N
nonthink
Guest
Well I did my 1st rack of spare ribs. I’d like to say they were awesome, but alas, I cannot.
Here’s the story and timetable of events.
Sunday morning.
10:00 – removed ribs from the frig.
I unpacked, rinsed, removed the membrane, and applied KC’s rub which consisted of
1/4 cup sifted brown sugar 1 Tbsp ea: Seasoned salt or Tony C's for extra heat Celery salt Accent (omit if you have msg phobia) Onion Powder Garlic Powder Chili Powder Good Hungarian Paprika 1 tsp Black Pepper
10:22 – ignition.
As you can see from this image I tried something different this time.
The idea was to light the lump. Then dump it in the middle of the unlit lump.
It would slowly burn its way out. Well it didn’t work out that way. The unlit lump went up pretty quickly driving my temps. Up to 300 deg. in my smoke chamber.
I can only imagine what the temp. was in the firebox. It must have been very high because there was damage to the paint on the belly of the firebox, and on top.
I needed to close the intake somewhat to bring down the heat.
10:36 – 250 deg.
I reached my cooking temp. of 250 much earlier then I planed. The ribs had only been out since 10:00. I wanted them to be out for at least an hour before I put them on.
11:00 – ribs meet cooking rack with a gentle sizzle.
My temps. Dropped somewhat even with the intake fully open. So I set up a small fan, set it on low speed, and was able to maintain the temps. by adjusting the distance between the fan and firebox.
I also had to make sure I wasn’t kicking up any ash from the firebox in to the smoke chamber.
I warmed up 4 oz. apple juice, and 4 oz. of vinegar and poured them into a spray bottle. The bottle was kept next to the smoke chamber to keep it warm.
11:30 – 1st chunk of Mesquite, and a spray down.
11:55 – started drinking
12:15 – 2nd chunk
From this point on I’ve been adding chunks, spraying, and adding loads of lit lump.
2:05 – drop in temp.
I don’t think I was adding enough lump because my temps. dropped down to about 200. for about 45 mins. so I decided to leave them on for another half hour to make up the temp. loss. I also doubled the amount of lump I was adding and that seemed to help.
2:30 – wrapped ‘em up
I coated the ribs with diluted apple juice (no vinegar) and wrapped them in foil.
I figured they wouldn’t be getting any smoke while wrapped, so I used charcoal to maintain the temp.
3:30 – I added my last load of charcoal
From this point the smoker was holding steady at 250.
4:30 – unwrapped the ribs
I unwrapped the ribs and sprayed them down. They were left in the smoke chamber for another hour being sprayed down, and no more fuel being added.
5:30 – removed
I removed the ribs, and can see they didn’t turn out that great.
They tasted fine. The thicker parts were moist and falling off the bone, but were bit too charred on the outside for my taste. The thinner part was dried out and pretty much inedible.
I think the next time I do spare ribs I’ll run at lower temps. about 225. I think I should have sprayed them down more often. I also should have poured more liquid in the foil. The ribs looked done when I took them out of the foil. I think next time I’ll keep them wrapped and drop them in the cooler for the last hour.
I learned much on this run. I’m sure many of you will have plenty of tips, and suggestion (which are welcome.)
Hopefully, I’ll get to try again soon. But I think I should repair the heat damage first to the firebox. I guess that’s one of the differences between a low-end model like the SS and some of the better ones.
I’m looking forward to comments. So let me have it.
Here’s the story and timetable of events.
Sunday morning.
10:00 – removed ribs from the frig.
I unpacked, rinsed, removed the membrane, and applied KC’s rub which consisted of
1/4 cup sifted brown sugar 1 Tbsp ea: Seasoned salt or Tony C's for extra heat Celery salt Accent (omit if you have msg phobia) Onion Powder Garlic Powder Chili Powder Good Hungarian Paprika 1 tsp Black Pepper
10:22 – ignition.
As you can see from this image I tried something different this time.
The idea was to light the lump. Then dump it in the middle of the unlit lump.
It would slowly burn its way out. Well it didn’t work out that way. The unlit lump went up pretty quickly driving my temps. Up to 300 deg. in my smoke chamber.
I can only imagine what the temp. was in the firebox. It must have been very high because there was damage to the paint on the belly of the firebox, and on top.
I needed to close the intake somewhat to bring down the heat.
10:36 – 250 deg.
I reached my cooking temp. of 250 much earlier then I planed. The ribs had only been out since 10:00. I wanted them to be out for at least an hour before I put them on.
11:00 – ribs meet cooking rack with a gentle sizzle.
My temps. Dropped somewhat even with the intake fully open. So I set up a small fan, set it on low speed, and was able to maintain the temps. by adjusting the distance between the fan and firebox.
I also had to make sure I wasn’t kicking up any ash from the firebox in to the smoke chamber.
I warmed up 4 oz. apple juice, and 4 oz. of vinegar and poured them into a spray bottle. The bottle was kept next to the smoke chamber to keep it warm.
11:30 – 1st chunk of Mesquite, and a spray down.
11:55 – started drinking
12:15 – 2nd chunk
From this point on I’ve been adding chunks, spraying, and adding loads of lit lump.
2:05 – drop in temp.
I don’t think I was adding enough lump because my temps. dropped down to about 200. for about 45 mins. so I decided to leave them on for another half hour to make up the temp. loss. I also doubled the amount of lump I was adding and that seemed to help.
2:30 – wrapped ‘em up
I coated the ribs with diluted apple juice (no vinegar) and wrapped them in foil.
I figured they wouldn’t be getting any smoke while wrapped, so I used charcoal to maintain the temp.
3:30 – I added my last load of charcoal
From this point the smoker was holding steady at 250.
4:30 – unwrapped the ribs
I unwrapped the ribs and sprayed them down. They were left in the smoke chamber for another hour being sprayed down, and no more fuel being added.
5:30 – removed
I removed the ribs, and can see they didn’t turn out that great.
They tasted fine. The thicker parts were moist and falling off the bone, but were bit too charred on the outside for my taste. The thinner part was dried out and pretty much inedible.
I think the next time I do spare ribs I’ll run at lower temps. about 225. I think I should have sprayed them down more often. I also should have poured more liquid in the foil. The ribs looked done when I took them out of the foil. I think next time I’ll keep them wrapped and drop them in the cooler for the last hour.
I learned much on this run. I’m sure many of you will have plenty of tips, and suggestion (which are welcome.)
Hopefully, I’ll get to try again soon. But I think I should repair the heat damage first to the firebox. I guess that’s one of the differences between a low-end model like the SS and some of the better ones.
I’m looking forward to comments. So let me have it.