JeffB
TVWBB Pro
I have made baby backs on my 22.5 maybe 10 times in total. This past weekend, I think I had my best luck with my ribs, so I thought I'd share my method here.
To start, I dry rubbed and held only for a few hours versus overnight which I have always done in the past. I also applied a very light coat of salt on both sides of the ribs before the dry rub, just for some additional flavor. I used the minion method, 40 lit, 1 full ring of unlit, and 6-7 chunks of hickory and mesquite hardwoods.
I ran them at 275* for most of the cook, but at times I was up higher, closer to 300*, but only for 15 to 30 minute increments until I could get the heat under control. Foiled water pan, no water, but also a foiled clay saucer.
Just under 3 hours unwrapped, then I covered each rack with a medium helping of brown sugar and foiled them with about 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar and back on the smoker for another 45 minutes. I unwrapped them and finished them over open heat for about another 30 minutes and them checked for doneness. They passed the bend test and the toothpick test, so I pulled them, loosely tented them with foil for about 15 minutes and then served them.
They were fabulous! It's my understanding that a "properly" cooked rib should not fall off the bone, but these did fall off the bone, but were not mushy. Great taste and texture. I suspect they could have been pulled a bit earlier, but no complaints. My wife and kids raved about them.
So, my lesson: ribs done a bit hotter may be better in the end. I normally run them about 225 to 250, but these were closer to 275+ for the whole cook, and I think it rendered the fat better and put a nice crust on them.
That's it. Thanks for reading! Smoke on!!
To start, I dry rubbed and held only for a few hours versus overnight which I have always done in the past. I also applied a very light coat of salt on both sides of the ribs before the dry rub, just for some additional flavor. I used the minion method, 40 lit, 1 full ring of unlit, and 6-7 chunks of hickory and mesquite hardwoods.
I ran them at 275* for most of the cook, but at times I was up higher, closer to 300*, but only for 15 to 30 minute increments until I could get the heat under control. Foiled water pan, no water, but also a foiled clay saucer.
Just under 3 hours unwrapped, then I covered each rack with a medium helping of brown sugar and foiled them with about 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar and back on the smoker for another 45 minutes. I unwrapped them and finished them over open heat for about another 30 minutes and them checked for doneness. They passed the bend test and the toothpick test, so I pulled them, loosely tented them with foil for about 15 minutes and then served them.
They were fabulous! It's my understanding that a "properly" cooked rib should not fall off the bone, but these did fall off the bone, but were not mushy. Great taste and texture. I suspect they could have been pulled a bit earlier, but no complaints. My wife and kids raved about them.
So, my lesson: ribs done a bit hotter may be better in the end. I normally run them about 225 to 250, but these were closer to 275+ for the whole cook, and I think it rendered the fat better and put a nice crust on them.
That's it. Thanks for reading! Smoke on!!
