I have a new addiction

On July 4th, 2010 I smoked my first ribs.....and now I am addicted to smoking.

I recently purchased a Weber 22" kettle grill off craigslist and this is what I used to smoke the ribs. If you are unfamiliar with the smoking process, just remember this: low and slow. Keep the temperature low and let your ribs or brisket cook for a long time (ie 4-15 hours). If you have ever used a kettle grill before you know that they get very hot and stay hot for a while, so in order to do low and slow we need to control the temp and cook the meat indirectly, or they will overcook.

So this is what I did to make a smoker out of the Weber

I wrapped some fire bricks with tin foil and used them to keep the charcoal on one side of the grill. I then dumped about 1 full chimney full of lump (I used Royal Oak charcoal) of unlit charcoal in the weber. After that I filled the chimney started again, about halfway and lit those.

I also wrapped some tin foil over the bricks and over the charcoal area of the kettle, in order to help control the heat a little. This helps protect the flame from flaring should any drippings get near the fire.

I put a pan of water underneath the area where the ribs would be. This helps keep it moist inside the kettle as well as control the heat.

After the lit coals were good and ready, I dumped those onto the unlit coals. This is also known as the "Minion Method". I put the kettle cover back on and let it heat up real good. I wanted a temperature of right around 225-250.

Once it was hot enough, I put the ribs on a rack to hold them upright. This helps them cook evenly and also gave me more room to fit all 3 rib racks. Once I had them on the grill, I added some apple wood to the fire for my smoke. I put the lid on and left them alone for an hour. After one hour I stoked my coals and added a few more lumps just to make sure the fire kept going. I also applied a mop to the ribs to keep them most. The mop was just a mix of apple juice, apple cider vinegar and some worchester....same base as my BBQ sauce. You want it "watery" and not thick like a sauce, otherwise it will just burn and char.

After that I let them smoke for another hour and a half or so, at which point I pulled the ribs off the grill. I moped the ribs again with the sauce, and then wrapped each one in tin foil, adding a touch of apple juice inside the foil. After they were all wrapped I put them back on the grill, added a few more charcoal and closed it back up. I also rotated the ribs around since some were closer to the fire then others, I wanted them to cook evenly.

I left the ribs in the foil for about an hour and a half. I pulled the tinfoil off the ribs and put them back on the grill and I basted on my bbq sauce. Close the lid for about 4 minutes, then I flipped the ribs and added more sauce. I repeated this process about 3 times.

I pulled the ribs off the grill after about 5 hours of cook time. They smelled so good I had to taste one and what a delight that was. The meat was not quite falling off the bone, but it was very tender.

I loved my first venture into smoking and I can't wait to do it again.

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Until next time,
Koopdaddy