First attempt at smoking ribs.....Ever

[Dallas Dan]

I heard you wanted your meat to go on while it's exactly 36 degrees, so it absorbs more smoke. I'm not saying your way is wrong, I'm just saying that I've heard what I just typed. I'd like to hear why you suggest to wait for room temp? Please, and thank you.

"exactly 36 degrees, so it absorbs more smoke" Interesting. From everything I've learned and experimented with, the meat should be brought out of the frig and allowed to warm up a bit before it goes into the smoker. Given the hours it takes to smoke, putting them on cold would only increase the cook time and perhaps make them too smokey tasting. I'm just saying what has worked well for me, but I am certainly open to recommendations.

 

[GreenDrake]

I sauce three times in the last hour, always. Everybody likes it their own way, so good on ya, have fun, eat well.

 

[Elfmaze]

Here they are! Couldn't have done it without the great help of this forum!

 

[Elfmaze]

Everyone loved them, but i would have to say there is room for improvement. One of the racks had nice pullback and i was told it was more thender then the other rack.

i never got to the stage where the bones could just be pulled out off the meat, still needed a bit of work to clean the bone. Flavor was good though.

Temperature hung out around 250 most of the smoke. spikes to 170 when opening the lid. And one dip to 120 that i'm not real sure what caused that one. most of the cook held 150 +/- 15 degrees.

I used 2.5 / 1 / 1 But didn't really know what i was looking for at each stage so this was just follow the leader, i'll have to reserch more what "done" is.

 

[Chris_R]

Looks good man. I'd most definitely hit that.

 

[HeSmellsLikeSmoke]

The temps you report don't make sense. Did you really mean 200's not 100's?

The bend test is better than pull back to indicate doneness. You should cook each one until it is done, not necessarily pull both at the same time.

Those look a bit underdone to my eye.

 

[Elfmaze]

Err yes, 200's. In retrospect, I would agree that they could have used more time.

 

[Frank Grimes]

Nice job for first smoke, it's a hobby that takes a lot of trial and error. I look back on my first season of smoking (before I learned about this forum) and realized I knew very little. But from the trial and error I learned a lot, and now can turn out great food on every cook.

 

[MrOneEyedBoh]

Im getting ready to do some st.louis style ones today too. should be interesting.

 

[gtr]

Looking good! You're off to a good start of an extremely addicting pastime. :thumb

I use the bend test for mine. Grab one end with tongs & lift 'em & see if you make an "L". I have found this to be a better guide than pullback.

 

[PORQY]

"exactly 36 degrees, so it absorbs more smoke" Interesting. From everything I've learned and experimented with, the meat should be brought out of the frig and allowed to warm up a bit before it goes into the smoker. Given the hours it takes to smoke, putting them on cold would only increase the cook time and perhaps make them too smokey tasting. I'm just saying what has worked well for me, but I am certainly open to recommendations.

I've not had problems w/ too much smoke flavor, and, yes, the cold meat does mean for a longer smoke. I heard this 36-degree thing from such a reliable source, I just took it as "law". I will try letting them come to room temp next time. Now I can't wait to do ribs again.

 

[jestridge]

There are no ste rules in bbq , most of the time it someone opinion. As you smoke more you will have your own rules to stand on, Like what wood to use I bet half the people couldn't tell the differance in a blind taste test.

 

[Jay Bird]

What jestridge said ^. A lot of good advice here. Keep good records & find out what suits your wife's taste. :wink: