Noob Attempting Ribs on WSM 18" with questions.


 
R

RobM

New member
This Friday I plan on try to cook come ribs and want to lay out what I plan to do so if I miss anything or plan on doing something "wrong" it can hopefully be pointed out to me.

Ribs Prep:
I plan on getting St Louis Style ribs and removing the skin on back of bones. Then smearing on some spicey mustard followed by John Henry's Pecan rub applied moderately. I am making 2 racks so I am thinking of cutting them in half and placing in Rib Rack.

Grill Prep:
Fill charcoal grate almost half full and light another 20 in a chimney. Once Chimney is good I will add those to center on top of un light charcoal. I will have the water pan covered in tinfoil and filled up with hot water and I will assemble the WSM and allow it to get up to temp. I plan on having 1 bottom vent open and the top and hoping that will get me to around 225ish if not I will open another bottom vent.

Cooking:
Once I am at temp I will put the ribs in and add some hickory to smoke them with for about the first 2 hours and not the last 2 hours. Not sure if I want to wrap in foil or not near the end.


I would like to add sauce at the end as well to caramelize on the ribs but not sure if I need to take out middle section or not and do that over direct heat?

Does it sounds like I have a decent plan or am I missing some steps?

Thanks in advance for all the help!
 
Depending on who you ask, your plan is fine. I prefer to empty the water pan and cook around 275*. Takes just under 4 hours to cook St. Louis Style ribs. At 225*, it will probably take close to 6 hours to cook the ribs. Two hours nekkid, an hour or so foiled, and the rest of the time nekkid again.

I prefer not to cut them in half as I use the bend test to check for doneness. Pick them up with tongs at one end. If they fold to almost 90* and slightly crack the skin above the bones, they are done. You can use a rib rack or roll them:

rolled-babybacks.jpg


You can unroll them before you foil, as by that time they will have shrunk some.

I don't sauce, but you can do that and still cook them on the top grate. Sauce as they are approaching tender, just long enough so the sauce can set.
 
THoey, may be a dumb group of question, but does rolling the racks hurt the presentation? Do they lay flat when the skewers are removed? Do you flip the racks at anytime in the cook?
 
How long does it take for the sauce to set at what temp typically?

Noah, I would assume that they would lay flat when skewers are removed because the meat should be very tender.
 
I don't use foil, so whenever I roll my racks I leave them rolled for the entire cook duration. As a result, when they are fully cooked, they tend to hold that shape. I have wowed people before with the presentation of the rolled ribs, but regardless of how they are prepped I usually end up cutting the racks into 2 or 3 (max) bone segments for serving. And for what it is worth, the larger the crowd I'm cooking for, the more racks I cook and the more less likely the crowd is to see the ribs prior to me breaking them down into individual servings. And since the more racks I cook, the more likely I am to roll them, the less the presentation matters.
 
You plan sounds like a good one. Posts some pictures of your cook Rob. I'd try to avoid cutting them to fit, either by rolling or squeezing them in, but if you did cut, it's not the end of the world by any means
 
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