Well, last Sunday didn't go as planned. Mother Nature, being the spiteful you-know-what that she is, rained me out. But not before I tried to use the patio umbrella as a shelter, which blew over and broke. I spent the afternoon putting that back together, and the all-day ribs ended up being replaced with chicken thighs. Not a bad substitute, but definitely not what I wanted.
So, the ribs went on the grill on Monday morning. A work day. So no foiling.
The ribs were not as tender as I prefer (and, true to my usual form, I over-smoked them), but I would say the smoking plate worked extremely well.
Charcoal fuse...
Plate!
Grate.
The start temp.
St. Louis on first.
The temp was within 25 degrees of this throughout the day (had someone checking).
Pretty much the end of the cook.
I was able to take some infrared temps. It really wasn't that uneven--240 above the burning coals to 170-ish on the opposite side. The slope on the plate did a great job of funneling drippings into the water pan--the grill is just as clean now as it was before the cook, and all I had to do was empty the ashes out. All in all, I'm feeling pretty good about this device.
Weather permitting, I'll be cooking a couple of baby backs this weekend for my street's rib smoke-off. I'm in charge of finishing the trophy for the event, which I think I'll do after I win it.