WSM newbie, first cook baby back ribs

[Guest]

After reading this website for a while and talking all about it with my family, I was very fortunate to get a WSM for my birthday. The weather has finally cleared up and Sunday afternoon I found and afternoon free and baby back ribs on sale at my local market so I gave the BRITU recipe I found on the front page a try.

It was 60 degrees out and slightly windy. By the time I was done it was cold, maybe mid 50s.

For a total novice things went well. I didn't start until 3pm, 1 trip back to the store for more spices. I got the rub on the ribs and realized I needed a thermo, I flew to kmart and got a $4 candy thermometer that had a glass probe. It was about as round as one of the vent holes.

By 4pm I started up the fire. I used the start method in the BRITU article, 1 weber chimney of lit charcoal, 1 chimeny put on top of unlit, add 6 wood chunks. I had apple wood. By 5pm the fire had lit the apple wood chunks, so I assembled the smoker.

I placed the candy thermometer I purchased in one of the top vent holes. It read 250F right away, so I close all the bottom vents (as the article suggested)

I didn't think it was a good idea to keep one of the top vents clogged with a thermometer, so I only kept it there while I was taking a reading.

I waited 1 hour with the smoker assembled as the article suggested. The temperature cooled down to about 210. I put the pork on and I opened one bottom vent. I had 6 6" baby back ribs, I laid them flat bone down on the two grates.

Over the next two hours I watched the WSM and the temp. I thought it should be running at 225 so I opened all three bottom vents. - that did the trick.

At 9pm I flipped the ribs over, meat side down. The BRITU article flipped them too, I'm not sure if it matters.

Since it was late, and my girlfriend was very hungry, I pulled the ribs off at 10 pm, they got 4 hours of smoke. The ribs were slightly pink inside but the were VERY good. only one had a crispy edge. I was a little disappointed that the pork didn't pull away from the bone so easily, I guess longer and slower next time.

I'm really happy with the WSM and it's only going to get better from here.

Now my question. By 11:30pm I was very tired and wanted to go to sleep, but I was nervous about a still hot and burning cooker sitting on my patio. I had the lid of the cooker off since 10pm when I took the ribs off and it seemed like there was no end in sight for the charcoal to burn out, there was a big red sizzling glow as I looked into cooker past the water pan. I put the lid on and closed ALL the vents.
Is there a better way, will there be any fuel that I can use again? (after work today I will see what is left in there)

I was also suprised that after about 2 hours, not much smoke actually comes out. I didn't wet the apple wood before putting it on. does that matter?

The recipe called for KC masterpiece and honey (5:1) basted on after the cook. Next time I think I would like to try a 2:1 and actually baste it on with just 1 hour left in the cook. I think I would like my ribs dryer, than sloppy with sauce.

Thank you to this site, I'm really happy with my WSM. This is going to be a fun summer!

 

[Doug D]

I always try to give myself an hour from the time I light the first chimney until the time I want to put the meat on. With baby backs, I would start 5-1/2 hours before I wanted to sit down to eat-- an hour to get the fire going, cooker assembled and temperature stabilized. Then, cooking at an average of 235* measured at the top grate, I would look for the ribs to be done at about 4 hours.

The only red you want to see inside smoked rib meat is a thin smoke ring just under the outer layer.

As Chris writes in the Cooking section of the site, the recipes are meant to be guidelines, not gospel. Experiment to find what you like best.

It is normal for the cooker to actually smoke only during the initial part of the cook. If you supplied wood to make it smoke the whole time, you would not be pleased with the taste of the end result.

I always shut down all the vents right after finishing cooking to maximize any leftover fuel. Keep it dry and it'll work just fine next time.

 

[Dave Lewis]

I usually cook Babybacks b/c my wife prefers them over spares. I also usually use the BRITU rub, although I experiment with the sauce (I don't think I've used the same sauce twice). I usually cook my ribs at least at least 5 hours and I'm tending toward 6 hours. However, my cooks seem to always take longer than advertised.

As for smoke, less is better. I've read on this site many times that you don't want to see the smoke coming out of the top of your WSM. Thick smoke means soot on your meat. I usually have visible smoke for the first 1/2 hour or so and then it disappears. I always use dry unsoaked chunks. The wood is still smoldering and flavoring your meat, but not depositing soot. You will probably find some wood chunk remains when you open up your WSM after smothering out the fire.

When done with a cook, I close down all my vents and smother the fire. It takes a couple of hours for the WSM to cool. There aren't alot of briquettes left the next morning (maybe 1/3 chimney), but I use them again. I also don't like to leave my WSM blazing away unattended on my patio b/c I have small kids and large dogs, closing all the vents and smothering the fire seems the safest thing to do.

 

[Guest]

Pink smoke ring, I guess that is what I'm seeing as pink. The meat thermometer measured higher than what was required, actually off the scale. I measured the WSM temperature at the vent. Is that where the highest temp is?

 

[Dave Lewis]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I measured the WSM temperature at the vent. Is that where the highest temp is? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Yes. That is where I measure the temp too. The top vent temp is about a 10-20 degrees higher then the top grate temp.