First cook completed, wife's birthday coming up this weekend and need help!

allegry

So I just got my new large BGE set up Monday and finally got a chance to cook on it tonight. First thing was to calibrate the thermometer....which was 10 degrees low, but I'm not sure how to reset the dial.  Any tips on that would be appreciated. 

For tonight, I decided I would go with some fajitas (a quick, easy dinner for a weekday night).  I picked up some dirt cheap flank steaks (only about 1/2" thick though) and threw them on, and promptly ruined them (judgement error on cooking time).  Fortunately I had some chicken breasts thawing in case I screwed that up, so I seasoned it up grab my new meat probe and threw them on.  ~20 minutes later (cooking at 375-400) I had absolutely perfect chicken breasts that were juicier and more tender than I'd ever made before - ready for plating.  The fajitas were fantastic!

While this particular cook turned out well, I'm looking for any tips to improve my temperature control.  This weekend is my wife's birthday and we are having a bunch of folks over to celebrate and watch some NCAA football (GO GATORS!).  On the menu I have jalapeno poppers and smoked ribs (and a couple pizzas, but those will go on my tried and true indoor oven/stone method in case of disaster).  I can cook the poppers early and bring the temp down for the rib smoke later (from what I've read it should take ~ 4 hours @ 250-275 for the ribs).  Ideally I'd like to be able to wander off for 10-15 minutes at a time to grab a beer, chit chat, or watch a couple plays without needing to babysit my Egg.  Tonight I found that my temperatures tended to rise quickly and cool slowly, but it seems that every minor adjustment would adjust my temps far more drastically than intended, even though I was only making small adjustments (or so it seemed anyway) - resulting in me having to sit with my Egg with barely time to grab a new drink and hit the head before needing to check my temps again.  My basic technique was to adjust the inlet for major changes, adjust the full top for medium changes, and leaving the daisy cap closed unless i needed very minor bumps in temperature. 

If anyone has tips or suggestions I would really appreciate it, as I'm cooking for 12-15 people, not to mention it's my wife's birthday and I'm still trying to justify my purchase!

Planned cook for the ribs:
Prep ribs on Friday night by removing membrane and covering in a local spiced/hot mustard from my farmer's market.
Saturday after jalapenos are done: Stir charcoal and clear any ash, adding if necessary (not expected).
Apply my personal rib rub (cinammon, nutmeg, allspice, thyme, sage, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, cayenne, paprika)
Bring probe temp (at grate level) to ~250degrees. 
Add soaked applewood chips (using a thin, small spiral pattern)
Set ribs in vertical rack and smoke for ~4 hours or until probe, which is now in the thickest rib meat section, reads ~180.
Pull and let rest in wrapped foil for 15 minutes.

Any suggestions on changes to the planned recipe would be great as well!  I'll be cooking 3-4 racks of pork spare ribs.

Cowdogs

First off, I think this is a pretty ambitious plan for a second cook.  I cooked a dozen times on the egg before I subjected myself and guests to party ... but it may work for you.

I would plan the cook differently. 

1. Start with a nice xtra-full load of lump.
   
2. Smoke the ribs, for a few hours at 250 indirect (of course).  Follow some tried and true recipe on this forum.
   
3. Take ribs off the egg, and into foil, and into oven. 
   
4. Then run the jalapenos at a higher temp, perhaps like 350, indirect again. 
   
5. When jalapenos are done in about 45-60 minutes, serve them hot off the grill as an app.
   
6. Sauce ribs, and return them to egg for 1/2 hour at 325-350, and serve them hot off grill.
7. Now you can try pizzas, I would flip plate setter, add coals if needed, add pizza stone, open bottom vent, remove top vent, wait 15 minutes, add pizza.

Good luck.

4Runner

http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/

 

Good link to have.

allegry

Thanks for the tips guys!

I agree this is an ambitious cook, but what the wife requests for dinner on her birthday she gets....

I'll post some pictures when all is said and done.