1st time - went very well!

[DaveD]

Hi All,

First off, thanks to Chris and all of you for the great info! I've been a sponge for the past few weeks.

My first smoke was a bit aggressive but after a lot of reading and researching, I felt I could pull it off. Did a rack of spareribs and beer can chicken at the same time.

Few days before I did a trial run without food and got use to managing the temperature and all of that plus burning off any oil, etc.

Everything went very well and the temp was easier to manage than I expected.

I have attached a few pics.

Chicken was off at about 4 hours and very tender. I used an electronic thermometer in the thigh.

Question about ribs. Were not as tender as I was hoping for. I did the tear test once but didn't seem tender enough. Did it again about 30-40 minutes later. They were in there for 4.5 hours and I was afraid of overcooking. Maybe they needed some more time? Of course, maybe I am remembering the tenderness of baby backs versus pork spare ribs??

Do you guys wrap in foil and let set for some additional time? Maybe longer cooking time? Any other ideas?

Many thx DD

 

[DaleW]

I'll say that 1st time went well!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Question about ribs. Were not as tender as I was hoping for. I did the tear test once but didn't seem tender enough. Did it again about 30-40 minutes later. They were in there for 4.5 hours and I was afraid of overcooking. Maybe they needed some more time? Of course, maybe I am remembering the tenderness of baby backs versus pork spare ribs??

Do you guys wrap in foil and let set for some additional time? Maybe longer cooking time? Any other ideas?
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

A trick I learned reading Kevin Kruger's posts was to wrap the ribs in foil when you like the color. Keeps 'em from getting too dark and let's them cook till desired tenderness. You can use a probe (like a themometer) through the foil to test for tenderness. Depending on the temperature you're cooking at, ribs can take longer than 4.5 hours, so you might have needed just a little more time.

 

[TravisH]

Sometimes, when you're "afraid of overcooking", you let them go a little longer.

Either let them go longer or use foil as in the 3-2-1 and 2-2-1 methods. (Hrs in smoke - Hrs in foil - Hrs in smoke)