Tell me what you think.
Here's a possible plan. Fill the basket level. Remove the 40 coals, but light only 20 in the chimney. Get an A-maz-en tube smoker lit (the short one) and then dump all the lit coals on ONE side of the basket only. Put the tube smoker away from the lit charcoals on the other side. Hang ribs, put on the lid.
I'm hoping for lower heat for a little bit and enough time to get some wood smoke going really nice. 45 min maybe? And then lighting the other 20 and dumping them in on the other side and starting to the full on cook. How fast will the lit ones light and work their way around the basket?
Or...
How long could I safely let the ribs hang with an unlit charcoal basket and just a lit tube? I'm betting I could go an hour or so at least (maybe 90 min?) because they are about to get hit with hours of high heat anyway, so any surface bacteria that may bloom during the cold smoke period should be sent packing within a short bit anyay. Right?
I'm going to attempt a cold smoke with the tube of some cheddar and mozzerella cheese and some sea salt with apple wood in the PBC here soon. Wish me luck. Wonder if I could hang hard cheeses? Ha! I think itll work!