WSM temperature issues, ribs are on now, help please.

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

starwalt12

Cook
Joined
Nov 1, 2011
Messages
81
Location
Windsor, IL
For this cook I used the minion method with putting the lit charcoal in the middle surrounded by unlit charcoal. The new therm in the WSM lid is reading about 215, the digital I have with the probe in a potato sitting on the grate with the ribs is reading 270. Which one do I believe, or should I figure out the difference tween the two and shoot for the middle? Thanks in advance guys....
 
They both could be correct. Your grate is closer to the fire. As the cooking time progresses, they should come together closer. The one closest to the ribs probably gives you a better indication of what it is like where the ribs are.

Having said all of that, while 215 is (in my opinion) a little low for cooking ribs, if you ask what temperature to use for cooking ribs, you'll most likely get a temperature spread greater then what you are seing between your thermometers.

Did I confuse you? Sorry.

You are doing OK. Sounds like you'll have some great ribs. Remember what they say around here about pictures...

BOB
 
thank you no you did not confuse me, I understand what you are saying, I just didn't figure there would be that big a difference from the grate to the themr in the lid. I already decided to watch the digital one since it is right next to the ribs. right now it is holding around 235-240. good temp I presume? Oh and there will be pictures just as there was wed night with my chicken I smoked......Thank you for the quick response!!
 
Lot of good reasons for the temp differential. Lay aside all those fancy gauges and lay the palm of your hand on the lid and start counting by Missippiis till you get a sudden urge to move your hand. If you can get to three or four missisippiis thats about right for ribs. If it drops below four its time to shake the firepan and add some fuel maybe. If it gets in the one or two range its time to grill steaks.
 
bigwheel said:
Lot of good reasons for the temp differential. Lay aside all those fancy gauges and lay the palm of your hand on the lid and start counting by Missippiis till you get a sudden urge to move your hand. If you can get to three or four missisippiis thats about right for ribs. If it drops below four its time to shake the firepan and add some fuel maybe. If it gets in the one or two range its time to grill steaks.

I can get almost a 4 count. Digital therm still reads 267. All 3 bottom vents are closed. Am I still doing ok? Maybe I had too much lit fuel in the center to begin with? around 25 briquettes. Was this too many?
 
Sounds pretty good to me. WSMs tend to run a little hot the first few cooks until the smoke buildup gets rid of the gloss inside. BW is right--a lot of us tend to obsess over the temps like 5º is going to ruin everything.

You only need 8 or 9 fully lit (gray all over) briquettes for a successful MM.
 
Ok... so I thought dome temps should be higher then grate temps.. Ya know.. that ole heat rising thing..Sounds like you need to boil some water and calibrate your thermometers..
 
Dome temps should be higher than grate temps...Did you put each therm in boiling water to see if they read 212* before doing the cook?
 
Dome temps and grate temp usually will equalize or get pretty close to each other after a while as long as you don't open the lid. No sure on a WSM but on a UDS the area along the walls is hotter than it is toward the middle to. Don't obsess over temps just make sure your cooking at a safe temp. Its BBQ not rocket science, enjoy yourself and have another beer, everything will turn out fine.
 
Don't mess around with it, follow "V"'s advise. If your grate one is reading around 235 - 240 and you did the bigwheel test on the lid, your doing fine. The worst thing you can do is open the lid to take a peek. I'm assuming your using the 3-2-1 method?
 
OK, those ribs have been on for over 24 hours, now, so they should be almost done. Hoping to see the pictures of the blackened husks soon.
 
So I was disappointed again.
This first pics looks good.
Second pic not so much. Little frustrating, did not taste good, well the rub was fantastic but the meat itself was less than desirable. By looking at the meat............What did I do wrong? A little earlier I checked the digital therm in boiling water and it was spot on. I checked the temp on these probably every 20 min. It ranged anywhere from 218-280. only opened the lid only 4 or 5 times during the cook to spray on a bit of apple juice. Like I said, frustrating, it shouldn't be this hard.
 
You're right, it shouldn't be hard, it should be fun! I'm no expert by any means, but it almost looks like you didn't give them long enough to render out. If your temps are stable, put them on and don't even look at them for 3 hours and then go from there. How much wood are you using? If its more than 3 or 4 fist sized chunks you might be over smoking them a bit. And remember, nobody is Myron F'n Mixon on their first few tries. Stick with it and you'll be glad you did.
 
Nick Prochilo said:
Don't mess around with it, follow "V"'s advise. If your grate one is reading around 235 - 240 and you did the bigwheel test on the lid, your doing fine. The worst thing you can do is open the lid to take a peek. I'm assuming your using the 3-2-1 method?

No I havent use the 3-2-1 method either time I did ribs. I guess to me it seems strange to wrap them in foil, maybe I'm wrong...
 
starwalt12 said:
No I havent use the 3-2-1 method either time I did ribs. I guess to me it seems strange to wrap them in foil, maybe I'm wrong...
You gotta try everything once ... I have never had to do a full 3-2-1, more like a 3/2-1-1, maybe even only 3/4 hour in the foil. I use the Rempe, Squeeze Parkay, brown sugar and Tiger Sauce in the foil .... recently I have been glazing that last hour with Bone Sucking Sauce .... Killer!
 
Nick Prochilo said:
What didn't you like about the meat? You didn't mention wether it was dry, over smoked or tough. Give us a hint, we will help.

Hard to chew and super fatty, and I understand ribs are fatty, but ya arent supposed to be able to see it like the picture shows are ya?
 
Sounds like they wasn't done yet or was cooked too fast. Either scenario will leave large blobs of un rendered fat and make them chewy. If they were cooked too fast there should have been quite an expanse of nekked end bones sticking out and the meat turns itself into a tough little ball o meat and fat. Commonly called climbing the bone around these parts.
 
Back
Top Bottom