Old Country Wrangler Smoker first cook and I need some help

[smokeasaurus]

It all started out so good. Went -6- hours for the cook. Pit ran between 225 and 250. I heated up the mini-splits and kept the firebox lid open until the smoke let up and then closed the lid.
Enjoy the pics and then I will ask for help.










Everything looks good right?  Wrong!! The ribs seemed dark to me everytime I went to spritz em with apple sauce. I figured that was from the wooster sauce and rub and the post oak I was using.

When I took them out, the undersides were burnt. Some of the tops of the ribs were crispy as well.

What gives??

Temps were never over 250.  Ribs were on the far left side. I do remember that when the pit came up to temp and I put the ribs on the cooking grates they sizzled.

So here is what I think: for some reason the heat is too intense at grate level and I will get a heavy duty water pan to set in the bottom of the barrel to help with the heat burning the undersides of my food.

Help LTBBQ...help...whatcha think??

[teesquare]

Sounds like you are on the right track Smoke... If you hav a Maverick 732  or other 2 channel remote digital thermometer, why not place "oven" probe  at approx 1 or less above the grate - and try several locations to see what the grate level heat truly is, and what your variations/hot-spots look like?

[smokeasaurus]

It was the entire grate Tee. All three ribs on the rack were burned on the underside. I just don't get it. I was never over 250 degrees and was mostly at 225 and around 200 when I was getting the splits to burn for refills..........

[sparky]

its not the chef.  must have gotten some crappy ribs.  ok, problem solved.  you just need to get the pit more dirty.  all my smokers work better after I get them yucky. 

[Pappymn]

I feel your pain brother. Chin up partner. We live to cook another day

[smokeasaurus]

I have never had this problem in an offset. Even when I had the Quality Grill with the coals in the same chamber as the meat I never had the meat burn. The ribs looked like they were cooked directly over the coals.......

[muebe]

Smoke you need to check that thermometer. It has to be wrong.

They are not gonna burn like that at the temps you were cooking.

[teesquare]

Smoke you need to check that thermometer. It has to be wrong.

They are not gonna burn like that at the temps you were cooking.

Exactly what I was thinking when I posted earlier...sorry I did not type that as well... That is why I would definitely do a thermometer at grate level check, even standard oven thermometers would give you another reference.

[Smokin Don]

Smoke you are doing OK, just serve them burnt side down! That's the way my wife did it before she learned not to burn the meat! Sorry just could not resist that!!! Don

[smokeasaurus]

Smoke you need to check that thermometer. It has to be wrong.

They are not gonna burn like that at the temps you were cooking.

Exactly what I was thinking when I posted earlier...sorry I did not type that as well... That is why I would definitely do a thermometer at grate level check, even standard oven thermometers would give you another reference.

I ordered a Tel-Tru. I ordered it before I cooked today cause the Old Country thermo is hard to read. I will get that thermo put in when I get it and do a test run with the same sized fire........

[veryolddog]

I am just speculating, but your getting a Tru Tel thermometer is a positive step. See, if you can get some input from Jaxon, since his unit is the basically the same. From your pictures, it does not seem that the firebox has too big of a fire. The other thing that I would suggest is look at creating a baffle effect from the opening of the fire box across 85 per cent of the pit itself. You can do this by purchasing metal plates from 3/16 to 1/4 inch in thickness about 6 to 8 inches wide and ~15 or so inches in length and begin laying them from the baffle of the firebox so that they are over the opening. Try four plates. Leave a one to two inch gap between the plates  across the bottom of the pit and below the grate. This will distribute the heat by diffusing the heat and distributing the heat evenly across the bottom of the pit to the chimney. If grill grates would work try that. This is what I am trying to say.





Try the new thermometer first and get some ribs that you can test on the unit again. If that does not work, then try a heat baffle.

Ed

PS: you might want to obtain a couple of grill surface thermometers or that laser device that reads temperatures off of the heat surface. I got two inexpernsive grill surface thermometers by Kingsford so that I could see the heat differential across the grill surface with the heat management plate provided by Yoder. There is a difference across the grill where the side towards the firebox is the hottest and the side nearest the chimney is the coolest. If I remember there was about a 50 degree swing. Something to think about.

[sliding_billy]

I'll pile on here... Built in thermometer is the problem.  Need something at grate level (both sides) for sure.

[Hub]

One more thing to think about while you're troubleshooting:  If your rub contained high concentrations of either white or dark sugar it won't take super-high temps to burn it.  Paprika will also blacken excessively, even at lower temps. 

Hub

[smokeasaurus]

I checked the bottom of the smoking chamber this morning and all the grease that had fallen throughout the cook was burnt to a crisp. I have a bunch of scraping to do this evening............

[muebe]

Smoke was that cooker in the shade the whole time or perhaps did it get hit with direct sunlight when you were not looking?

The sunlight could have increased the the pit temps to where it got hot enough to start a small grease fire in the bottom.

I am still leaning toward a faultly thermometer however.