoke ring, I guess because I wrapped toward the end, but they were chock-full of smoky taste. All in all I am very happy with how it all turned out. We ate it all with some twice baked potatoes and baked beans. Yummy.
Next time I'll try it without trimming any fat before cooking, like I said, this round came out nice.
Happy Father's Day everybody and thanks for all the BBQ threads for info and advice!
edited to fix the pics
