First Smoke On The 22.5 Inch Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker Smoker

I needed to run a batch of charcoal through the used 22.5" Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker (WSM) just to be sure everything was burned off of the insides properly before attempting to smoke any food in it. I had washed the smoker inside and out yesterday.  But after about 40 minutes of burning the coals, the temperature had gotten high enough that I felt it was a waste of the coals not to try cooking something in it!  I ran out to my local grocery store and bought some bone-in country style ribs (on sale for $1.29 / lb) to give the smoker a try!

I added additional coals to the pit and smoked the meat with apple wood chunks and seasoned the country ribs with Pork Barrel BBQ's All American Seasoning and Rub on half of the meat and Costco's Flavor Connections Rib Rub and Seasoning on the other half.  I ran the smoker for 1 hour 15 minutes at 255 degrees and then took the meat out and put it in an aluminum foil pan and added Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce and covered it up with foil.  I returned the meat to the smoker and ran it for another 2 hours 15 minutes at an average temperature of 265 degrees.  As the pit temperature started to drop to 237 degrees, it hit 191.7 degrees for the internal temperature of the meat and I decided it was long enough so I took it off the smoker.

Total cook time was 3.5 hours.  The meat was very tender and tasted great!  I think the milder flavoring of the Pork Barrel BBQ rub was better this time.  The other rub by Costco seemed a bit too strong of a flavor this time.  But I suppose if I did not have the two to compare side by side, either one of the rubs would have been fine.

It was nice to monitor the cooking process with the ThermoWorks Smoke thermometer / alarm.  I didn't need to go outside to even check on the smoker or the meat!  The readings on the remote told me what was happening at all times.  When the temperature of the pit started to drop, I knew it was time to either open the lower vents wider on the smoker or to stir up the coals a little.  Both methods immediately added a hotter temperature!  The electronics makes it so much easier to smoke with the WSM!