It's Been 6 Months

I finally was able to find a weekend to dedicate to smoking some meat. I placed the 11 lbs brisket on the grill @ 8:30 AM with a basic fajita rub and salt. Two hours later I added the pork loin baby back ribs (2.5 lbs) along with some fryers...my lunch. I rubbed both with a mixture of a basic rib rub, brown sugar and salt. The rub went under and over the skin of the fryers who were placed skin side down and flipped after an hour. I ate them an hour later for lunch and flipped the ribs to bone side down. Two hours or so is perfect for the fryers. At 12:30 I put on the chicken that was wrapped in foil and rubbed with fajita seasoning and salt. I also placed a flank steak that was cut in strips on the top tray. The strips marinated over night. They came off after 2.5 hours and were excellent. I took the ribs, chicken and brisket off @ 5:30. The smoker stayed around 200 degrees all day. The point of the brisket was @ 190 but after taking it off, the flat was @ 150. I'm still cooking unevenly. My point was directly over the spot where the heat leaves the firebox. I might need to move the brisket further back next time.

Father's Day

I decided to work extra hard and smoke for Father's Day. I got the brisket on @ 7AM. It was 9 lbs and rubbed with a Fajita Seasoning and salt. I put the 4 lbs of ribs on @ 10AM with a basic rib rub and brown sugar along with a link of sausage. I put 2 chicken fryers on as an experiment: one had the fajita rub while the other had the rib rub with brown sugar. After two hours I took the sausage and fryers. The brown sugar one was great. Two hours is the perfect length for fryers and sausage. While taking lunch off, I put some flank steak jerky on the top rack and 9 split chicken breasts wrapped in foil on. The jerky marinated overnight in a Teriaki mixture and the chicken only had the fajita rub on it. The plan was to take the jerky and chicken off after 4 hours, but I could get my heat up. I could barely get it to 250, but it wouldn't stay. I normally use one 18 lb bag of charcoal but used two. I'm not sure what my problem was. It was frustrating. Because the heat was low, I didn't want to lose more by removing the jerky and chicken, AND I was nervous that it would not be done. I learned my lesson, the jerky was charred and chicken was on the dry side when I took it off @ 5:30 with the brisket. The brisket was even overdone. I tried branding it but was unsuccessful because of the charred exterior. Next time the jerky and chicken only stays on for 4 hours. The ribs came off an hour later which were a little over done as well. I'm not sure what went wrong with the heat. Was my thermometer in the wrong place or reading incorrectly? Why was the meat over cooked yet I didn't have the heat up? I think something has to do with my air flow through my firebox. The brisket was okay along with the chicken and ribs. The chopped bbq was the best I ever made. The smoked chicken salad was excellent the next day as well.

Ribs

The coals got going @ 8:30, and I threw a 9 lb fajita seasoning & salt rubbed brisket on 30 minutes later. Some store brand sausage were on for about 2.5 hours and were a great lunch. Sausage is super easy. Six split chickens and the ribs were added @ 1:00 wrapped in foil. I rubbed the chickens with the same rub as the brisket but used a basic rub seasoning for the 3.5 lbs of ribs. Since this is my first time for ribs, I decided to go easy and get the butcher trimmed beef ribs. I also made some jerky that is basically two flanks steaks cut into strips and marinated over night in a Teriyaki concoction. They were placed also @ 1:00 on the top shelf that was covered with foil. I removed the foil from the ribs after an hour and the chicken after 3 hours. The jerky was great at 5:00 although those closest to the firebox were much drier but still good. I took the chicken off after 5 hours. I totally forgot to mop the ribs so when I took the brisket off @ 7:00 (10 hours) and rested them on the cooler, the ribs got a quick coat of sauce and stayed on until 8:00 (7 hours). I was able to keep the temperature above 250 and am happy to say that it was closer to 275 most of the time. Everything turned out great. I've learned that meat further from the fire box cooks at a much lower temperature so I'll continue cooking the chicken on the far side of the grill. The next day I took a bunch of the chicken and made smoked chicken salad. It was fantastic.