Hi there.
New WSM 18.5" owner here (about 5-6 cooks).
Made pork ribs a couple times using Malcom Reed's "Malcom Style" Rib recipe on the WSM and they turned out absolutely fantastic. Got compliments all around.
Last two cooks I did beef "grilling" ribs. Disclaimer: They were not the plate, i.e. the 3 largest rib bones or "dino bones" as some may call them. They were called "grilling" ribs on the packaging. They have a lot less meat on them, cheaper, bones are way shorter and the bones aren't straight like on the plate and some are all bunched up together making them real hard to cut.
Tried sticking to most instructional videos on youtube for beef rib smokes (even though I didn't have the plate). 2 - 2 1/2 hours on the smoker around 250-260F, kept them moist, then wrapped and back on the smoker for another 1-2 hours. Then finish them off in the cooler for around an hour. Side note for today's cook I tried no water in the waterpan and did not wrap it in foil and was using Kingsford briquettes for the first time as opposed to Royal natural lump as I usually do.
Well, the ribs today tasted absolutely disgusting. Terrible taste of dirty, dirty smoke embedded into the meat, could taste the mustard binder, and the meat was extremely tough. To make it all worse, my neighbors who I can usually overhear saying things like "it smells great over there" in reference to my bbq had their in-laws over today and I could over hear the father-in-law say "it smells like a grass fire".. Really hit home when he said that. I immediately added some water into the water pan and it seemed to fix the smell and dirty smoke.
TLDR:
-Made a couple terrible batches of Beef "grilling" ribs.
-Reason I think they turned out bad was because I didn't use any water in a no-foil pan.
-Also tried cooking them as if they were plate ribs but they were much smaller than plate.
Trying the keep my morale high despite this. My pork ribs turned out so well so I know I can make good BBQ. Any tips and recommendations are very appreciated.
New WSM 18.5" owner here (about 5-6 cooks).
Made pork ribs a couple times using Malcom Reed's "Malcom Style" Rib recipe on the WSM and they turned out absolutely fantastic. Got compliments all around.
Last two cooks I did beef "grilling" ribs. Disclaimer: They were not the plate, i.e. the 3 largest rib bones or "dino bones" as some may call them. They were called "grilling" ribs on the packaging. They have a lot less meat on them, cheaper, bones are way shorter and the bones aren't straight like on the plate and some are all bunched up together making them real hard to cut.
Tried sticking to most instructional videos on youtube for beef rib smokes (even though I didn't have the plate). 2 - 2 1/2 hours on the smoker around 250-260F, kept them moist, then wrapped and back on the smoker for another 1-2 hours. Then finish them off in the cooler for around an hour. Side note for today's cook I tried no water in the waterpan and did not wrap it in foil and was using Kingsford briquettes for the first time as opposed to Royal natural lump as I usually do.
Well, the ribs today tasted absolutely disgusting. Terrible taste of dirty, dirty smoke embedded into the meat, could taste the mustard binder, and the meat was extremely tough. To make it all worse, my neighbors who I can usually overhear saying things like "it smells great over there" in reference to my bbq had their in-laws over today and I could over hear the father-in-law say "it smells like a grass fire".. Really hit home when he said that. I immediately added some water into the water pan and it seemed to fix the smell and dirty smoke.
TLDR:
-Made a couple terrible batches of Beef "grilling" ribs.
-Reason I think they turned out bad was because I didn't use any water in a no-foil pan.
-Also tried cooking them as if they were plate ribs but they were much smaller than plate.
Trying the keep my morale high despite this. My pork ribs turned out so well so I know I can make good BBQ. Any tips and recommendations are very appreciated.
Last edited:
