cooking at almost 6000 ft???

[Hunter Lewis]

Hey guys, i was just ccurious how much i have to prolong my cooking times since im cooking at almost 6000 feet. My second rib effort was better than the first, but still not falling off the bone, and i think i used too much rub? If anybody else around tthe denver area has input i would certainly appreciate it

Smoke on

Hunter

 

[K Kruger]

Hunter--

Cooks will take longer at higher altitudes, by how much it is hard to say. The big deal is getting your cooker up to temp since the coal is a bit deprived of oxygen from the get-go. Are you able to get your temps up okay?

Are you looking for falling off the bone? If so, are you foiling at all? If so, at what point do you foil and for how long?

 

[Hunter Lewis]

I have not bee having any problems getting temps up, but i have never tried to get them anny higher than about 265. As for the ribs, i tried foiling them last time and it ccertainly helped. Here is roughly what i did: Fired up the cooker with the minion method, got it to about 240 and slowed it down. I cut the racks in half because i dont have rib racks yet. I smoked them for about 3 hrs, turned them, and let them go for another 2 hrs. After that, i pulled them off and foiled them with some apple and pineapple juice in them. (as a side note, the heavy foil kept getting little tiny holes in it and the juice kept leaking out) i put them back in the smoker for about an hour and then pulled them off, and glazed them on the grill real quick. Let me know what you think, i know it is alot of trial and error, but i want to steepen the learning curve!

Smoke on

Hunter

 

[K Kruger]

Okay--I'm making a few assumptions. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm assuming you're measuring temps at the lid, that you're cooking spares and not babybacks, and that you're cooking on the top rack. I'm further assuming that you're spares are large--4 lbs or so?

It's not necessary to turn the ribs. You can, I don't; I just cook bone down (unless I roll them, something you can do to avoid cutting them in half--see here).

I prefer not lifting the lid till I foil (thus I do not mop). I don't time the first part of the cook; rather I look for deep color on the ribs. I used to foil sooner than I do now. (The last time it was about 4.5 or so hours at 250 lid to arrive at a rich color.) Then I foil with a little juice (I've been using pineapple with a bit of tamarind of late, whatever you wish is fine)--single sheet--and wrap tightly, one slab per 'package'. I'm not looking for fall-off-the-bone (I want pull (kind of easily) off the bone with my teeth). I cook in foil just till tender. I use a toothpick inserted between the bones to check tenderness. For the slabs I select, which have been very consistent lately, this has been about 65 minutes, give or take 10. Then I remove them from the foil, return them to the grill for a few to firm up a bit, and that's it. (If I were to glaze it would be here, as you do.) A shorter time out of foil at the outset and a longer time in the foil would give me fall-of-the-bone.

It's important to be careful when foiling not to allow holes in the foil. I know this can be a PITA.

I don't know if you make your own rubs or not (I do) but if you do I'd suggest making them without salt. Salt the ribs separately first, as much as you think you'd use if they were already cooked but unsalted and you were about to eat them. Allow them to sit several minutes till they look quite moist, then apply your rub. You can vary the rub amount this way without affecting the salt level. It easier to then determine how much rub you prefer.

It seems to me that you're approach is sound. It doesn't seem that you're ending up with dry or tough ribs so you're on the right track. I think you're more at the tweaking-your-approach stage rather than on a major learning curve jag. Make a few adjustments and see what you think. Try to find ribs that are consistent in size and appearance while you play. That lessens the possibility of yet other variables affecting your outcome and you'll hone in more quickly on an approach you prefer.

Hope this helps.

 

[Hunter Lewis]

Kevin,

my temps are measured at the grate (top) and i have been using the top rack for cooking. I have done one set of spares, which i didnt foil at all, they were not cooked long enough. I think they only got cooked for about 5 hours. The second set was baby backs. I look for some of the meat to be receiding from the end of the bones as well as color for an indicator of first level doneness. In retrospect i realized that the meat had not receded from the ends of the spares on my first smoke. With the toothpick method, what are you really feeling for? softness and easy to poke through the meat? Finally, as for dry rubs, i have found a number of reipes and they all seemed to have a lot of salts in them- garlic salt, onion salt etc. as well as regular salt. my last batch definitely tasted too salty so if you have a dry rub that you use less salt in, i would be delighted to hear what it is. Thanks so much for all your help Kevin, I know some of these questions are ones you have answered a million times and i feel like they are dumb. One more thing- i have a brisket on the smoker this very minute, it went on at about 1030 last night annd it is now 730 in the morn. I have left it fat cap up the whole time and only basted it with apple juice once so far. Do i need to do annything else or am i in pretty good shape?

Thanks,

Smoke on

Hunter

 

[K Kruger]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">softness and easy to poke through the meat? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes. I'm looking for just tender--in like butter.

Rubs: I particularly like this one for ribs. If you don't have the ingredients available then this one for butt works well on ribs. But feel free to sub ingredients.

There are no dumb questions. Many of us have answered many of the same questions many times but it's not a big deal. There is a lot of info Chris has organized into the tabs at the tops of theses pages (and well worth perusing) and much can be found using the Find tab, but since Q is more art than science, and since many approaches can work, and since there are (apparently) conflicting approaches, and since it takes time to realize where the info is located etc., sometimes asking questions is in order. But do tool around the site when you can.

Your brisket cook sounds good. Jim Minion (creator of the Minion method, a Q god (really!), and a frequent contributor here) suggests fatcap down for briskets in a WSM, and I and many others have adopted that approach, leaving it down throughout the cook. The fatcap does not render during the cook anyway, but placed on the bottom instead, will help protect the meat emanating from the bottom of the cooker. Works for me. When you rest it, rest fatcap up.

I don't mop or baste but it is fine if you do. Since you are at the moment, flip your meat at the next mop. (Just a suggestion.)

What are your internal and grate temps? What size brisket? Is it a packer or a flat?

 

[Hunter Lewis]

Ok, that is great stuff Kevin. I have run my thermo pprobe through 2 wine corks so it will lay flat on my cooking grate without touching it. my grate temp has been between 220 and 240 the entire cook. I even went to bed last night at 12:30 with a temp of 238 and when i got up at 7:30 the temp was 234!!! The brisket was about 8.5 pounds when i started. I think it is a whole brisket (is that called a packer?) it definitely has the flat, but it looks to me like i got the point too. Im nnot sure, this is the first time i had ever even actually looked at a whole brisket! Anyway, it is nnow 11:15 and internal temp is at 185 degrees. Almost done!!!! what is your favorite temp to pull it off? 190 or is it closer to 200? Thanks again for everything Kevin

Smoke on

Hunter

 

[Bryan S]

185 degrees, Pull it. It's going to climb another 5 - 7 degrees after you pull it. Wrap it up good in foil and place in a cooler for 2 - 4 hrs. Then slice that bad boy up.