New Smoker

I weighed the chunks of wood, because my eye isn't good enough judging weight, on the first smoke. I plan to check myself every once in awhile. I'd use a shorter extension cord if you can.
I like the ribs to pull back a little from the end of the bone. We have the CS150. Cook slabs usually. About 2-3 hrs. Wrap them in foil with a little honey and pineapple or apple juice. Let them steam in the foil for an hour or so. Unwrap. Then finish in the smoker for about 1 hour. We rub the ribs with seasoning about 1 hr. before we start cooking anything. I don't like sauce cooked on the ribs, so I don't put it on. I let each person sauce as they want.
Merry Christmas
Peggy

Hi S-I-G,

Good luck with your new CS. You are going to enjoy it for sure.

Smokin-Oakie has a "Ribs 101" guide on the CS website that is excellent reading.

I have never "foiled" Baby-backs when I cook them in my Smokette. I may open the unit at 3 hours, exchange any ribs from the bottom rack with the top (bottom one may cook a little bit quicker because of proximity to the heating element). This give you a chance to see how they are coming along. Then, I let them continue at 220-245 for another hour to hour and a half. Has not failed me yet. And, makes it really easy to cook the ribs.

I'm a new owner myself. I've done two cooks so far, both have had baby backs in them. The one thing it seems to me, is there are a lot of ways to do ribs, and a lot of opinions. Doesn't seem that one way could called the absolute best, but you'll have to try some different ways to see which you prefer. IE: rub the night before, a few hours before, just before, foil or not to foil, juice in the foil, or just spray some juice on, finish with sauce in the smoker, in the oven or grill, or no sauce at all, and the list goes on. I'VE BEEN TOLD KEEP IT SIMPLE, AND I'LL PASS THAT ON TO YOU. Also:

1)Smokin's 101's are GREAT, I'VE STARTED THERE.
2)Listen to everyones advice, and try what you think you'd like. Also, if you have time, you can read through the archives, there's a ton of great information.
3)TAKE CAREFUL NOTES, SO YOU CAN REPEAT WHAT YOU LIKE, AND FORGET WHAT YOU DON'T.
4)Try to trust the cooker, don't open the door too much!! I'm learning that.
5)And really important, have fun cooking it up, experimenting with rubs, sauces.
From what I've learned in 2 cooks, it would be awful difficult to mess something up really badly in the cookshack.

Best of luck, Steve.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I smoked the ribs last night going by the instructions in the cookbook that came along with my smoker. I know now why everyone suggests taking notes....I think I had a little too much rub and a little too much wood. I think my biggest challenge will be knowing when things are done. Using an extension cord seems to have thrown my cooking time off a little. Thanks again for all the suggestions.

Before your next smoke, run the smoker on 225 with nothing inside. Use a calibrated thermometer to determine what temp it's running at.

Smokin',
Santa brought me a smokette. It is seasoning now. I took your advise and put a Thermapen down the exhaust. With the dial set at 200, the temp was 232. Is the thermostat adjustable?

Wow, have fun with it. Nice Santa.

Nope, no adjustable thermostat -- it's a pretty simple type in the Smokette. It cycles up and down and over time will be pretty close to the temp, but the electric element has a +/- of up to 30 degrees, when it's cycling. Not a real problem, just freaks out some people when they try to map the temps through the cycles. Overall, it's pretty consistent, and actually better if it's almost full.

And I was taking temp at about 6 in. from the top. And I might of been against a rack. Just put a probe in the center of the box. But from what you said, forget temp mapping and enjoy. Got a whole chicken well rubbed with Spicy Chicken Rub waiting for the burn in to be complete.
Thanks,

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
[qb] Before your next smoke, run the smoker on 225 with nothing inside. Use a calibrated thermometer to determine what temp it's running at. [/qb]

Smokin'.. respectfully, the calibrated thermometer will be good if it is buffered in something.. like meat.. but, the t'stat on the CS is set to run like a t'stat in the house..

Set at 225�, the temp inside the box may rise to 280� and drop to < 200�. It's the average that counts. So, what the thermometer shows when you read it one moment might be very different from what it reads 10-20 minutes later.

Least this is my perspective.. YMMV. Heck, maybe my t'stat is way off and it IS supposed to hold at 225�... clear this up for me..