Ribs on OTG


 
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Daniel S

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Awesome forum everyone!,

I have a hankering for ribs again and will cook a rack of spares for the second time on my OTG kettle. I have gleaned lots of great info from this forum and have three questions regarding (1) wood chips quantity, (2) wood chip type and (3) general procedure.

(1) Wood Chips: After using up a bag of hickory chunks I bought a sampler of woodchip bags to also get a feel for the qualities of oak, apple and cherry . I realize that chunks is preferable but chips is what I've got to use. Question: What volume of woodchips should I use and what is the best way to distribute them?

(2) Wood Chip Selection: Between Apple, Cherry, Hickory and Oak, what woods do you suggest or what mix? I'm leaning toward all apple, all cherry, or a mix of either w/ some Hickory. Choosing just one wood has an appeal so I learn better the taste and aroma of each.

3) General procedure: Any thoughts on how to improve the following general procedure? I understand that there are lots of variation to this (3-2-1, etc).

Plan thus far...Sprinkle a good amount of rub on both sides of the spares and optionally let rest in fridge overnight covered in wrap (can also marinate in apple cider/juice w/ lemon as well for a few hours before rub but I don't know how much of a benefit this is). "Wall in" a charcoal basket w/ two fire bricks. Perhaps foil charcoal grate on opposite side to further control air flow to charcoal. Fill basket and surrounding charcoal area full of unlit briquettes (plan to use K-blue instead of the RO) measured out from a full chimney starter with wood chips interspersed. On opposite side place drip pan filled w/ water on charcoal grate. Place 6-8 lit briquettes on top of unlit charcoal. Plan on keeping bottom vent mostly closed and top vent mostly open so lid vent thermometer remains at ~275F. Cook for two hours in rib rack & flip around, optionally spraying with apple juice at that time. Cook until meat tears easily or a skewer pokes through meat without much resistance, probably another 2 hours. Optionally sauce once or twice at end and let cook a little bit longer, say 5-10 minutes per saucing.

Thank you in advance for any/all input.

- Daniel
 
Looks like a good plan. I was using cherry and apple, but have recently gone back to hickory. After not using it for while, I do believe I like it the best. I would use chunks since chips burn up so quickly and I am unsure if you can use a foil pouch with the minion method.

6-8 lit sounds about right.

When I spray, I like 50/50 apple juice, Jack Daniels. A spray for the ribs, and a spray for me.
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For me, I have also gone back to no foil wrap.

Good luck, sounds like you have a solid plan.
 
Thank you Jeff. I do like Hickory (wasn't too overpowering with a decent amount of chunks) but I also enjoyed straight apple chips with the basic BBQ chicken recipe on this site adapted to a Kettle.

I agree that chips in foil would burn up like they did for the above BBQ chicken but wouldn't they last during the cook if I mix them all up in the briquettes with a Minion Method burn?

Thank you again for your feedback. Looking forward to the cook. I think a little spray bottle we have similar to this from CVS will work nicely: http://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/cata...tion=jump&navCount=3

- Daniel
 
With chicken a little smoke goes a long way, so apple does nicely, where hickory is a stronger smoke.

With regards to the foil pouch for the chips, I was thinking the opposite. I didn't feel you would be able to adequetly smolder chips in a foil pouch initially when it is needed and chips loose would burn up to quick. Perhaps someone else could provide insight to that.

Yep, I went out and bottle a household spray bottle that is only used for cooking. I just spray HOT water through to clean the sprayer out after each use.

Don't forget picture!
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If you have a OTG, just use the charcoal baskets that came with the grill. Charcoal baskets still come with a OTG, right? If you don't have them, the bricks will work fine. They are on sale this week at Menards for $9 per 6 bricks.


Soak the wood chips overnight. That will make them smoke and not burn to the greatest extent possible.


Apple< Cherry < Hickory <<<<<<<<<<Mesquite as far as strength of smoke goes. Your preference may vary from my own, but heavy mesquite tastes like an ash tray to me. I don't like it. I stick to the fruit woods if possible, apple & cherry. Their smokes are milder and more to my liking.
 
Darrel,

I think the baskets are standard with the performer but not the OTG. I do have them but figured that the fire bricks would help as a heatsink (perhaps overkills w/ the water pan as well.) Next time I'll use the baskets, if only for the ability to grab them with tongs to shake off the ash.

I'll try soaking chips longer but after liking apple wood so much I'll just switch to chunks. The chart of relative wood smoke strength is great.

And on a side note, metal s'mores skewers/sticks make great charcoal stirrers! - fits between the grate, long handle and hooks on the tool rack.
 
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