I have been having a love/hate relationship with my cabinet/chip smoker. It was really hard to regulate the temps, and keep it from over smoking. I didn't mind the outcome of the first couple tries, but my wife and everyone else was very quick to tell me they didn't like it.
Well, yesterday I decided I was going to try something different and play with the smoker a bit more. Being a propane burner, I moved the soaked chips to the outer edges of the hot plate. This worked much better. I got a nice low blue smoke, and was able to regulate the heat much better.
Threw some ribs on with some of our favorite rubs. I loosely followed the Hey Grill Hey recipe (fun random fact - they used to live in my parents neighborhood). Did ~3-1/2 hours on direct smoke with an apple juice steam bath a mix of cherry and mesquite chips. After that I wrapped them in foil with a little more apple juice, kerrygold irish butter, and a very light sprinkle of brown sugar and put them back on the smoker with the removed bath and hot plate for 2 hours. Final step was to remove them, throw some bbq sauce on them, then back on the smoker for an hour.
They came out perfect, and the bones literally pulled out. I wasn't really sure how all the different flavor combinations were going to come out, and I am usually a dry bbq kind of guy (have hardly ever liked sauces on my bbq) but I did like the option of putting it on and letting it cook in a bit. It wasn't heavy, but it could be tasted. I didn't get the ribs on as soon as I should have, so we ate at 8 PM, but live and learn. Now that I am getting more of the hang of it, its been a lot more enjoyable to mess with and smoke more.
Best part? The wife approved!!