Well, I did my first smoke today. It turned out "OK", it's edible, but some lessons have been learned and I suspect many more to come.
I did boneless beef ribs. I set my new #1 smoker at 220. I used 2 of the hickory blocks that I got with the smoker. I also put some beer in the flavor savor reservoir. I had a temperature probe inserted into the thickest piece, but it said it was done after only about 45 minutes. Now, maybe I should have opened her up and taken a peek then, but my wife had said she didn't trust that probe... so I left them in, thinking they couldn't possibly be done in that short a time.
But that kept bugging me, so about another 45 minutes I just opened it up to see what I had. They were very nearly well done, which isn't what I wanted (Bridget likes beef medium to medium-well, I like medium to medium-rare). They are also pretty tough, when I thought low and slow would make them tender. Maybe that's to do with the cut of meat too.
There's no doubt about the smoke, though, good grief they are almost too smoky. Not to the point of bitterness I've read about here and elsewhere, but I think one piece of wood will be plenty for the next time. That's one lesson learned, less is definitely more in this case, and it doesn't take much wood at all to get that smoke flavor going.
Lesson two, much lower temp setting next time until I figure out the balance I need on this smoker.
When I seasoned it last night, with the throttle at the top, it started smoking at about the 15 minute mark. It took about 35 minutes to start smoking today. It was still smoking strongly at the 45 minute mark, but had all but quit smoking at 90 minutes when I checked them and discovered they were actually a bit over done.
Any comments and advice appreciated. I'll probably try something else next weekend, maybe some pork. Suggestions?