Hello from the Pacific NW

[Bcelmins]

Hello there,

I'm Brent from Portland, Oregon. I love to cook, but I'm new to grilling/smoking. My wife recently got me a new 22" Weber Kettle with a Slow n Sear for our anniversary because she loves grilled food, but I always hated using my lousy two-burner gas grill that collects dust in our backyard (she also knows that when I get new food toys, I tend to dive deep into how to use them).

I love real BBQ, and I'm lucky to live walking distance from one of the best BBQ brisket joints on the west coast (Matt's BBQ in Portland... it's the business).

Today, as it stands, I can churn out a high-level of BBQ-style ribs/pork butt/brisket suing my sous vide machine that would make most home cooks jealous, but I'd like to be able to develop the skills/tools to be able to produce my own legitimately smoked brisket. In the meanwhile, I'm learning my way around the ins and outs of grilling/smoking from the ground up. But I'm a fast and obsessive learner, and I plan on grilling well into the rainy season here in PDX this year to be ready for next summer.

I smoked my first rack of ribs last week, and was happy with being able to dial in the 225 for 6 hours, and while the flavor was bonkers, I overcooked the rack and ended up with tough ribs (rookie mistake).

Anyway, happy to come aboard!

[DWCowles]

Welcome Bcelmins

[Spinaker]

Welcome to the Pit. There are some SV fans in here. And some non-fans (myself included) I am glad you have seen the light and are going for the some true BBQ cooking. Again, welcome to the Pit. We are happy to have you here. You will be amazed at the things you will learn here and the quality of the information. The help and support from the community is second to none.

[LA Pork Butt]

Welcome to the joy of the Pit!

[Tim E]

Welcome! Nice to have another PacNW member here! My story was similar to your yours. The PIT is an awesome resource!
FWIW Alot of times tough ribs are actually undercooked and not overcooked. Try testing your ribs doneness via the "bend test"

[Bcelmins]

Sounds like I have some delicious research to do.

[jharner]

Welcome to the pit, enjoy the Wikipedia of BBQ.

[MBMorgan]

Greetings Brent ... welcome to the Pit!

[AZRedneck]

Hello Brent, and welcome to our outdoor cooking support group.

[FireMan]

Welcome aboard bcelmins! Wow, your wife is some kind of sly genius. She just, (oh, honey you should try this) not only gets you a Weber, but a Sn'S too. You are the envy of all the gents on this site. Enjoy the ride of the Smokeville express!

[ecowper]

Welcome Bcelmins .... I live in Maple Valley, WA ... a couple hours north of you ... First, you have an awesome setup with the 22" Weber plus SnS ... you can turn out some fine BBQ with that rig. Second, as others have noted ... tough ribs means undercooked, generally. Overcooked ribs tend to be mushy and not much flavor. BBQ in the northwest is quite the challenge. It's definitely not our cuisine ... the northwest is all about salmon and teriyaki chicken :-) ... BTW I have a fantastic teriyaki chicken on the grill at home recipe ... you will never want to go to a teriyaki joint again after you cook this :-)

anyhow, brisket is the ultimate challenge, right? Well, you should be able to do it on your Weber/SNS set up. But, my advice to you would be to master cooking a pork butt first. 2-3 go rounds with the pork butt, once you have the hang of managing the fire and smoke, and what probe done means ... and you will be ready for a brisket.

also, you don't mention what sort of thermometers and probes you have. But you really need some. Look at the Maverick ET-732 and the Thermanpen Mk4 ... you're gonna want both if you don't have them yet :-)

Also, as Breadhead and I can both attest ... you're gonna develop MCS here!

[Breadhead]

She's less than perfect but she's still a keeper. She's doing her part and you can apply your low & slow art of persuasion on her COMPLETE misunderstanding of the necessary tools to provide her with a healthy AND tasty supply of unique food that she can't get anywhere else.😎

[Bcelmins]

Yeah, I've heard that a few times, undercooked seems about right. Strange considering I had it in the kettle smoking for close to 6 hours. Seems like the upper end of time for a rack of St Louis cut, but every cook is different I guess, right? Shows you how much of a novice I really am.

[Bcelmins]

Guest Ha! I'm the baker in the house. I'm likely to whip up some awesome bread on an 8-hour cook

Also: Is there a newbie glossary I can hit up? I'm out of the loop on some of these acronyms.

[Bcelmins]

ecowper Brisket is kind of the end goal here, i know how difficult it is. I absolutely intend to to cut my teeth on pork butt, and some of the less challenging efforts, first.

In terms of other gear, I have a Thermapen because it's useful in the kitchen, too, and I did buy a Maverick ET-733. I'm currently doing preliminary research on some of the thermostatic controllers, so any insight into that equipment would certainly be useful (I know there's a sub-forum dedicated to those, but since we're talking here!)

[ecowper]

I've never used a thermostatic controller, but I have heard a lot of good things about the DigiQ setups.

[fuzzydaddy]

Welcome to The Pit Bcelmins. It's great to have you here and thank you for your support! I enjoyed your introduction.

Please check out our homework assignment post for new members. It contains a few how-tos and please-dos. This will help you learn your way around so you can get the best experience from our forum.

Also, it's very important that you:

• Give us an email address you actually use. You can set or change your email on file with us by clicking your name in the upper-right, then User Settings, then the Notifications tab.
• Add the domain AmazingRibs.com to your email safe list. We never spam! This is important to receive notices about your account, such as if you’re up for renewal or are ever drawn as our monthly Gold Medal Giveaway winner (we’d hate to have to pick another person because you don’t answer us)!

See you around The Pit!

[Huskee]

Welcome to The Pit Bcelmins!