My first ribs experiment...

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steve142

Newbie
Original poster
Dec 29, 2014
8
10
Well, after smoking chicken twice rather successfully, I figured I'd give my new WSM (christmas present) a shot with spare ribs.

So- I coated them with a combination of Worcestershire, apple juice, and mustard, then added "bone sucking" rib rub.


I smoked, using Stubbs 100% natural briquettes and Misquite wood for 3 hours. Only problem I had was keeping my smoker low enough. According to my RT-732, I reached a temp of 250+ for over an hour! I could not get it to come down, even with closing all the lower vents! Very frustrating. I mopped with apple juice every hour.


After finally getting it down to 225, I took them off and foiled them. I put honey, brown sugar and apple juice, and continued at 225-235 for 2 hours.


Lastly, I coated with sweet baby rays hickory/brown sugar and smoked for 45 minutes.


They were great! Not fall off the bone, but not tough at all. Wife said they're as good as any restaurant we've ever been to. I've got to learn how to maintain temperature a little better. I think next time I'll start to close my lower vents BEFORE I reach my desired temp. Kids and wife loved them, and that's all that matters! Next attempt- pork butt.
 
They look tasty.... IMHO, if you can keep that WSM between 225-250* for ribs.... Nothing wrong with that. I often times do my ribs round 245-250*. They turn out great !

I'd say be proud, that's a nice smoke !
 
Try lighting less charcoal each time you smoke to try and hit your target temp. The ribs look great and 250 is not all that bad for ribs I usally have 250 for my high alarm 220 for the low side. To really kill your heat you have to close the top vent as well. When keeping temp low once set I only use one vent usally fully open and top always fully open.
 
Definitely a nice smoke.  Constant temps are very nice but not absolutely necessary.  My WSM when new was (still is) very slightly out of round so more air got in the chamber than I'd like.  I could get it to stabilize at 225 to 235F for only about an hour then it would start to climb until it reached 260-275F even choked down on the bottom AND top.  Still smoked some absolutely delicious ribs though.  Learn the rib "bend test" and you can adapt to any temp your smoker chooses that day. 

Gasket kit solved my WSM air problem BTW.

Now, the next thing you want to hear from your wife is "These are better than anything I've ever eaten in a restaurant."  Music to your ears!

Have fun with the butt!     
 
Thank you all... As a newbie smoker, I was quite proud of myself! I've done a ton of research, and mostly paid close attention to the advice on this awesome forum. The thinner of the two racks were pretty much fall off the bone.

The other thing I need to learn is fuel management. With this, and my previous 2 smokes, I loaded way too much charcoal. My smoker is still at 230 and I took the ribs off almost 3 hours ago. I started with a 2/3 full basket (including ignited ones) and it's obviously too much. I guess it's better than not enough. Same thing happened last week when I smoked chicken because I wanted to get a good bed of coals seeing it was 13 degrees out...
 
Sage advice from the post's above! The other thing to remember is this is your third smoke with a new WSM If I read your post correctly. WSM's tend to be a little unpredictable until they are well seasoned. Also the 3-2-1 method is modeled for 225, make adjustments for 250 etc. I've had my WSM fight me for 225 and I just went with the higher temp instead of the spike/drop and just adjusted my time, the bend is the true test! Just remember learning is half the fun of smoking, you'll have it down before you know it!! BTW-ribs look great! :drool
 
Hey Steve,

Those look awesome man. I dont know if I missed this in your post but you might think about using the water pan till you get the wsm good and seasoned. It will help keep a lower more consitent temp.

Philip
 
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