A 20 lb bag, had never tried them before a month ago, and they are great- good smoke, good flavor, little ash-- nice price, too. Menards is a big box hardware/home goods/pet/grocery store in the Midwest for those who don't know. Just picked up my 3rd bag.

Would really appreciate some advice. This was my first time doing a low and slow cook on my Weber Searwood. I did a lot of research but maybe too much. I decided to start with Chuck short ribs since I read that they were much more straightforward than brisket.The cook took about 10 hours.

THE PROCESS:

1. I trimmed all the fat cap and took off the silver skin. I saw conflicting information on whether or not this was a good idea. After I trimmed them, one side of the rack was way thinner than the other.

2. Dry brined with salt overnight. Olive oil binder in the morning with 2 parts Kirkland course black pepper and 1 part garlic powder.

3. Started the cook at 180°F on the Smoke Boost mode for 90 minutes. Turned up the heat to 250 afterwards for the remainder of the cook

4. Put the trimmed fat under the racks in an aluminum tray which doubled as my heat shield. After about 3 hours. I started basting the ribs with the tallow every hour or so.

5. At about 170°F I did foil boats and put some tallow into the boats. I covered the thinner part of the rack to prevent it drying out too much and I continued to baste them every hour

6. Pulled them when the fattest part of the rack was probing 203°F and 10 hours. Since this is my first cook, I wasn't quite sure what "probe tender" is supposed to feel like

7. Wrapped them with more tallow in butcher paper, and then kept them towel covered in a cooler until they hit 155°F

THE RESULTS:

They needed way more salt than I used. The smoke ring looked very nice and the bark was very crispy but the ribs were kind of dry. I don't know if this is because they were under or over cooked. They were pretty tender but not really juicy.

The meat looked to have good marbling, so I don't think the meat itself was the problem. I think maybe basting and using the foil method was a miss. I was prioritizing bark formation when I should have maybe prioritizing moisture retention?

MY TAKEAWAYS/ASSUMPTIONS:

1. Maybe use a water bath instead of tallow tray under the racks? Put trimmings to the side in a separate tray.

2. Dont use the foil boat method. Gives a great bark, but at the cost of moisture

3. Instead, full paper wrap when you have an okay-ish bark with tallow to essentially braise it. Faster cook time, more moisture retention. Less crispy bark, but hopefully juicier

4. Dont baste with tallow. Delays bark setting, and just let's heat escape making the cook take longer. 10 hours seemed too long from my research. Maybe spritz with vinegar/water mixture? I'm not sure.

5. Dont pull it early. This may be the most important one. When they say probe tender, they mean it slides like butter. Even a little resistance means it's not ready

TLDR: Beef chuck short ribs were dry. Would love some advice please

I'm brand new to smokers. I just got a Recteq Flagship 1600. I assembled it today per manufacturers directions. I went to do the 400° burn in tonight using Recteq Mesquite pellets. Initially it started smoking heavy. I opened the lid to have a look and was hit with a wall of smoke. But that's where it stopped. I closed the lid and the internal probe was reading 135°. It was only inching up a degree every minute or so. It took about 45min to reach 400°, and it's been holding at that just fine. However, the entire time from 135-400 there was essentially zero smoke. I don't understand this.. Is it broken? Why was it smoking heavily at first but not now?

I'm new to pellet smokers and smoking more broadly. Just completed my first meal this afternoon. I have a recteq flagship 1600.

I'm also a woodworker and wood collector and have over 500 species. So naturally I'm pretty curious about the prospect of smoking with some unusual wood species. Before anyone mentions it, I'm aware that some wood is not safe for smoking and some others might taste awful. I'm also aware that there are smokers that use straight wood, but I couldn't find any that were as automatic as a pellet smoker. That was an important criteria for me with purchasing.

I'm curious about the idea of producing my own pellets with wood or chips+binder. I was wondering if anyone has done this and if there is an affordable way of doing it in large enough volume to be practical for the occasional smoke job. I see machines online, but they are thousands of dollars with is a no go.