First rib cook on new smoker and first runaway fire (Pron)

THoey1963 · Jul 6, 2015

Since I was off today, and since it is the bar's Poker Potluck, I decided to do some ribs.

Eight racks of St. Louis Cut Spare Ribs seasoned with Slap Ya Mama rib rub.

http://www.deepsouthdish.com/2010/03/southern-style-dry-rub-pork-ribs.html#axzz2vQH31wwA

On the smoker at 1 pm. Running a little hotter than I wanted, temp got away from me while I was rubbing the ribs. Not an issue, they'll just cook a little faster (or so I thought).

Running TBS with the door opened just a little. I'll check them every hour in case I need to rotate those on the bottom up a little higher.

About thirty minutes later my temps started dropping. I wanted to build up the bed a little, so I threw some small splits on and a larger split. Fire took off. Had to yank the ribs and take them inside. I then got the big split out and let the little splits burn, but by then 1700 pounds of steel was in the 350* range. Took another 30 mins to get the heat back down. Less than 300* now and I made a bunch more smaller splits. I made need to skip larger splits and keep using the smaller ones. My splitter is going to get a work out...

Tango Joe · Jul 6, 2015

Looks like a good start.

SmittyJonz · Jul 6, 2015

If gets too Hot just leave cook chamber door half open for a bit.

pjtexas1 · Jul 6, 2015

How big was the dip in temp? I agree on skipping the bigger splits. Might be best to 2 small or 1 big split. Its a learning curve but you will get there. 350 will not burn your ribs. I use the crap out of my log splitter.

THoey1963 · Jul 6, 2015

PJ, I normally try to smoke around 275*. When I saw the temps start dropping in the 260's, I went out to check it. My coal bed was starting to break up and fall through to the ash pan. That's what caused me to go with some smaller splits to give something to fire off the bigger pieces. I think I did too many small pieces at once and then that big piece too.

Learning...

FireChief · Jul 6, 2015

Yeah, it's all about learning your pit. Yours looks pretty compact and efficient so smaller fire will probably work. I also like to run 275. If I get much above 300F I'll just open the FB door as well. Helps run a cleaner fire anyway. Enjoy, you have a beautiful pit there!

THoey1963 · Jul 6, 2015

From to high heat to a dead fire. Pulled the ribs, loaded several small splits, and used the gas assist to get her back to life. Holding steady around 275* again... :doh:

ssv3 · Jul 6, 2015

Looking good Terry! Don't sweat the temp hikes. Mine likes to run 275 on average. When a new split goes in, it'll spike up to 300ish and come back down to 275. I've learned to use smaller splits since this thing drafts so good and you can instantly hit 400+ if the split is on the large side, especially when all the steel is heated up. Small, hot fire is key which I learned the hard way. :becky: I reduced my splits to about fist size.

It's a learning curve just like any cooker and you'll get it in a few tries.

BigBobBQ · Jul 6, 2015

pretty good looking racks of ribs there.

Mikhail · Jul 6, 2015

Looks like a stick burner has an art all it's own.

Titch · Jul 7, 2015

I use to burn big sticks until I learnt to control my Pyromania.
I would assume all stickburners are unique in themselves.
You will master it eventually.
In the meantime, start throwing me some Korean grilling recipes :becky:

TheWolfePit · Jul 7, 2015

That's a lot of good looking ribs!! Looking forward to the finished pics!

dport7 · Jul 7, 2015

Been runnin a stick burner since 1993 and it still teaches me somethin every once in a while.

Hope all came out well!

Papa Q · Jul 7, 2015

One thing that I do is use fairly small splits to begin with. I'll use the larger of those to bring the pit up to temp and then, depending on whether I'm going hot and fast or low and slow, I'll use the whole split of half of one at a time while tending. Either way, I can't leave the firebox alone for long...tending the fire is a large part of what it is all about.

THoey1963 · Jul 8, 2015

Sorry for the late follow up. Tuesday I had a couple of errands to run, and then I had to clean up from the cook. The ribs came off about 5:30, but they probably could have used a little longer. They were tender, but had a little more pull than I am used to. They were also much darker on the outside than I am used to, but that could have been due to the runaway fire earlier.

Definitely need to practice controlling the fire. Going to start with splitting a bunch of splits. All my splits are currently about 14 inches long and around 6" in diameter. If I just use the splitter, is the length ok?

Sent from iPhone so sorry if the pictures go sideways on me... Seems only allow one picture at a time...

THoey1963 · Jul 8, 2015

Bite...

ButtBurner · Jul 8, 2015

yeah that length is fine

I find smaller (diameter) sticks burn faster and hotter than larger ones.

I use a mix, I use a larger one for a base to lengthen out the interval between adding and the smaller sticks less often to maintain temps

THoey1963 · Jul 8, 2015

Part of my issue is getting a full size split burning. Yet, if I break one one, it lights easily.

ButtBurner · Jul 9, 2015

THoey1963 said:
Part of my issue is getting a full size split burning. Yet, if I break one one, it lights easily.

that's perfectly normal

are you preheating it real good?

Sometimes I put the bigger ones right in the firebox along a side wall away from the fire to get it super hot first

THoey1963 · Jul 10, 2015

Since I have all this space above the firebox (oven), I been putting full size splits in there to warm up prior to throwing them on.

Need to do some sausages up today for a friends birthday. Going with a good base of charcoal and smaller splits. Going to try this small, hot fire technique. Already ran 6 large splits through the splitter. Got about 6 smaller splits from each large split. They are about the size of the red bull cans, or about 3" diameter.

If I cover the coal grate with charcoal, should I light it all or should I light one side and let it work its way across (kinda like a minion method)?

First rib cook on new smoker and first runaway fire (Pron)

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