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I'm a new owner with less than 4 months driving this beautiful 32BB beast and I am desperate need of advice from those with much more experience. Yesterday I cooked 3 lots of beef ribs with a smoked mac and cheese, each set of ribs was around 1.5kg (3.3 pounds). While the whole meal was delicious and all who ate went back for seconds I was confused with the cook and was hoping it would have been moister. I started the cook gradually bringing the cooker up to temp to make sure I didn't overshoot the temp and put the meat on when the lid thermometer showed around 110c (230f). This temp started to climb gradually so I closed the top & bottom gradually to keep the temps in what I thought was the right range. Things were going well and about 4 hours in the meat was at 74c (230f) and we wrapped each in butcher's paper and put them back in the bbq. This is when things got a little confusing for me. For the next 3 hours the meat temperature actually went down a few degrees, see meater graph shown. I played a little with the temp to kick it past the crutch but it just didn't respond. At around the 7 hour mark I wrapped the meat in foil over the butcher's paper and pushed the temp to 150c (230f) and the meat quickly continued to cook to the desired temp about an hour later. As I said the meat was delicious but was hoping it would have been moister. I am concerned the long cook may have dried it out too much. My questions are: Has anyone else experienced 3 hours of stall in their cooking of beef ribs? Should I have wrapped the meat in paper and foil earlier? When doing ribs in the weber kettle I used to double wrap and add beer and butter to keep it moist. I thought with KK's this was not required. Do you wrap and add beer/butter? Is there anything else I should have done here? Please share your wisdom so I can improve.

Well Braindoc they're pruning the orchards about now getting ready for spring and for $80.00 I bought this crate of apple wood. Mind you now this wood is green (fresh off the tree) and a fork truck had to put it in the bed of my truck. Here's some pics to give you an idea of the quantity vs pre bagged. Now if I was to use this as chunks in the KK you could say it's pretty close to a lifetime supply. Earlier this week I bought seasoned limbs enough to fill a cardboard orange crate for $20, that'll tide me over until I cut these into smaller pieces for seasoning. Where there's a will, there's a way.

Geeez, seems like I cooked that ages ago Dennis. If memory serves me right I believe it was a Top Round, nothing special about the cut an ordinary piece, however they sometime talk to you as you pass by at the market, give them a second glance and your walking down the aisle with em. A cut from my family youth, it's revived on occasion to remember a simpler past. Prepared correctly, it's a fine Sunday dinner

@Tyrus, I read through your post again this morning. Having not yet had breakfast, it made me hungry for a pastrami sandwich (why not?). Once again, great cook!

That homemade pastrami looks incredible! The week-long prep and precise temperature control really paid off. A good vacuum sealer, like the promax or introvac vacuum sealer, could come in handy for brining, keeping all those flavors locked in while saving space in the fridge. Definitely inspiring me to try making my own!