First Spare Rib Trim and Cook

[Bill Hall]

I trimmed my first set of spareribs today and cooked them up on the WSM 18.5. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Smoked the rib tips along with the rack and both turned out pretty good. I also cooked the flap and scraps for the dog. I used the modified 3-2-1 method by Chris Allingham off the VWB site. Used KBB and chunks of cherry and apple wood for the cook. Smoked for 2.5 hours at 275 with a spritz of water every 30 minutes after the bark set. Wrapped with brown sugar, honey, a little bit of dry rub, and some Dr. Pepper for the liquid. Cooked for another 1.5 hours at 275 and then sauced them up. The ribs were delicious but almost a little too done and pretty much falling off the bone. I would probably only wrap for an hour next time. The ribs also got a little darker than I would have liked but I think that was mostly from the sauce at the end. Thanks Chris for all the info on the VWB site, it made it easy to knock out the first set of spares.

Cooker Setup: Modified Minion Method (Soo Donut) with 40 lit coals to start in the middle.

Forgot to mention that I tried something new with the water bowl as well. I lined a layer of ceramic briquettes along the bottom and place some foil over it to catch the drippings. I know there are mixed opinions about lining the pan with foil and running it empty vs. other types of thermal mass. I have to say the cooker ran great. Once I dialed it in, it ran between 271 and 279 the entire time with 10-20 mph wind gusts. My cooker has never been that stable. I don't know if the cooker is just finally breaking in or the ceramic briquettes helped out a little. It did seem to be more stable though.

Trimmed and seasoned ribs ready for smoke:

Ribs about an hour into the cook before I started spritzing with water:

Finally the finished product. I forgot to get a photo of a sliced rib. It did have a nice smoke ring and was still juicy inside.

 

[Cliff Bartlett]

Nice job on those Spares Bill. They look terrific.

 

[Lynn Dollar]

Hard to beat a WSM

 

[Randy]

Beuy the dog like them too

 

[Bill Hall]

Nice job on those Spares Bill. They look terrific.

Thanks Cliff, they tasted great too.

 

[Bill Hall]

Hard to beat a WSM

It really is hard to beat. This is the first time I've cooked spares and it took the guesswork out of it. Held temperature like a champ.

 

[Bill Hall]

Beuy the dog like them too

The dog loved them. With back ribs, there isn't much leftover for him. Spares seem to be the way to go to feed everyone.

 

[Rich G]

The ribs look great, Bill! I love the ceramic briquettes idea. Should be a great heat sink!

R

 

[Brad Olson]

Bill, could you please post the brand name of the briquettes and where you bought them? Thanks!

 

[Bill Hall]

Bill, could you please post the brand name of the briquettes and where you bought them? Thanks!

I bought the briquettes on Amazon. The brand name is GasSaf. They came in a box of 50. There are all kinds of brands and they look the same but these were a little cheaper and had good reviews. There wasn't any broken and they arrived in like a day even with all the shipping delays lately. Heres the link: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B07QZF68CP/tvwb-20

 

[Bill Hall]

The ribs look great, Bill! I love the ceramic briquettes idea. Should be a great heat sink!

R

Thanks Rich, I was going to use sand but couldn't find any. I'm going to have to compare some cooks with the briquettes versus an empty pan.

 

[Ryan Burke]

ribs looked great. Somewhere I saw somebody using lava rocks in the water pan.

 

[JimK]

Good looking ribs, Bill. I like the idea of the briquettes in the pan. I imagine you get some good thermal mass that would help stabilize and keep temps on a windy day. I've seen some use sand, but your idea sounds a little simpler.

 

[Rich Dahl]

Great cook Bill, Looks perfect.

 

[MMosher]

Nice looking Ribs!
Stumbled upon this video on youtube prior to reading through this thread, wondering if anyone else has tried using lava rocks or ceramic in the water pan? Any luck keeping the temps down closer to 225-250?
It seems whenever I use water there is a huge mess in the smoker and I'm getting too lazy to clean it after every couple uses

 

[Bill Hall]

Good looking ribs, Bill. I like the idea of the briquettes in the pan. I imagine you get some good thermal mass that would help stabilize and keep temps on a windy day. I've seen some use sand, but your idea sounds a little simpler.

Thanks Jim, I was originally going to use sand but couldn't find it. I figured it would be easier to clean the briquettes if something happened then to discard and get new sand.

 

[Bill Hall]

Nice looking Ribs!
Stumbled upon this video on youtube prior to reading through this thread, wondering if anyone else has tried using lava rocks or ceramic in the water pan? Any luck keeping the temps down closer to 225-250?
It seems whenever I use water there is a huge mess in the smoker and I'm getting too lazy to clean it after every couple uses

Lava rocks would work as well but I decided to use ceramic because it was a little cleaner. I've actually had no issue keeping the temps low with just a foiled empty pan. Never really been a fan of water in a cooker so I've never used it. Just put in a little less starter coals to begin with and you should be fine. The ceramic may have helped keep the temp more stable though. I have to test them some more on during future cooks.

 

[MMosher]

Lava rocks would work as well but I decided to use ceramic because it was a little cleaner. I've actually had no issue keeping the temps low with just a foiled empty pan. Never really been a fan of water in a cooker so I've never used it. Just put in a little less starter coals to begin with and you should be fine. The ceramic may have helped keep the temp more stable though. I have to test them some more on during future cooks.

I just ordered the ceramic bricks that you linked and will start experimenting asap! Thanks!