First Ribs on the Home & Roam

[michaelnel]

I tried smoking spareribs today on my new Home & Roam kettle. I had watched several YouTube videos and I thought I had it nailed.

I was wrong.

I had a lot of problems with temp control. At first I screwed up and put about ¾ chimney of raging hot B&B briquets in the SnS and let the temp come up.

Well, way too much charcoal and too much air. Got up to 450 and held there, even with bottom vent closed all the way and smoke hole open ½ and top vent open 1/3. The top vent leaks smoke like crazy either open or closed.

Temp came down to around 350F but stayed up too high. So I removed all charcoal except for about 12 lit ones in the corner of the SnS. Added some unlit ones next to them, and added some apple wood chunks.

Temp came down.

The mechanical guage on the lid was reading 50-75 degrees higher than four different temp probes arranged about an inch away. So the thermometer sucks.

After that initial high temp burst, I spent hours trying to get it to run at 250F. It would go 200-210, but only occasionally 250. Very frustrating.

All told, this single rack of ribs spent about 7 hours on the SnS. They LOOK pretty good and taste good, but tough as an old boot. I never got the internal temp of the ribs to over 165 even after all that time.

I tell you, I am always successful with my PBJr… the ribs are always great. I guess I will see if I can finish these indoors in the oven. Too tough to enjoy eating them now.

[michaelnel]

I think the ribs are going to need to spend quite some time at internal temps way above 165 to be tender. They are pretty dry too, even though I used a pan of water for hydration and spritzed them with apple vinegar / water mix every couple hours.

[SheilaAnn]

michaelnel Did you put water in the water thingy-reservoir?

Maybe I take that back…. I just read about this grill. Pictures didn’t show one. I hear SnS and I automatically assume water thingy.

[michaelnel]

Yeah the Slow N Sear insert in the Home & Roam does not have a built in water reservoir like the larger ones. I did use an aluminum pan of water on the hot side, and it did consume most of the water.

[michaelnel]

Doing an experiment this morning. No food, just charcoal, air and temp control. I want to see how well I can stabilize the temp at around 250 and hold it... without ruining another rack of ribs.

[Alan Brice]

The Wibs are not ruined. Make a pot of beans with the trilogy n toss yer Wibs in there n let them go.
I will make a rack of Wibs just to flavor my beans. Deelish!
[Edit] Start yer minion of unlit coals with a starter cube n be patient. You may have to doctor the cooker to make it more air tight. Try to control with top n bottom vents only.

[michaelnel]

The Wibs are not ruined. Make a pot of beans with the trilogy n toss yer Wibs in there n let them go.
I will make a rack of Wibs just to flavor my beans. Deelish!

Great idea. I will do that.

[captainlee]

Oh that learning curve! You'll get it figured out.

[TripleB]

That is a really small grill to smoke ribs on since you want to keep your temps below 300d. Have you tried the charcoal minion method or snake method? This might help in maintaining lower temps.

[Panhead John]

Yeah, I agree about it being a little small for low n slow. I think it’s better suited for grilling…IMO.

[michaelnel]

I agree it's pretty small for ribs. I followed one of the SnS instructional videos with Jabin Postal specifically on doing ribs on the Travel Kettle (same as Home&Roam, but gray finish). I do have a 22" one on order, but I have a feeling I'll be doing ribs on my PBJr instead.

[Panhead John]

michaelnel Are you getting the SNS Master Kettle?

[michaelnel]

No John. Getting the Black Edition. I don't need the side table, and otherwise the stuff that matters to me is the same between the Master and Black Edition. Black Edition is currently $75 less than the Master too.

I live in an old log cabin in the national forest, and I have no cement or pavement... everything outside is dirt forest floor. I can see the utility of the Master if I had a paved patio or something, but not in my rather primitive setup.

[Panhead John]

You’ll like the SNS black kettle, I had one for a while and really liked it! I got the Master Kettle for its extra storage space and the shelf. SNS makes good stuff.

[RlsRls]

Your problem was the chimney! As a 40 year charcoal griller, I exclusivly used a chimney for all my cooks but had similar with issues with temp control when smoking. An 18 inch grill is fine, just use less bricketts and just ignite a few to dump on unlit ones! You'll get there!

[michaelnel]

I ran the kettle all day today. I did not put any food in, just a temp probe in the center of the indirect heat area and a pan of water over the unlit coals on the hot side.

It took some tweaking, but I was able to get it to hold around 250F +/- about 20 degrees all day. Up and down a little due to the cooker being in the cool shade vs later on in the hot sun, etc... for doing manual adjustments mostly just with the smoke hole I'd say it's very usable in low and slow conditions.

That said, it's a PITA to do ribs on this thing compared to the PBCJr. On that I have it down to

1) hang 'em

2) 3 hours later check them and either
a) eat them
b) give them a little more time

This will be great for steaks and chops and chicken.. that kinda stuff. But I have a smoker, might as well use it for smoking.

I did pick up an analog thermometer at Lowe's that is the same size as the stock one, way more accurate and only $9.95. It tracks consistently 30F lower than the temp at the grate.

[michaelnel]

Just to add... I am glad I did this test today. I learned a lot about this grill that will be very useful in the future. Not having any food in there really lowered the stress level.

I also took extensive notes of measurements and adjustments, but it pretty much boiled down to making very small adjustments when it starts to stray, and have the patience to see what your adjustment did.

[Alan Brice]

Is that yer bird?
Kim had a blue front amazon when we met. he is going on 33yrs. Oscar.

[michaelnel]

Is that yer bird?
Kim had a blue front amazon when we met. he is going on 33yrs. Oscar.

That's not my bird. I did live with my buddy Chico (also a Blue & Gold Macaw) for over 31 years before he passed last year.