Christmas Eve was a balmy 9*F in Delaware, with 15 mph winds! The kids wanted BB ribs for dinner. So, I tried out my #2 on the deck but wasn't sure about doing this with the 9* temp. I put two racks of BB ribs in the smoker, crossed my fingers, and gave it shot! I let the #2 go for four hours in the wind, worried that the sides of the smoker never really got warm and that it was not getting to temp. I had a couple smoke "belches" along the way, too. The #2 heating element did cycle on and off as normal, which suggested that the temp inside in the smoker was working correctly, but I still wasn't sure and did not have a temp probe inside the box to monitor.
After four hours, I typically remove the BB ribs, sauce them, and back on the smoker for the last two hours of a 6-hour smoke. Panicked, I decided to remove the ribs from the smoker at four hours, sauce them and finish in the oven at 225F. I suspected that I would need more oven time than 2 hours to finish them, but at 2 hours--they were spot on and likely the best ribs I have made! Fall off --and I mean fall off-- the bone, perfect ribs!
So, while I am not going to do this again, I wanted to share that the SI smokers work well in sub-freezing temps! Today, we are at 33* and I am doing a small pork loin with a temp probe in the box just to make sure I did not do any damage, and then 2 more racks of BB ribs (for neighbors) are on the schedule for Thursday (air temp predicted at 47*).
I sure do love my #2....the smoker that could!
