The Weber Char-Q was only produced for 3 years between 2008-2011.
It’s a well built charcoal grill with porcelain coated grates and a cast aluminum body.
Because of it’s funky bottom vent I wan’t sure if I would be able to hold steady temps under 300 degrees.
Using the snake method it proved to be an excellent smoker holding temps under 300 the entire time with barely any vent adjustments and it barely used any charcoal.
Watch the video to see how it performed and the grill set-up to achieve pit temps between 230-290 throughout the cook without having to fuss with the vents much..
First step marinate the country ribs in Chinese Rib Sauce for at least an hour preferably overnight. I got this Butcher Block Sauces Original Chinese Rib Sauce at Market Basket.
Set up your kettle for indirect heat. I used a slow n sear on the right and be sure to line the other side of the charcoal grate with foil as this sauce is STICKY!
Using a chimney of lit coals, choke down the top vent half way and bottom vent half way and adjust accordingly to achieve around 275 degrees. Once the kettle is up to temp place the marinated country ribs opposite the coals at 275 degree pit temp for an hour. Add fruit wood (peach, apple, cherry) if you got it for smoke.
Leave the lid closed for an hour . About 45 minutes into the cook add a half a beer into a foil pan. I only had a couple of small foil pans so I used about a quarter of a beer in each one and then about 8 oz of the Rib sauce into each pan and whisk it together so the rib sauce is less gooey. If you have one large on it will work just as well. This will be your braising liquid.
After one hour in the smoke pull the country style ribs one by one off the grate and dredge them in the braising liquid coating both sides and then put them in the foil pan with the juices you dredged them in. Once you have them all in the foil pans cover them with foil and place them back on the grill for another hour, opposite side of the coals.
After the second hour take the ribs out of the foil pans and place them directly over the coals and mop them with the remaining Chinese rib sauce. A couple of minutes on each side til the edges just start to burn. you don’t mind a little caramelization, it’s what makes it delicious. Pay attention though, there’s a ton of sugar in that sauce and if you let it go too long it will be black. So just keep an eye on it.
You take a cheap cut of meat and turn it into something outrageously delicious.
You won’t to be able to stop eating these, so yummy.
Fired up the Weber Kettle using the snake method. Cherry for smoke.
Trimmed the fat collar off the pork shoulder and put on a dry BBQ rub.
Placed a drip tray on the charcoal grate under the shoulder and let smoke roll starting at 9:30AM. The kettle ran between 220-26 all day with very few adjustments. Didn’t open the lid til 1:30.
Spritzed the shoulder with root beer every 30 minutes or so until we got to an internal temp of 170. She sat n the stall at 160 degrees for over an hour or so.
Once the shoulder was 170, I pulled it off and cut one inch (roughly) chunks out of it. Took the drip pan that was under the but and put all the cut up ends in along with a small bottle of Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce, a half can of root beer and a bunch of rub and mixed it all up.
At this point with the meat at 170 it still isn’t tender. Placed two layers of foil covering the top of the foil pan. At this point it was 2:30 and we had been cooking since 9:30 about a three pound shoulder. 5 hours.
Left the meat to braise, covered for another hour til 3:30.
After the hour braising I uncovered it and gave it a good toss to make sure all the bits were coated. The liquid in the pan at this point you want to caramelize and reduce. The foil is removed and every half hour or so I gave it another toss. This is where the magic happens, the sweetness from the sauce and the root beer combine with the saltiness from the rub and the smoke and Oh My God It’s Truly Meat Candy.
Malcom Reed has what I consider to be one of the best YouTube channels for all your BBQ needs- HowToBBQRight
Malcom explains everything concisely without pretense and the videos are edited so you can follow along without having to sit through the entire process. He hits the main points and sends you on your way. He also happens to sell great BBQ Rubs under the Killer Hogs Brand which you can find here on Amazon
The BBQ Rub is excellent. I highly recommend it and may go in for the five lb bag if anyone wants to split it up with me.
This cook was pretty straightforward. 250 degrees. Ribs cooked offset the coals. Charcoal arranged with the snake method. Apple chips for smoke. Foil under the ribs to collect the drippings. After 3.5, hours wrap in foil with a couple of squirts of BBQ sauce. Back on the grill for another 2 hours. When checking to see if they’re done I use a pair of tongs and lift the ribs from about the halfway point of the ribs. If they bend easily I know they are done. Another way to tell if they’re done is if the bark separates when you bend them.
Prepped the St Louis pork ribs by first trimming off the silverskin membrane, light slather of mustard to hold the rub and then hit it with my pork rub.
Next filled right side of PK 360 with a full chimney of unlit coals. Placed 10 briquettes in the chimney to get going and dumped on one corner of the unlit coals and sprinkled on some cherry wood for smoke. Put down a sheet of tin foil and aluminum trays on the charcoal grate under where the ribs will be placed on the opposite side of the grill from the coals. Fill the foil pan a quarter of the way with warm water to help retain a moist smoking environment. The foil will keep the bottom of the grill easy to clean from the fat drippings that will render throughout the low and slow cooking session.
Place a remote thermometer in , leave all the vents wide open and wait for the pit to come up to 200 degrees. Once it does place a rib rack over the foil pan and bend the ribs into the slots making sure they don’t touch each other so all sides of the meat get exposed to the smoke. If they touch, in those spots they are touching you won’t develop bark.
Once you have your ribs placed, close the lid close the bottom left vent and the top right vent. This will draw air up from the bottom of the PK 360, through the coals and wood and the smoke that is a result will pass over your ribs out the top vent on the opposite side of the grill. It forces the air flow the way you want it when smoking meat.
It was extreme cold here so those were the vent settings that allowed the coals to burn at a rate that resulted in 250 pit temps throughout the cook without having to adjust the vents. If it was 80 degrees outside instead of 8 degrees I’d simply choke down those two vents a little more to keep the pit temps in the smoking range rather than hotter for direct grilling.
This cook was pretty much set it and forget it, the PK 360 held the temps like a champ despite the frigid cold temps
Northeast BBQ 