1st short rib smoke on Masterbuilt

[joe cossack]

Put them On for 3 hours using hickory and mesquite. After 3 hours I stopped smoking them. They have been sitting at 260, and I give them a spritz of beef broth every 30-40 checking for tenderness. I read the toothpick should feel like going through melted butter.
Anything else I should be doing?

 

[motolife313]

Nice. I think those beef ribs have so much grease and fat in them no need to spritz. U are just COOLING down the meat making it take LONGER to cook. I never spritz mine once and they have tons of natural juices coming out of them after couple hours. Trust me try it with out spritz one tine and whatch the fat render out and that will keep it very moist. Yours look very black from being in so long I’m guessing. Not try to knock just trying to help. Look at the color difference on yours and mine.

See how moist it looks? That’s because I never did one thing to it after putting olive oil on and rub on. Just smoke, heat and time.try it!

 

[joe cossack]

I put beer in my water pan and it burnt the beer. I only smoked the first 3 hours - possible I used too much smoke?

 

[motolife313]

Could be. I think the smoke will beat the meat up. Mines a stick burner burning only wood so my smoke it light. Blue most the time. Maybe u had white smoke the whole time. That’s the nice thing about a stick burner is it’s a fire with coals not just smoldering wood chips

 

[motolife313]

Definitely save the beer for your belly

 

[joe cossack]

1st time - taste good but not as moist as I’d like, smoke ring? Not sure

 

[TomKnollRFV]

You won't see a smoke ring on an electric smoker. Smoke ring is caused by a chemical reaction of burning wood/charcoal. It's not a flavour thing, it's nitrogen in the meat and long sciencey things. <You can actually briefly cure meat before smoking it to get the appearance, and some competition teams do this>.

You didn't need to add any liquid to the waterpan, and I wouldn't have spritzed. The MES is very well insulated.

 

[Bearcarver]

Looks Good, Joe!!
You already got some good info above, but I'll add, "I haven't put any liquid in any of my MES Water Pans in about 8 years".

I learned it does nothing good for an MES 30 or MES 40.

Bear

 

[zachd]

I have sand in my MES water tray I think it helps regulate the heat better

 

[Bearcarver]

I have sand in my MES water tray I think it helps regulate the heat better

A lot of guys do that, and they seem to like it.
I leave mine empty, because I think what I would gain by having the hot sand in there, I would lose in the beginning of the smoke, by having to heat up the frozen sand in the Winter in PA.

Bear

 

[joe cossack]

So where exactly would you say I went wrong?
I wanted a dark bark and achieved that. They weren’t juicy, but I did leave them on for 6-7 hours at 260.
If these were the “plate” ribs maybe the heat and time would lend itself better.
I’ll be doing my next cook soon. Looking for any tips for a juicy short rib with a nice dark bark.

 

[Bearcarver]

So where exactly would you say I went wrong?
I wanted a dark bark and achieved that. They weren’t juicy, but I did leave them on for 6-7 hours at 260.
If these were the “plate” ribs maybe the heat and time would lend itself better.
I’ll be doing my next cook soon. Looking for any tips for a juicy short rib with a nice dark bark.

I do a lot of Dino Bones from my Prime Ribs.
I don't know if it will help, but here's 3 different Step by Steps, each with a different amount of meat on the bones.
These have all my Times & Temps used:
Prime Rib "Dino" Ribs
Beef "Dino" Ribs (From My Last Prime Rib Score)
Smoked Beef Prime Rib Dinos (With Extra Meat)

Bear

 

[tallbm]

So where exactly would you say I went wrong?
I wanted a dark bark and achieved that. They weren’t juicy, but I did leave them on for 6-7 hours at 260.
If these were the “plate” ribs maybe the heat and time would lend itself better.
I’ll be doing my next cook soon. Looking for any tips for a juicy short rib with a nice dark bark.

You can follow bears step by steps and I'm sure you will succeed this next time around.

My only 2 cents about where I think you went wrong is with the Internal Temp and Tenderness. You stabbed all over for tenderness but I didn't see a mention of the internal temperature.

On beef ribs you will want to be sure that they stab tender all over ESPECIALLY near the bone and membrane area.
I think if you put a probe in the center of your biggest rib but not touching the bone and then started doing tenderness checks around 200F I think you will find your tender and juicy combo when it occurs. I did ones myself in my MES a little while back (not cut up though) and they were tender and done about 204F or maybe a degree or so higher.

Best of luck with the next batch! :)

 

[motolife313]

First start off by getting quality ribs from the butcher shop.

 

[joe cossack]

These were from the butcher. I asked for short ribs. What would you have asked for? Plate Ribs? Those Are the larger ones?
Enlighten please

 

[petehalsted]

Thanks to our friend Chile, I get to show off something I learned on this forum!

If your dealing with a quality butcher he should not the IMPS system. https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/imps. The IMPS is a industry number system that avoids all the issues with cuts have different regional names etc.

You want at least IMPS #130 for Beef Chuck Short Ribs (that might have been what you had not sure)

What you really want if you can find them is #123a Beef plate, short ribs, those are the bomb!