Baby Back Ribs

If you're wrapping your ribs, you don't want any of the juice you've added leaking out. I would double wrap. That being said, I've only wrapped ribs once & it was several smokes ago (the first ribs I smoked). I have really enjoyed the ribs the 3-4 times I DIDN'T wrap them better, but I was new to smoking when I did the wrapped ones. I plan on giving the crutch one more try the next time I do ribs & if it's not better than I've had not wrapped, I won't ever foil again. I notice you said you sprayed them with apple juice. If I was wrapping, I'd pour 4-6 ounces of juice, melted butter, honey or whatever you're using. I only spray my ribs when I'm not wrapping them (to help build up a little bark). I throw'em on & start giving them the bend/toothpick after 4 hours, but they usually go between 4-5 hours. I'm sure it also depends on the temp you have your smoker at, as well.

TW

Always double wrap. I learned the hard way.

I`ve always used some butter/margarine, honey, and either more rub or some brown sugar when wrapping the ribs.

I`ve had a bit of leaks but there was always plenty of fluid in the foil after a couple of hours.

If your foil pack is empty, dry when you open them up, you aren`t putting enough good stuff in, even single wrapping and having it leak some.

I know there a whole slew of smokers who think wrapping ribs is heresy..but we`ll just let that argument go.

Wrapping Will help you to have tenderer Ribs , but at the cost of (IMHO) too soft meat .

Now ,each person has a preference on how they manaage thier meat smoking . I do not wrap ,as it (to me) is a waisted step . I have done both BB's and Spares. - which l like better .

I have smoked enough to know the appox. time I need for perfect ( to me) Ribs .

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/content/type/61/id/413905/width/350/heigh

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Practice with methods and stay withi that and you'll find your way !

Have fun and . . .

oldschoolbbq said:

Wrapping Will help you to have tenderer Ribs , but at the cost of (IMHO) too soft meat .

Now ,each person has a preference on how they manaage thier meat smoking . I do not wrap ,as it (to me) is a waisted step . I have done both BB's and Spares. - which l like better .

I have smoked enough to know the appox. time I need for perfect ( to me) Ribs .

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• oldschoolbbq
• Jul 25, 2015

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• oldschoolbbq
• May 14, 2015

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• oldschoolbbq
• Sep 6, 2014

Practice with methods and stay withi that and you'll find your way !

Have fun and . . .

Click to expand...

With results like that Q-Vue, I can see why wrapping is just a waste of time for you.

Are pics supposed to make you drool all over your keyboard?

OK, I'm doing my first smoke in my new OK Joe's Highland smoker right now.  I'm smoking three racks of baby backs that my wife purchased at COSTCO a while back.  It's been raining for weeks now, so I am finally getting to the smoking.  I have seasoned the smoker and made my mods.  I get no more than about a 10 degree difference across the grates, if that.  So far so good.  Trouble is that I doubt these are going to come out as well as I would like.  I couldn't get the membrane off of any of them.  Normally, I have no trouble pulling it off with the aid of a bit of paper towel, but today it wanted to pull off in tiny little particles, not enough to get going on any of them.  I ended up leaving it.  I've been smoking them for three hours at about 225* with Kingsford blue and some chunks of apple wood.  I was intending to get some photos and was in a hurry to wrap and get them back on and totally forgot until I had double wrapped and returned them to the smoker.  I used up the last of my charcoal so if my heat dissipates, I will have to finish up in the oven.  I started out with a coat of mustard and my mix of Memphis seasoning from a mod recipe that I picked up on line.  When I wrapped them, I used squeeze butter, orange blossom honey, raw sugar, just a bit of BBQ sauce and Dr.Pepper.  I will let them cook wrapped for two hours because I want them real tender.  Then I will open the foil and put a diluted coat of spicy BBQ sauce on them and maybe a sprinkle or dusting of Memphis seasoning.  A little more open heat and then I will test them with the tooth pick and put them away for supper.  I don't expect much but any BBQ is better than none, so I am looking forward.  Now, this is an exercise since I haven't used this smoker to cook before.  Trouble is that I have already had two different neighbors ask me when dinner will be ready.  If I had planned on feeding the hood, I would have taken the spare ribs out also, but I don't want to cook up a mess and have it come out less than perfect, if the neighbors are going to be participating.  You know how the gossip goes around neighborhoods. I'll try to remember to get some photos, but if you've seen one rack of baby backs, you've seen three.  I'm more into taste than looks, so I don't mind if mine turn out a bit dark.  I had a neighbor over for standing rib roast one day and she thought I burnt it until she tasted it. Bragged to everyone that it was the best she had ever tasted.  When I had used my little grill to smoke and did three racks of beef ribs, I had thrown some ribeyes on the grill and when I went in to sit down at the table, they had left me one rib.  So, BBQ is something that you always have to buy extra meat if you plan on lighting the smoker up.  There will never be enough to go around.  How am I supposed to have left overs for a late night snack if I don't ever have left overs?

I should have made this a new thread, but it seemed like it related to this one.  Didn't mean/intend on hijacking it.

I have a pork butt and spare ribs in the freezer right now.  Wonder which one I should do next.  Pork butt will feed a few folks, and I haven't smoked one since I moved to Florida almost three years ago.

Hello Mdlmb , you should be good if your smoke was good and the chamber temp. aas stedy .

At least send a shot of the finish :biggrin:

Have fun and . . .

Well, five hours and I have opened the foil.  I ran out of charcoal so I am down to apple wood chunks.  Here's some (bad) photos taken with my old clam shell cell phone.  As you can see from one of the photos, it started to fall apart when I was flipping them over.  A piece of meat fell off so I had to get it out of the way.  ATE IT!!!  My goodness, it's good and tender already.  So, I mixed some Sticky fingers Memphis with some cranapple juice and mopped it on the meat side (up) and left the foil open. I want the sauce to set on the meat before I put these in a cooler, wrapped in towels to be eaten later.  My wife won't be home for three hours and warned me NOT to eat them before she gets home.  Well, we'll see......




Sorry about the quality of  the photos, but looking back at them now, I think I need to taste test them again. 

I am wondering about one thing though.  Each foil has a bit of juice whether fat or not, and I wonder if I should drain it before wrapping to let it rest for a couple of hours, until the spouse returns home. I hate the idea that I am going to lose the little tiny bark that I have right now, but I have to hold off on consuming them until she gets home. I'm thinking that I should drain it in case the liquid starts leaking. I am assuming that the ribs are juicy enough if I keep them wrapped until we are ready to eat. 

Not sure if you can see these poor quality photos, but I have removed them from the smoker and preparing to wrap them to rest until the spouse gets home.



I drained the liquid into two soup bowls. Wow, didn't realize how much I had.  I sprinkled a bit of Memphis Powder on them and then wrapped them back in the foil and clear wrap. Then two towels and put them in the oven to wait impatiently for the wife to return so that I can tear into them.  I think three racks are more than enough, but I ain't sharing today.  The left overs will be a great late night snack.  Of course, I bet the wife will run some down to the lady down the block.

The wife came home early, anticipating some BBQ.  She was not disappointed.  She ooohed and aaahed and said they were great.  I thought they were OK, but not exactly what I am looking for.  They bit cleanly from the bone, but didn't fall off the bone.  They were larger than I have ever had in baby backs.  So much so that I could only eat half a rack with fried spuds and baked beans.  I had to leave some of the sides in order to finish the ribs.  I think that I won't use the squeeze butter next time. Even though the taste was amazing on the ribs, they were juicy enough without the added butter.  It was almost like they were a bit greasy, even if my wife said otherwise.  One of the neighbors stopped by as I was unwrapping them so I had to give him a half rack. Sure enough, my wife ran half a rack down to the neighbor lady that just turned 76 yesterday.  She may not like them that much as she likes hot and spicy.  I couldn't put a bite on it in the spice because my wife can't handle the heat. But, good flavor profile though.  I still have a whole rack that will probably taste better tomorrow, reheated.

Next cook will be the Boston Butt for some pulled pork.  Move over Mr. Mixon, I'm coming through.  The wife said I had winning ribs.  I didn't know that she had been watching Pit Masters.

Looks tasty congrats!

No problem.

If you haven't tried not wrapping yet, give it a go sometime. You can still spray away every 45 minutes or so & it will help build that nice, delectable bark! Like I said before, I'm going to give the wrap one more chance myself before swearing off of it for good, as I really had good results not doing it.

Let us know how it turns out.

TW