I've got a lot to learn but the first cook went well. I kept it simple with 3 racks of baby backs and 3 St. Louis. The top, middle and bottom grills each had a pair of rib racks, one baby back and one St. Louis. I considered this an experiment in a effort to learn the smoker and make adjustments the next cook. I didn't rotate the rib racks but kept them in the same place for the entire cook removing them as they individually were ready. Doneness wasn't only a matter of baby back or St. Louis but also position in the cook chamber. I loaded up with 6 racks only to see how the KBQ would perform. A more typical cook for me would be 2-3 racks of ribs which would be much simpler.
I'm fortunate to have a wood supplier who also supplies a local BBQ joint. He delivered some oak split and cut to KBQ size. The wood was perfect and I had no problems maintaining the coal bed. Well, I had one problem. It started to rain heavily and the upper logs got soaked and the coals died down but not out. I had to pull the KBQ under my covered patio but the cover is high and I kept a close eye on sparks. I did have some sparks during the first 30 minutes or so but few if any after that. Once under the patio cover the fire recovered easily with the help of a kiln-dried log which may not have been necessary. Future cooks will be back out in the open yard. I may build a small metal-roof shelter since south Louisiana enjoys frequent rain.
The results: The ribs were superb! I did have one rack a little overcooked but I didn't kick it out of the kitchen. Out of curiosity I ran the smoker clean and while I understand that some like this I prefer some smoke. Total time was 3.5 to 4 hours. I shot for 230 degrees and the smoker did a great job topping out at about 240 and bottoming out at about 220. I'm looking forward to cooking on a cold day both to see how the KBQ performs and because I can't stand summer weather here in the swamp.
I had concerns about the fan noise before using the KBQ. Let me say to anyone with the same reservation that it's a non-issue. It's no louder than a small floor fan. The yards in my neighborhood are small and the neighbors are close but it's now clear to me that this will never be a problem. That's good because I really didn't want to have to invest in an extra rack to pay them off. If you've judged the noise by some of the videos on Youtube keep in mind that a typical phone microphone exaggerates the sound quite a bit. It's no way near as noisy as in the videos.
Next cook: Haven't decided on what but I won't crowd the cooking chamber as much. I'll return to my spice rub (used a friend's recipe; I let him down gently). I'll open the dirty smoke poppet. BTW, I played around with the glaze. I made a mixture of apple juice and maple syrup for some racks. I used my BBQ sauce for one. I threw together a fig glaze using my aunt's fig preserves and seasonings I had in the pantry. I didn't tell anyone about the glazes and waited to see if I'd get some comments. Most everyone loved the fig glaze. Stands to reason. People love candy.
My thanks to the several of you who helped me get to the decision to buy the KBQ and to Bill Karau for his time as well.
I'm fortunate to have a wood supplier who also supplies a local BBQ joint. He delivered some oak split and cut to KBQ size. The wood was perfect and I had no problems maintaining the coal bed. Well, I had one problem. It started to rain heavily and the upper logs got soaked and the coals died down but not out. I had to pull the KBQ under my covered patio but the cover is high and I kept a close eye on sparks. I did have some sparks during the first 30 minutes or so but few if any after that. Once under the patio cover the fire recovered easily with the help of a kiln-dried log which may not have been necessary. Future cooks will be back out in the open yard. I may build a small metal-roof shelter since south Louisiana enjoys frequent rain.
The results: The ribs were superb! I did have one rack a little overcooked but I didn't kick it out of the kitchen. Out of curiosity I ran the smoker clean and while I understand that some like this I prefer some smoke. Total time was 3.5 to 4 hours. I shot for 230 degrees and the smoker did a great job topping out at about 240 and bottoming out at about 220. I'm looking forward to cooking on a cold day both to see how the KBQ performs and because I can't stand summer weather here in the swamp.
I had concerns about the fan noise before using the KBQ. Let me say to anyone with the same reservation that it's a non-issue. It's no louder than a small floor fan. The yards in my neighborhood are small and the neighbors are close but it's now clear to me that this will never be a problem. That's good because I really didn't want to have to invest in an extra rack to pay them off. If you've judged the noise by some of the videos on Youtube keep in mind that a typical phone microphone exaggerates the sound quite a bit. It's no way near as noisy as in the videos.
Next cook: Haven't decided on what but I won't crowd the cooking chamber as much. I'll return to my spice rub (used a friend's recipe; I let him down gently). I'll open the dirty smoke poppet. BTW, I played around with the glaze. I made a mixture of apple juice and maple syrup for some racks. I used my BBQ sauce for one. I threw together a fig glaze using my aunt's fig preserves and seasonings I had in the pantry. I didn't tell anyone about the glazes and waited to see if I'd get some comments. Most everyone loved the fig glaze. Stands to reason. People love candy.
My thanks to the several of you who helped me get to the decision to buy the KBQ and to Bill Karau for his time as well.
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