- Jun 13, 2009
- 1
- 10
I am very new to smoking, using a masterbuilt electric smoker. I tried to smoke ribs for the first time last Sunday. I took them out of the fridge about an hour before cooking. I warmed the smoker at the 30 minute mark, with wood chips in smoker. Getting short on time, I put them into the smoker at the time I had planned even though we were not quite at 225 yet. They were pork spare ribs.
As far as loading the smoker, I had 2 half racks of ribs each cut in half since lengthwise they would not fit in my smoker. I had ribs on each of the 4 racks, one of which was on the bottom of the smoker.
Keeping an eye on the temperature, I ended up bumping up my setpoint on the smoker a few times trying to get to temperature, since as I read here, the temperatures on the masterbuilt are not quite calibrated. Long story short, my temps were very low on the smoker for the first period of time.
I was trying to use the 3-2-1 method, but having read to wait for some pullback on the ribs, I ended up with about 4 hours in the first phase from what I can only assume is my low temps. They did do some pullback, but not nearly the quarter inch I was looking for.
I was using Mesquite chunks of wood. From what I was reading, I think I want a small wisp of smoke coming out of the smoker at all times during smoking. I was having difficulty achieving this a bit. I had many times when I could not see smoke coming out, but when I opened the smoker it would be billowing out of there. I did try to keep the top of the smoker vent open, but it did not seem to help. At times I would load wood and I would have a ton of smoke for a bit of time but it did not last. I did not presoak the wood, not sure if I should have. I put wood in 3 times.
After 4 hours, I put them into foil for 2 hours. The temps were good for this whole phase. I assumed smoke was unneeded for this step.
When the foil step was done I put wood back in to smoke for the final step. I smoked them until they got up to temp, which was about 1.5 hours. I put on no finishing sauce or anything like that.
The ribs smelled great and looked good. I had one of the top set of ribs which seemed a bit over smoked, but tasty. The ribs on the bottom of smoker were oversmoked. A burning taste and by the end of the rack my tounge was numb. I did later eat more off the other rib parts which were on other racks. They were more edible but still oversmoked.
I know I wrote a lot, but just wondering where I went wrong. I have some ideas, but I have no experience so I was hoping someone would have some ideas.
Thanks for any ideas,
Josh
As far as loading the smoker, I had 2 half racks of ribs each cut in half since lengthwise they would not fit in my smoker. I had ribs on each of the 4 racks, one of which was on the bottom of the smoker.
Keeping an eye on the temperature, I ended up bumping up my setpoint on the smoker a few times trying to get to temperature, since as I read here, the temperatures on the masterbuilt are not quite calibrated. Long story short, my temps were very low on the smoker for the first period of time.
I was trying to use the 3-2-1 method, but having read to wait for some pullback on the ribs, I ended up with about 4 hours in the first phase from what I can only assume is my low temps. They did do some pullback, but not nearly the quarter inch I was looking for.
I was using Mesquite chunks of wood. From what I was reading, I think I want a small wisp of smoke coming out of the smoker at all times during smoking. I was having difficulty achieving this a bit. I had many times when I could not see smoke coming out, but when I opened the smoker it would be billowing out of there. I did try to keep the top of the smoker vent open, but it did not seem to help. At times I would load wood and I would have a ton of smoke for a bit of time but it did not last. I did not presoak the wood, not sure if I should have. I put wood in 3 times.
After 4 hours, I put them into foil for 2 hours. The temps were good for this whole phase. I assumed smoke was unneeded for this step.
When the foil step was done I put wood back in to smoke for the final step. I smoked them until they got up to temp, which was about 1.5 hours. I put on no finishing sauce or anything like that.
The ribs smelled great and looked good. I had one of the top set of ribs which seemed a bit over smoked, but tasty. The ribs on the bottom of smoker were oversmoked. A burning taste and by the end of the rack my tounge was numb. I did later eat more off the other rib parts which were on other racks. They were more edible but still oversmoked.
I know I wrote a lot, but just wondering where I went wrong. I have some ideas, but I have no experience so I was hoping someone would have some ideas.
Thanks for any ideas,
Josh