Well guys, its the end of the day and I am finally able to sit down and relax. I put the rub on the ribs about 2 am and then put them in the fridge in an aluminum pan covered in foil for about 4 hrs. I then took them out and let them come up to room temperature as I was firing up the el cheapo smoker i just picked up off of craigslist for 20 bucks. I was a little leary on how this would come out based on the condition of the smoker but i was very surprised on how it was able to maintain between 225 and 250 despite the fact that it was about 20 degrees out. I checked every hour or so and added more charcoal/wood as needed. I used the 3-2-1 method as many of the other users recommended. After the 3rd hour, i double-foiled and added apple juice to impart some more of the fruit flavor that i wanted. When i was trying to foil the ribs, the edges were trying to pull apart. BTW, i was getting some decent pull back of the meat at this point
After the 2 hour mark, i removed them from the foil and replaced them to the grille, spritizing them every minutes with apple juice. I then placed them in a cooler until dinner time. I got pretty decent reviews from family and friends (1 person said it was just a tad too sweet for his tastes but good). My only concern is when i was trying to slice them, it was an epic fail! It looked like i took a chainsaw to them! Is there an easy way to slice ribs? Coloration of the meat looked a little light on the inside with a slight smoke ring along the nicely charred skin. Plenty of juice was present when i pushed on the meat and the meat was very tender. All in all, im very pleased with my 1st attempt at smoking ribs, 2nd attempt at smoking anything. looking forward to smoking even more and more.
