First slab of spares goin'

[Joey K]

So, we were walking through our local costco and I happend to notice that they had spare ribs on for $1.79/lb, and was able to convince the family that it was time for another smoker run. Basically followed the BRITU method and got the ribs on the smoker at 2:25 pm today (they've been on for about an hour and a half now

).

I'm kinda shootin' in the dark though because my thermometer hasn't gotten here yet so I don't know if I'm running hot, cold, or just right. But thats one thing I like about the WSM seems like no matter what I do the food is at worst edible and each run gives me a little more experience to apply to my next run. Anyways heres hoping for a great turn out

 

[Larry Wolfe]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Joey K:
So, we were walking through our local costco and I happend to notice that they had spare ribs on for $1.79/lb, and was able to convince the family that it was time for another smoker run. Basically followed the BRITU method and got the ribs on the smoker at 2:25 pm today (they've been on for about an hour and a half now

).

I'm kinda shootin' in the dark though because my thermometer hasn't gotten here yet so I don't know if I'm running hot, cold, or just right. But thats one thing I like about the WSM seems like no matter what I do the food is at worst edible and each run gives me a little more experience to apply to my next run. Anyways heres hoping for a great turn out

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Try this Joey until you get your therm.

Put your hand on the lid, it should be hot, but not searing hot. You should be able to leave your hand on it for about 5 seconds (depending on your pain tolerance), that should give you a dome temp of right around 245-260*. It's foolproof for me!

 

[John Suh]

so, how did the ribs turnout?

 

[Joey K]

Well went with the advice about putting my hand on the lid. First time it was way too hot, like I couldn't even keep my hand there for 1/2 a second. So I shut the vents about 90%, kept them there untill I could keep my hands there for 5 seconds or so then opened them to about 75%. Left them there till about 6:25 and pulled them off.

Oh man they were tasty. They had a crispy bark on them and were nice a pink all the way through.

I was in too big of a hurry to get them on the smoker I didn't follow the advice to make them St. Louis Style. I'll I did was make up the BRITU rub, start the fire, roll them up and put 'um on. I probably could have left them on longer cuz they weren't quite to the fall of the bone state but we had 7 kids waiting on dinner so I didn't have time properly finish them. But that BRITU rub was tasty tasty...

Worst part -- we ate the whole slab

no leftover to take to work

 

[John Suh]

sounds great... did you use the BRITU method with the coals?

I heard you should foil the rib for an hour if you want the fall off the bone type of ribs.

I'm a newbie also, waiting for the delivery of my WSM...

 

[Joey K]

I followed the following deviation from the cooking topics BRITU article:

"I deviate from the process somewhat on this point, but achieve the same end result. I fire the cooker using the Standard Method, lighting a Weber chimney full of Kingsford charcoal briquettes, dumping them into the charcoal chamber when hot, then adding another full chimney of unlit briquettes and the smoke wood chunks over the lit coals"

but I didn't follow that exactly either...I started my charcoal in the chimney starter but I din't wait for it all to go grey, I bet only 10 - 15 coals had started before I dumped them into my WSM. And I already had the other chimney full of unlit charcoal in the WSM. So more like a modified minion method.

The more times I read that BRITU article the more deviations I find. I just realized that I didn't apply the spices 2 hrs before cooking, the spices went on, I went out and put the pan and the water in the WSM, came back in grabbed the ribs and chucked 'em on.

I din't follow the smoke wood recipe either...I din't have white oak and I used apple instead of cherry.

Guess one of these days I'll have to try BRITU because last nights smoke can hardly qualify as BRITU

 

[Dave/G]

No expert here, but this might help. If you smoke ribs to the falling off the bone stage they might be overcooked. Try pushing a probe or wooden skewer between two bones in the middle of a rack. If the item goes through the meat with little or no resistance, the ribs are done. Since each slab might be a bit different, poke each one. Falling off the bone ribs often leaves you eating the meat off your plate instead of off the bones. When you bite a bone, the meat should come off quite easily, but without falling all over the place. If that happens, you hit the sweet spot.