This weekend I'm planning on smoking 6 racks of BBs on my 18.5" WSM. I have a weber rib rack which only holds 4 racks. Should I place the other 2 against the rack or should I skewer them and set them on the bottom rack?
Next question: After reading many posts here, I bought a 12" clay saucer to put in the water pan. Should I follow the Minion method or go back to the BRITU recipe?

Use bottom rack, use minion.

Thanks Dave - About how long (ballpark it) from putting the ribs on until they're done?
Steve

Steve, cook time varies depending on heat and your methods. If using low heat and foile probably around 4 hrs. You gotta cook em till their done. Many methods to check doneness. Toothpic is easy, insert in meat till it goes in with little resistance. Cook time also depends on how done you want them ie. fall off the bone or a little pull when you bite. Have fun you'll get the hang of it.

Mark

or you could use the 3-2-1 method of cooking them. Worked awesome for me on my uds!

I did the "Basic baby back ribs" recipe from the cooking topics section of this website a few weeks ago on my gasser ( before I got my new 18 in. WSM) and they turned out great. Don't taste "basic" at all. I can't wait to try the same recipe on the weber bullet. It takes about 4 - 4.5 hours cooking @ 225-250. I have 2 weber rib racks and I did half racks rather than whole racks. Its a good, easy recipe for someone who's new to smoking. Good luck.

I am a new WSM bullet purchaser. and a first time poster as well.

This site is awesome!

I have a side ribs question.

I intend to do my first cook using the Memphis magic dust rub


3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup garlic powder
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons ground ginger powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 teaspoons rosemary powder


I like my ribs saucy, so what kind of sauce (homemade) would you guys recommend to go with these side ribs?

quote:

Originally posted by Darren Bird:
I am a new WSM bullet purchaser. and a first time poster as well.

This site is awesome!

I have a side ribs question.

I intend to do my first cook using the Memphis magic dust rub


3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup garlic powder
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons ground ginger powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 teaspoons rosemary powder


I like my ribs saucy, so what kind of sauce (homemade) would you guys recommend to go with these side ribs?

I use #5 sauce and tweek to taste. Always comes out good. Oh I do cut the vinegar by 1/2 from the original recipe.

Mark

Thanks!

One other question I forgot.

What kind of wood would you use recommend for this?

I have apple, mesquite, and hickory available right now.

I use apple and that works great with any pork.

But its a taste question and there is no right answer.

But I use apple for pork,some might say a mix of apple/hickory its upp to you and what you like.

For wood try 3 to 1 apple and hickory. Hickory adds a bit of that kick or "smokey" flavor, but apple adds a more subtle complex smoke. Anyway thats my $.02

Also, I do the #5 sauce as is. I try to make it a day before (it gets better), add drippings from a cook (flavor plus smoke), and let it simmer and reduce for about an hour. Sometimes I'll splash in some honey or juice.

Thanks for all the help guys. I am going to take the plunge with me brand new WSM 18.5 tomorrow.

A question about cook time. Assuming I can keep the temps in that 250 to 275 range. how long should I wait before I start checking for done-ness? 3.5 hours or so sound reasonable? I will used the tooth pick test I guess

Expereince is our best teacher, but not all the time will simply timing the ribs alone do us right. This weekend I cooked two St Louis trimmed out spares. They were really thick and meaty. My normal time for spares is 3-1-1 and normal time for BB's is 2-1-1 at 225 degrees.
Even tho the spares were super thick, I decided to stick with the 3-1-1 plan and adjust extra cooking time on the end if needed. After the foil phase was completed, I unwrapped the ribs and picked them up. Half the bones started falling out of the racks and I knew they were wayyy too done.
So, just when you think you got it figured, this kind of thing happens. I guess we are dealing with the meat itself and the layers of fat in the thick meat. What else is there if all else stays the same? I run a Guru which keeps temps on target.

Not too sure what "3-1-1 plan" means. I was not planning on foiling the ribs or anything, just put them on the smoker and "let er' buck"

How long should I leave them alone before i start checking them?

Darren, 3-1-1 plan is 3 hrs on grate, 1 hr in foil, 1 hr on grate (out of foil). Putting ribs or other meat in foil generally quickens cooking time as well as other stuff. You can figure about 4-5 hrs for ribs low and slow. Some folks baste or spray while cooking and you can check doneness at any time. A quick peak won't hurt anything.

Mark

Well I smoked my first rib feast and I have to say I was actually a bit disappointed!
I used Memphis magic dust rub and apple wood chips for smoke. I did not foil the ribs. They were on there for about 4 ½ hours. I used baby backs instead of side ribs (I mis read the package) During the last ½ hour or so I used sauce No. 5.
I took some aluminum foil and put the wood chips in that. 3 balls(about fist sized) of chips total.

Two of the balls burned a bit (like lots of smoke billowing out)

Here were the things I did not like
1. I am not used to smoked meat, and it tasted really Smokey! Like almost overpowering. How can I mitigate that? Use less chips I guess? It almost smelled like ham to me actually. (no the ribs were not treated beforehand)

2.The meat was not as tender as I would have expected, not too sure how to deal with that. Foil them perhaps?

3.I am used to sweet ribs, and between the rub and the sauce, they really were not sweet at all. Can anyone recommend a good rub/sauce combo that would result in a sweeter outcome?

Can anyone offer up any suggestions so I can improve upon my last attempt? My pride is hurt a little and I want to redeem myself.

Darren 1 : yea use less wood thats a good start if they tasted to mutch smoke.

2 : Well foiling helps with tenderness,but i dont foil myself i just cook em longer then 4 1/2hours after around 4 1/2 -5 hours i check how tender they are by sticking my meat probe between the bones(that sounded weird) it should go thru the meat with very little resistance or like butter.

3 : I dont really like em to sweet myself but " http://www.sweetbabyrays.com/ " would be good for the finishing sacue if you dont wanna do your own. And for the rub here is a sweet one that i havent tryed myself but it might be good for you,and if you wanna add spices do that ot take some out:

* 1 cup brown sugar, dark
* 1/2 cup paprika
* 2 tablespoon salt
* 1 tablespoon black pepper
* 1 tablespoon white pepper
* 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
* 1 tablespoon garlic powder
* 1 tablespoon onion powder

If you like sweet, try foiling them at the 3 hour mark with about a half cup brown sugar, 2-3 tablespoons of butter, and 3 tbs cider vinegar. They will be done about 2 hours later and have a great sweet flavor (this is a steve raichlen recipe).

Or take the number 5 sauce from the site and add 1/2 cup of honey before you glaze.

For sweet, the BRITU recipe is hard to beat.

I know you may be opposed to the foiling method since I was the same way. However, so many of the competitive cook teams DO foil their ribs, that I finally figured something good was up with that.
Maybe something simple like a bit of Emerils essence as a dry rub. Cook back ribs on the grate at 225 for two hours with only a couple of tangerine sized chunks of hickory (no mesquite if you want less acrid), foil one hour, then one more hour back on the grate unwrapped. This is called the 2-1-1 method for baby backs. Finish by glazing with Sweet Baby Rays two or three times as your sauce sets.
Don't be discouraged. It takes lots of tries to adjust cooking times and flavor profiles to your liking.