Hi Friends,

I wanted to smoke some meat the other day, so made a fast trip to a local market and picked up 4 cross cut beef rib chunks, which cost me $28:


![905C28FE-C44E-4ED8-85CE-518AC8122EB2.jpeg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmX22iDvuwFfzNckMPtH8T8TnLctc7UNsnij54mVxMtxdb/905C28FE-C44E-4ED8-85CE-518AC8122EB2.jpeg)


I was working from home that day, so I got the smoker going at lunch with the plan to have it finished at dinner - 4 hours at 225 degrees, and 1 hour at 300 degrees to finish it, and then 15 minutes to let the meat rest - differ would be ready at 5:45! 

Here is my electric smoker in action:


![C1A5C563-6E41-49D3-98DC-E1D29AF3AF1C.gif](https://images.hive.blog/DQmYNbiEanRBh91GLN1jnra5XyxMrRza9RxtRjzvnHT4bJR/C1A5C563-6E41-49D3-98DC-E1D29AF3AF1C.gif)


I have to say that I hate cleaning the smoker as the meat drips are grease and fat, so I put an aluminum catcher under the meat to make things cleaner.  I thought this was a brilliant move, but when I went out at 5:30 to pull the ribs out, the inside of the smoker was on FIRE!  It was a blazing inferno for 30 seconds as I scrambled to pull the meat out and get the blaze under control.  My guess is that the buildup of grease and fat in my catch, ignited and then the blaze at destroyed the meat... not good!  Here are my charcoal brick ribs:


![8329F60A-EEF7-4698-92CD-B7B81375E27A.jpeg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmQHfqBrD2v9vveD4oUCoSPihVkvdcAqMaHUt7YtG3FiHG/8329F60A-EEF7-4698-92CD-B7B81375E27A.jpeg)


Of course, they were inedible. My wife heated up some frozen orange chicken to make up for my lack of ability to deliver the ribs.

The inside of my smoker is covered in black soot, and the grates are pure black too.  I am going to go out and try and clean it this weekend, but it may be beyond repair or not worth the hassle.  If I toasted the smoker, it will be a loss of $28 on the meat and $150 on the electric smoker - what a fail!  

The only silver lining is that the smoker was far enough away from my house not to set it on fire, lol.

Might need to see if @silversaver888 can teach me how to do this properly next time...

Thanks for coming by,
Brian