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1st attempt at ribs, couple questions


 
M

Michael R

New member
On a whim stopped by the local grocery store on the way home today. Been a while since I've had any ribs, beautiful day, so may as well grab a rack at the store. Was thinking St. Louis cut spares when I went in, but back ribs were on sale & that's about all they had. Picked up a rack little over 2lbs and headed home. Fired up the 18.5 using the minion method with 1/2 ring full and 1/2 chimney full lit. Used hot tap water in the pan as I have read it would help with temps as this was only my 3rd cook in the WSM. After putting the cooker together with the fire going, temps quickly went to around 200 on the dome thermometer, kinda stopped there and after about 45 min was around 225. Had to finish some yard work, so went ahead and cut bottom vents down about halfway only to come back 45 min later to find the dome thermometer showing little over 200. Opened bottom vents back to 100% and temps never got much over 250. Left the vents at 100% open for the next 3 hours and temps stayed about the same. Pulled the ribs off after about 4 hrs, cooked all the way though, awesome smoke ring, incredible taste, but a little tough, that means undercooked, right?

So, what suggestions do you have for next time? Ditch the water and go clay saucer? Go more lit to start? Or is there something else I'm missing?

Do have plans on checking dome thermometer in the next day or so and picking up another therm to get temps at the grate.
 
Both times I've done ribs (have had the WSM for under a month, just for reference) I did the coals via the standard method. Figured this would be my best approach as it was a job that would probably take under six hours. Haven't had any temp issues. Perhaps give that a try next time?
 
Mike from what little experience I have I'd ditch the water and use the saucer and pay no attention to the dome reading once you learn the grate temp you can compensate for the difference. The maverick et-732 sure takes the guesswork out of play. I'm sure others on here with more experience will guide you right as they did me. Good luck.
 
Sounds like every thing was working as planned. Were you wanting to run higher than 250. Going to be hard to do with water. I would just do the same thing again but cook them until they are tender. Once you get that down you can start experimenting on different ways to get the same end results that suit you
 
Jeff;
You may have only been about 30 minutes away from tender ribs. I would continue with the same process but don't pull until they are tender. There are a variety of ways to check for tenderness - you can use a toothpick to probe (or an instant thermometer) or you can use the twisting method. At any rate, only use time and temp as a guide. "They ain't done until they're DONE":wsm:

I have been doing the "Tin Can Minion Method" for some time and am extremely happy with it:

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?38885-The-quot-Tin-Can-Minion-Method-quot-with-Pepper-Stout-Beef

I am a fan of the water filled pan - it helps considerably to regulate temperatures. Of course, I am doing my ribs "low and slow" as opposed to "high heat cooks".

Dale53
 
I use a foiled clay flower pot base in the foiled water pan. It give me better temperature control and clean up is way easier.
 
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