Alright, I've been a little shy about doing ribs before, because I've never got them to turn out right, but after reading things on here I got up the courage to finally try some spare ribs this weekend. I've got a couple pix, but I haven't downloaded them yet, so you'll have to wait on that.
Anyway, I whipped up a batch of Jeff's rub the night before and coated the ribs (I may have put it on a little thick in hindsight) and wrapped them in plastic wrap to go in the fridge overnight.
In the morning I took them out (the rub had made a gooey mess, leading me to think I put too much on) to rest on the counter while I got the smoker ready. Got the smoker up to 230 degrees with the water pan about 1/4 full, and added some hickory chips, then placed the ribs in the middle rack. After about two hours I pulled the strip of extra meat I cut off the ribs out (since it had finally reached 170 degrees) and had me a little snack. That was excellent, good flavor, nice and moist! It left me really craving the ribs.
At about the three hour point the ribs hadn't quite pulled back 1/4" but I pulled them anyway, wrapped them in foil, splashed on apple juice and let them cook for another two hours. Then I took them out and had a really hard time getting them out of the foil. They were so tender I couldn't pick them up without them falling apart. I finally got two spatula's underneath and got them transfered from the foil to the rack, and put my temp probe in. Hmm... 189 degrees? I thought I was supposed to cook them for another hour to get to 172? I thought, well maybe I'm just in a hot pocket, but everywhere I tried was around 185 degrees. So at that point I figured no use putting it back in the smoker.
So I'm thinking maybe it should be 3-1-1 instead of 3-2-1?
Anyway, I didn't think the ribs turned out quite as good as I'd hoped. Maybe the steaming in the foil washed off most of the rub, but they just didn't have much flavor. Not like the little strip I cut off did.
I'll get pics up tonight.
Anyway, I whipped up a batch of Jeff's rub the night before and coated the ribs (I may have put it on a little thick in hindsight) and wrapped them in plastic wrap to go in the fridge overnight.
In the morning I took them out (the rub had made a gooey mess, leading me to think I put too much on) to rest on the counter while I got the smoker ready. Got the smoker up to 230 degrees with the water pan about 1/4 full, and added some hickory chips, then placed the ribs in the middle rack. After about two hours I pulled the strip of extra meat I cut off the ribs out (since it had finally reached 170 degrees) and had me a little snack. That was excellent, good flavor, nice and moist! It left me really craving the ribs.
At about the three hour point the ribs hadn't quite pulled back 1/4" but I pulled them anyway, wrapped them in foil, splashed on apple juice and let them cook for another two hours. Then I took them out and had a really hard time getting them out of the foil. They were so tender I couldn't pick them up without them falling apart. I finally got two spatula's underneath and got them transfered from the foil to the rack, and put my temp probe in. Hmm... 189 degrees? I thought I was supposed to cook them for another hour to get to 172? I thought, well maybe I'm just in a hot pocket, but everywhere I tried was around 185 degrees. So at that point I figured no use putting it back in the smoker.
So I'm thinking maybe it should be 3-1-1 instead of 3-2-1?
Anyway, I didn't think the ribs turned out quite as good as I'd hoped. Maybe the steaming in the foil washed off most of the rub, but they just didn't have much flavor. Not like the little strip I cut off did.
I'll get pics up tonight.