can we please talk about ribs...

use spares. skip the brine. cook hotter. use commercial rubs and sauces. foil with more than just AJ. sauce last 5-15 minutes or out of cooker.

if you look around here, you can find what i do exactly.

have fun experimenting and good luck!

First a few questions:
Where are you getting hit in your scores? Taste, tenderness or both?

How is your sauce? Here in the Midwest uber sweet seems to rule.

When you wrap are you using anything other than apple juice? (ie brown sugar, honey, squeeze butter?)


My suggestion would be to skip the brine, and add a little something extra to the foil when you wrap. Also two hours in foil for BB's seem a little long. I cook BB's at 240 and 1 hr. foiled seems to work for me.

In general, here is what I do:
Pull the membrane
Trim anything that looks like something I dont want to eat but don't go crazy.
Rub an hour before I put on the smoker
Bring the pit up to 240.
I do spray my ribs but I wait until the rub has set before I start. After that I spray about every half hour.
At the three hr mark I wrap in foil.
At the 4hr mark I unwrap and pour any foil juice back over the ribs and apply sauce and or glaze.
'Bout 30 minutes later I pull off to prepare to make the boxes.

As I'm sure you know, the trick is to not have them falling apart tender. However, always error on the side of over tender. In my experience, everyone agrees on a tough rib. Too tender is debatable. A good friend of mine says they should "Feel like a wet dish rag" in the foil. After you take them out of the foil, if you find yourself thinking "Oh no, I may have gone too far on tenderness" odds are you are right on, they will come back together a little as they cool. Of course, if you know for a fact "I have gone too far" then there isn't much you can do except hope you can get six ribs that stay together enough to put in a box.
But dont worry, I have seen overcooked falling apart ribs take first place. See note above about over tender being debatable.

Hope this gives you something to consider.
This is just what I do and it seems to work for me in a Backwoods.
_Aaron

Why do you feel the need to brine your ribs? I would also start using commercial rubs and sauces to start out so you have a baseline, cook your ribs at 275*, layer some flavorsand add a little heat to balance all the sweet.....

2 hours in foil with aj seems like it would wash alot of flavor out

did someone say skip the brine?

good idea.

I think I do this a little diffrently than most. I pull the membrane and trim. I make a wet rub of salt, sugar, spices, honey, mollasses, and thin it down with AJ. I put them in the marinade right after meat inspection and take them out 1 hour before they go on the cooker. i apply my dry rub right away and then reapply right befor they go on. I cook at 230 for 4 1/2 hours in a rib rack. I don't foil. I start spritzing 2 hours into the cook and then every 30 minutes. I remove them with 30 minutes to go and lay them flat to sauce. This seems to be very different than most but my results speak for them self. I've only cooked 4 events and I have gotten a first, fifth, six, and a 15th in westmont. I think I would of done better in westmont if the ribs didn't have to wait a extra 2 hours for turn in.

I forgot to say I use babybacks

No brine and don't rub as early, all that salt and time will cure your rib and give you a hammy taste. I thought my homemade rub was really good when I started 4 years ago too ... get some Head Country for now and then go back to your rub when you realize comps are all about sugar and salt in the right ratios.