First time ribs


 
M

Matt Anderson

New member
Slow weekend around here this week, so the wife says while don't you smoke those baby backs that I got you. Nuff said. However, this is my first time to smoke ribs and I am using my 22" kettle. Ribs have been on for about 20 minutes and them temp is holding good at around 230 - 235. Started off at 250 and has dropped. I have my bottom vent closed and top vent about 1/2 open. Am I on the right track? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Just one rack for me and the fam. Hoping to go 2 hours, foil for a hour and sauce for a half hour or so.
 
I just took a rib class today put on by Andy Groneman, a pitmaster and competition griller from Kansas City. I also cook ribs on a 22" kettle. Here are a few things that were discussed. Cooking at 225 deg will take about 5 hours total. 250 will take 4 hours total. Cook indirect - the coals go on the edges of the kettle, with an aluminum foil drip pan in the middle - it keeps the coals apart, and catches the drippings. We talked about many cookers including weber kettle, offset barrel smoker, pellet grill, and gas grill. For the 22" Weber kettle, he recommended having the bottom vent half open and the top vent full open. His favorite woods were oak and pecan. Hickory was his third choice. He said use chunks and don't soak them. You don't want white smoke.
For the first two hours:
Place the ribs meat side up. He recommended to not open the lid, not mop, and not spray your ribs for the first two hours.
After two hours, take them off, add more rub, brown sugar, or whatever, and tightly wrap them in alum foil, and place back on the grill. Meat side down.
After a total of 4 or 5 hours when they are done, remove from foil, add the BBQ sauce if you want them wet, but don't return them to the grill. Just let the BBQ sauce sit on the ribs before you serve them.
We made about 12 racks of ribs today on pellet and offset smokers, both wet and dry. They were all great.
 
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You'll need longer than a 3.5 hour cook time. They won't be tender at all with only 3.5 hours. Plan on 5-6 hours. Also, perform a search in the forum for the 3-2-1 method of ribs.
 
I think your doing good...
Maybe get the your temp to 250 and your ribs should be done in 4 hours or so. My ribs get done in about 4 hours and 30 min or its do e when it done... Keep us posted.
 
For loin back ribs (2.5-3 pounds per rack) I cook for 3 hours at 225-240° then they go in foil with honey, brown sugar and apple juice in the foil pouch, for 45 minutes to an hour. At the end of the foil cook I re-rub the slabs and put them back on the grate -- always meat side up. I crank the temp up to about 275 then brush on my sauce and let 'em go for about an hour, or however long it takes for them to be done. I use one rub, not layered rubs, and never mop or spritz at any point during the cook. I cook over apple and cherry usually, though I'm going to do my slabs tomorrow with pecan and see how they taste.
 
Thank you all very much for the advice. I bumped up the temps to closer to 250. I also smoked the ribs for 3 hours and then foiled for a hour with brown sugar and apple juice. I must say for my first ribs, they turned out great!

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